Ben’s Blog

Another cute little ditty from 400 Songs and Dances from the Stuart Masques. I worked on a lot of variations of position and fingerings, but then decided this set would work the best. I’m staying in position (1st finger on 17th fret of D string) on the top line just about throughout, moving down for the B natural, and then for both the Bb and G in bar 5. On the left hand, I’m also staying pretty closely in position (3rd finger on the G, 10th fret on A string), opting to shift down for the low Bb, but then moving right back into position until the last bar.

A lot of those choices become easier to make when you fire up the metronome.

Anyway, click the image below for a full size image, and let me know what you think. I tried recording a video but the audio on my webcam was really junky. I’ll get that figured out sometime.

bentorrey :: Jun.13.2010 :: Songs & Dances from the Stuart Masque :: No Comments »

The spring workshop put on by the Viola da Gamba Society of New England was a really good time last weekend. The theme was Music for Voices and Viols by 17th Century German Composers.

I think my favorite thing we did was a Buxtehude piece, Vulnerasti cor meum. What a gorgeous piece!!!

We had some tremendous singers join us from the Joyful Noyse ensemble. What a treat!!! I have to get the score for that piece and would like to play that again.

If you’re not familiar with the piece, here’s a version on YouTube. Buxtehude rocks!!!

bentorrey :: May.12.2010 :: Repertoire, Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »

Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Time: 8:00pm
Location: Distler Hall, Granoff Music Center, Tufts University

On April 20th, the Early Music Ensemble will explore their recent and ongoing gifts from the London Early Music Shop, with six part viol consorts by Orlando Gibbons, early Baroque sonatas, 16th century dance music with percussion, complemented by vocal solos and dance songs accompanied by lute, harp, and harpsichord, and of course KRUMMHORNS.

bentorrey :: Apr.20.2010 :: Gigs :: No Comments »

Last night I played a really fun gig with the Boston Classical Guitar Society Orchestra. We premiered a really great piece by Jose Lezcano who also conducted the orchestra. Tons of fun. Scott Borg did a great job getting the orchestra together and pulling together some great rehearsals.

I played my 5-string Dean EAB and kind of brought a little bit of extra low end to the group’s sound.

Really enjoyable, hope to play more with the group.

bentorrey :: Apr.11.2010 :: Gigs :: No Comments »

I’ve been having a good time playing lute with the Tufts Early Music Ensemble this semester. Here’s some info on our semester-end concert.

Du Fay & Co.
Tufts Early Music Ensemble
Fall Concert

Featuring Guest Artist:
Daniela Tošic

Music Performed by:
Tufts Early Music Ensemble
Seven Hills Renaissance Wind Band

Tuesday, December 1, 2009
8PM~~FREE
Distler Hall, Tufts University

bentorrey :: Nov.29.2009 :: Gigs :: 1 Comment »

Wow, it’s been awhile since I put a post up. I’ve been mostly busy with cello.

I’ve got a string trio & quartet together now, and we practice usually every other week. We’re working on some of the early Mozart Quartets (K.155-160), some great Corelli rep including the Christmas Concerto and Church Sonatas Op.1 No 1,3,7,11, and lots of other fun stuff. We also work on Bach Chorales a lot for warmups.

I’ve also joined the Melrose Symphony (on cello) and am really excited for the fall program, which includes the Shostakovich 9^th Symphony, and the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2.

The other reason I haven’t posted anything is I don’t currently have any camera or webcam setup such that I could record or add video, and I’ve always preferred to have posts come with audio examples. Last Sunday for example, we were going to look at the 6th movement chorale from Cantata BWV 2, Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, which was the cantata played on WGBH the Sunday before, love that melody. So, I played through that on my bass a bit, playing the bottom and top lines and trying to sing a middle part.

It was great fun, and I thought about doing a post on that, but then realized I don’t have the camera or the energy to keep posting stuff that doesn’t seem of much interest.

So, I think that’s my official ‘adiue’ to my blog, but I’m still thinking about that a bit.

bentorrey :: Jul.30.2009 :: Musical Thoughts :: No Comments »

I took the Thoughts on Tone Production workshop with Gabriel Bolkosky at the MA Suzuki Fest at New England Conservatory a few weeks back. What a great musician. I would definitely like to study with him sometime.

There were two things in his presentation that really stuck with me.

One was a metaphor that he used:
“You can’t cram on the farm.”

He went on to make the analogy that like a farmer can’t rush a crop out at the last minute, we can’t rush things into a ready state in our musical preparation either.

When my church asked me to play some solo music for the Maundy Thursday service I was really excited. “I’ll play some solo cello rep.” But, as I got closer to the date, I realized, “geez, I’m not too comfortable with any of that rep right now”. Truthfully, I haven’t been working on any of it. I’ve been working hard on trio and quartet rep, and there’s only so much you can do.

So, rather than try to rush anything out, I thought, “well, I’ve been playing tons of gamba rep”, so rather than stress the gig, I called up my consort-mate Tom and we’re going to play some simple Lassus duets, and a Bach chorale that I know very well.

Another thing that he mentioned is taking full responsibility for the sounds you produce. Constantly monitoring your tone, intonation, bowing, etc, and taking full responsibility at all times for producing the best sound you possibly can. I think that’s just great.

I’m currently playing on an amazing cello, a Jay Haide, which has amazing tone, but when I’m playing my upright bass (which is plywood), I’m too often not taking responsibility for producing better tone. I’ll just say in my head, “well, this bass just has no good tone in it, so that’s that”. In fact, the analogy I often use is that my bass is like eating a cardboard pizza box when you were expecting pizza. But, that approach really doesn’t move me along as a player. My bass can sound better, I can always produce better tone on it. (Although on the other hand, the experience of renting the Jay Haide has made me consider renting a decent bass at Rutman’s, because the Haide just responds and has so much tone potential, it’s really exciting right now. )

Anyway, Gabriel Bolkosky was very inspiring. Definitely check out his playing at http://www.gabrielbolkosky.com

bentorrey :: Apr.17.2009 :: Musical Thoughts :: 1 Comment »

I’ve been totally out of energy for my blog of late. Not sure exactly why that is, but I have been working hard on gamba and cello of late, so I think that’s been taking most of my energy. Anyway, have a gig tomorrow with the Tufts Early Music Ensemble. Here’s some detail:
==========================================================================

The Tufts Chamber Singers, Tufts Early Music Ensemble, directed by Andrew Clark & Jane Hershey, present secular & sacred music by the cosmopolitan sixteenth-century master Orlandus Lassus. They will be joined by the Somerville Renaissance wind band Seven Hills.

Host: the Tufts Chamber Singers and Early Music Ensemble
Date: Thursday, April 2, 2009
Time: 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Distler Performance Hall, Tufts University

bentorrey :: Apr.01.2009 :: Gigs :: No Comments »

This book is a classic, and with the MA Suzuki Fest coming up next month, I figured I was due for a re-read of Ability Development from Age Zero. What a joyous book. Here’s a great quote from page 25:

“A recording of the piece the student is practicing-a recording of Kreisler, for instance-should be played for the child at home. After the lesson I ask, “Who is your teacher?” and the student answers, “Kreisler.” Then I laugh and say, “Give my regards to Kreisler.” What I mean is that Kreisler is the teacher. The student should have a lesson with him everyday. I want the student to know that I am only helping him in his lessons with Kreisler. The children will be happy and proud because they are the students of the best in the world. Further, by listening to good music continuously, they will internalize it.”

That couldn’t be better said. Fantastic stuff! If you haven’t read this book, check it out, there’s a lot of great stuff in it.

bentorrey :: Jan.31.2009 :: Books I Enjoy(ed)/Will Enjoy :: No Comments »

I just finished reading a fantastic book called Talent is Overrated:What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin. It it, he discusses what makes great performers and analyzes their practice methods in particular. It’s fascinating. I highly recommend it.

It really made me think about my own practice routines, and it seems, being New Year’s, a great time to be thinking about tightening that up and getting a bit more focused. In the book, he talks a lot about practice routines where people practice things outside of their actual activity. Football players weight training and running, for example. When I consider that, I realize that I don’t do so much of that stuff musically. I used to practice scales, arpeggios, and string crossing exercises and the like when I was younger, but as I got more experienced, I felt that was a waste of time. Sort of along the line of Yngwie’s famous quote, “why play scales when there’s such great music to play?”.

While I still agree with that, I have to make sure that my practice time is filled up with things that are difficult for me, and not merely playing what is not a challenge. Maybe the difference between running and jogging to make a running analogy.

I play usually about 2 hours in the morning before going to work, and that’s usually a mix of playing, listening, transcribing, gig prep, repertoire review and activities like that.

This book has really inspired me to take a look at my practice regimen and see where I could improve. Maybe that will be something compelling to blog about in 2009.

bentorrey :: Dec.31.2008 :: Books I Enjoy(ed)/Will Enjoy, Musical Thoughts, Practice :: No Comments »