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Archive for November, 2008

Corelli 8 Pastorale on electric bass

Here’s a fun little snippet for practice. To be able to try this piece, you should be pretty fluent playing scales in 10ths like I’ve done in this video.

Once you’re playing 10ths fluently, playing the top two lines makes for a tremendously fun and beautiful sounding exercise or warm-up. Here’s the best of 2 quick capture takes, not perfect, but will give you a sense of the approach for your practice.

No way I’d be able to play all of this, but doing the 2nd violin and bass part together could be something I think I could polish up. And, if I could convince either violinist in my trio to try it, I’d hand them a mandolin (so they’d be at a handicap), I’d put on a very loud metronome and give it a go.

While playing this piece takes a lot of technique, it also reminds me how great it is to learn music thoroughly. I just about sat down and playing the first phrase perfectly the first time (naturally before I was recording, lol), because the music has been so thoroughly learned. I’m playing this piece (on cello) with my trio. And, in so doing, we’re working through all the movements, listening to excellent reference recordings and just really digging in.

It’s a learning method that really works.

The Tufts Early Music Ensemble presents Music of Venice

I’m very excited for our show on Tuesday. I’m playing bass gamba with the group this semester. If you’re in the area, stop by and say hello.

The Tufts Early Music Ensemble presents
Music of Venice
featuring Daniel Meyers, recorder & Thomas A. Gregg, tenor
works by Monteverdi, Gabrieli & Merulo

Tuesday, November 18, 8PM

Distler Performance Hall, Granoff Music Center
Tufts University, Medford Campus
Free event, No tickets required

www.tufts.edu/musiccenter

The Music of the Universe

I love that show Chuck on NBC. The last episode was so great, it’s a must-see for any Rush fan. Check it out at: http://www.nbc.com/Chuck/video/episodes/?vid=786721

I was thinking of building a fun little quiz game where you take the first 10 studio albums and put them in order. Somehow that seems be a fun exercise in restoring order to the universe, just putting those in order.

I’ve recently been rediscovering Caress of Steel, what a fantastic album!