I have a student who always looks at the date of birth and death for the composer of a new piece, does a quick calculation in his head to find out how long the composer lived and immediately asks me how he died. His questions inspired me to learn more about the life (and death) of one of my favorite composers, Edvard Grieg.
My teacher suggested that playing on a balance ball might help the tension in my cello playing. It has been an amazing improvement. I kind of want to take my balance ball with me everywhere, but I think I’d make a scene dragging my cello AND an enormous purple ball across the university campus.
In other cello news: I learned six short learning songs, 2 longer (tricky) pieces and two important new bow strokes. And most importantly I’m learning to be more patient with myself. (Because things that should be ridiculously simple are NOT simple on the cello).
If you see a sewer truck on your street, double check the drains in your basement. It seems that the sewer truck was cleaning a line on our street, and somehow the air pumped into the line caused the sewer water to come burbling out the toilet, splashing all over the basement bathroom. I discovered this right away, thankfully, and could clean it up while it was still happening. It was stinky, and I was a bit frustrated because I happened to go down to use the bathroom right before I was leaving for my cello lesson and made the discovery, which caused me to rush to get to cello on time. The REAL surprise was four days later when I opened the sauna door to put something in the storage closet behind the sauna (there is a door in the sauna that opens into the closet). Apparently the sewer spew also came up the sauna drain, and sprayed everything with black grime. By that time the black grime had dried and was stuck to the walls, bench, doors. So there I was, dressed in my Sunday clothes because I had been on the way to church, trying to scrape away at dried sewer matter on all the surfaces. The smell was putrid. It’s just another thing I can add to my LONG list of things that can go wrong on a Sunday morning when you are trying to get your family ready for church.
If I set two alarm clocks, I’m more likely to get out of bed in the morning.
Rachel, you wear an elephant hat, crazy glasses, along with a geek shirt together while being out. How is carrying a big purple ball along with your celo look weird? I would love to watch you wear that fashion statement while carrying your celo and big purple ball! Have I told you I love you and you make me giggle!
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One Comment
Auntie jen
Rachel, you wear an elephant hat, crazy glasses, along with a geek shirt together while being out. How is carrying a big purple ball along with your celo look weird? I would love to watch you wear that fashion statement while carrying your celo and big purple ball! Have I told you I love you and you make me giggle!