duet

I happen to have performed this piece and know that both parts are fraught with technical problems. I find this amusing that the cellist plays the violin as he would a cello, unfortunately, as a violinist, it is highly unlikely that I will play the cello the way that I hold the violin.



There are other attempts at duets like these. Some instrumentalists like to play both parts of the Bach double violin concerto (Heifetz) or the Sarasate Navarra (Rosand), however the most interesting one is probably the recording that Artur Grumiaux made of himself playing the violin AND the piano part to a Mozart and a Brahms Sonata. Grumiaux was a great violinist and a very good pianist. The story goes that he excelled at both as a youth and his grandfather made the decision that he would study the violin at the conservatoire since there were lots of pianists.

The piano worlds' loss is the violin worlds' gain.

Then of course there is Ethan Winer who came up with this ditty.



maybe it is a cellist thing

Branford, tell us what you REALLY think

I think once they get to him, these kids have been treated in such a way that it must infuriate him. I have to admit that this is a symptom of society, what we could call the Lake Wobegon effect. Lake Wobegon is of course the fictional town in Minnesota where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."

It is hard for kids of today to understand what it was like growing up in a different age. A month today is the same as a year in the past. As technology hurtles past us at this incredible rate, the amount of recordings you can download on itunes far surpasses the amount of recordings that we had at our disposal at the local Sam Goody....sam what?

it's out of his hands

This video defies description, because we don't have a clear enough view of what has happened. The violinist looks like he knows what he is doing, but the violin looks like it has been pulled by the scroll away from him. I can only assume that the conductor with all of his waving got his sleeve caught in the scroll and pulled it with him.

The soloist is all smiles at the end so we assume that the instrument was not damaged.

I worked with a conductor who was telling me how he had conducted somewhere and the podium he was standing on gave way as he was leaning towards the cello section. He landed IN the cello section and let a cello break his fall. It was heavily damaged and he had to pay for thousands of dollars of repairs.

copying the greats

I find it amusing to watch people do impressions of others. I think as musicians we all copy someone else at some point in our studies. If it isn't some artist you admire, it may be a teacher. I myself seem to gravitate towards what I hear and copy that. I know as a student that i played with a pianist who also had played with my teacher. She said she had no problem with following me since I breathed like my teacher. I knew then and there that I had to stop that....copying the breathing, not breathing in general

So it is that I show you three videos of immitation.....

first the cellists:



Now the baseball players:




Then of course there is the great copying the not so greats.....

pulled over by the music police?

In our opinions there were perhaps no greater comedians than Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.....some of them are a bit more risque, but this one is a rarity.

Pachelbel is following me....

I agree with this guy that Pachelbel is everywhere. I have made more money from playing Pachelbel than any other piece I have ever played or studied. I once offered to play a wedding for free if they would let me play the march from for the love of Three Oranges by Prokofiev, rather than Pachelbel....and they paid

enter the sandman...exit the sand bag

When I heard the news that A-Rod would need surgery and wouldn't be with the team at the begining of the season, I was not really concerned. That concern begins with the fact that I am a Met fan, and don't really care about the Yanks. However one thing has been as steady as death and taxes....and that is the entrance of Mariano Rivera.

Watching him in 1996 it was hard to imagine that the guy would be around 12 years later and still the greatest closer I have ever seen.

He has done everything you can to win games, hold leads, blow away the opposition etc. That any flaws he has had on his certain hall of fame career get overlooked. Blowing the 2001 World Series would have seemed like something that no player could come back from, and indeed some people have called that the night that the Yankee Dynasty ended, however Marian Rivera keeps coming back and throwing stuff that you know is going to come but you can't do anything about (reminds me of the joke that asks how are viola solos like premature ejaculation....you know they are coming but there isn't a damn thing you can do about it).

Last year, he had a great year and played injured. Giving his all, he worked the innings that needed to be done and went out there to battle for every inning. When the war was lost he admitted to his physical deterioration and had surgery.

Rivera says he is ready for opening day. Even if he ISN'T ready, he will not make excuses he will give his all and get the job done as best as he can.

You wonder if A-Rod watches or notices these things.....or is he too wrapped up in himself!