Category: Music

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Final Reflection Post on Skills: Playing cello in a Symphony Orchestra

For my NYAA I started my activity in September of 2017 and finished in October 2018. However, I am still in the orchestra and I hope to continue through my High School years. The orchestra has taught me many things and most of all has been a lot of fun. One of the most important skills in an orchestra is listening to other musicians, and I have developed this skill and have seen the impact on my listening skills.

Furthermore, every piece that we practice requires a lot of practice and having the hard-working mentality has been very helpful in my academic classes. In addition to that, I have grown as a musician, being able to play a variety of genres and also expand my knowledge of music. The orchestra has inspired me to play or at least inspire me to play other instruments. Nowadays, I sometimes record a piece on a piano and then play it while I play the cello piece. Although it is great to play solo, I  believe playing in an ensemble such as an orchestra makes the music experience so much more engaging and fun which is why I have tried to play multiple instruments to get that feeling. This makes music much more engaging and fun. My grandmother came and visited us in December and January of 2017/2018and we played together as an ensemble (she the piano and me the cello) for some Swedish tunes which were extremley rewarding and fun, especially in front of a crowd.

Thus, I think it is safe to say that I have made a quite considerable amount of progress as a cellist, and a musician in an orchestra or an ensemble. Finally, through the variety of pieces/genres (we have played rock, pop, classical, scene music, and more), we have played and from previous ensembles and orchestra from previous schools, I have now explored new genres of music for cello and piano. Right now, I am playing Bohemian Rhapsody by the queen on both piano and cello and have started composing new pieces of my own creation inspired by other pieces or from my imagination. For the future, I would like to play other instruments such as the French horn, drums, bass, saxophone, flute and more.

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Wavelengths Concert

On Wednesday the 13th in December,  I finally had a concert (Wavelengths) with my orchestra. We had to rehearse a lot before that. That Saturday during the week, we had to practice 2 hours with the middle school orchestra since our conductor wanted both orchestras to play “Dance of the Tumblers”. In addition to that, we had a sneak-peak or preview on Tuesday which at the same time, we talked about our instruments and the orchestra to the junior students (as in elementary school, not juniors in high school as they call it in the U.S.A). It was great fun that day but there was a lot of rehearsing and practicing before Wavelengths.

On Wednesday we had a two-hour rehearsal as well so as a result of that, I had to miss mathematics to meet this rehearsal. Furthermore, I was able to see the other performers and I thought all were really good. I liked the jazz bands, the singers, the Focus Africa group and even the Samba group as well. There were four segments in the entire concert. The first one was in the plaza where the Focus Africa group played their marimba and the Samba band played their instruments.

After that, the audience had to move to the second segment in the auditorium which was the bands such as the jazz bands. The third segment was the singers and there were many. I especially enjoyed the small group of high school singers which were really good. Kind of like High School Musical, just joking. Anyways, the final segment was the orchestral one and that is where I played.

During the second-half of the first piece which was the Holzberg piece or Suite im Alten Style prelude, my endpin of the cello slipped and some saw it who were at the front but luckily not my parents. In order to not cause any trouble, I had to hold the cello tightly and in some parts, fake what I was playing. However, the other two pieces went really well despite the fact that I didn’t have much room as I normally do because I was much closer to my cellist next to me on the left and really close to the violist on my right, therefore, hindering my performance.

Finally, even though there were some accidents and mistakes (not necessarily in the piece), my family, including my grandmother who was visiting, though it was amazing to hear me.

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Orchestra

I am also apart of the High School orchestra where I play the cello, A.K.A violoncello. We will have a concert on December 13th and we have been working on Beethoven’s 5th Symphony Finale and the Dance of the Tumblers by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakoff from “Snow Maiden” which was arranged by Sandra Dackow. However, we have also been working on another piece called Suite Im Alten style composed by Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian Composer, which I thought was a rather difficult piece than the first two.I have been working a lot on my articulation and bowing which are the two areas I struggle the most. We have got a lot of Violinists but only two playing the viola. We also got many playing flutes and clarinets, and some playing brass instruments as well.  Although it can be tough because many have been playing for many more years than me because they are older, it has been really rewarding and I have improved a lot. Furthermore,  my grandmother will be visiting in December and it it will be a great pleasure to show her what I have done in my concert. My aunt, a composer and music enthusiast, really like the music we are playing and I have kept the music as a surprise to my family, including my grandmother. All in all, it has been great pleasure joining the Orchestra and the pieces are really good.

Update: 15th March
I am now playing a piece by Carl Nielsen which is the Scene Music for the play Aladdin. It is also called the Oriental Festmarch. I am also playing a piece by Joseph Hayden and it is called Menuette in D major. We will have a concert on the 24th of March and I feel really good about the pieces. We have focused on intonation as well as tempo.

Ludwig van Beethoven:

Me standing up after a Middle School Performance with the cello:

 

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakoff:

Edvard Greig:

Carl Nielsen:

Image result for carl nielsen

Joseph Hayden:

Image result for joseph haydn

Aladdin:

Image result for aladdin

Courtesy and Quick Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAI_National_Symphony_Orchestra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Haydn

https://www.paladino.at/people/nikolay-rimsky-korsakov

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/edvard-grieg-462.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Nielsen