I get to play in my son’s summer Pops orchestra, since they need a cellist, and because parents are allowed to play if they have the ability and the desire  to do the work.   I was somewhat surprised by this, especially in this age of stalking and keeping parents at arms length from kids in school activities.

I am not going to reveal too much about this because kids are involved and I want to protect their privacy, but, here is what I learned from my first night of rehearsal. And I mean, ever – like this was my first rehearsal of anything music related, excluding being in fifth grade band.

  1. Bowings matter.  They matter a lot, because I am very close to my stand mate and I am not allowed to stab him.  Unless of course, I’m a Russian agent with a poisoned tip bow and that was my mission.
  2. I need to bring my endpin stop because it is slippery on that floor.
  3. Usually, you are supposed to come prepared, but since this was my first night I had to sightread everything.  I had prepared one of my pieces, but found myself in difficulty when I performed it.
  4. In “band oriented pieces, most string parts are in Eb or Ab.  I need more time with A-flat. Even though I worked my A-flat scales anticipating this, I need to get some more good time in on this.
  5. Knowing where phrases end is helpful, so that I can join back in when I feel more confident.
On top of that, started a new Kummer, #64.  More on that, next time, including going into deep practice.
One thing is nice though; having something to do with my cello every night. This is falling during a lapse in my writing schedule, so I am going to enjoy it.