Braddell Heights

Anything by Brahms is a killer to sightread. Much less the Violin Concerto, the Tragic Overture and the Symphony No 2 all at once. Especially the Symphony No 2's 2nd movement (with the cello solo bits in B major a.k.a.you'll keep missing the A# to your major embarrassment) and the last movement with the fast passages that passes your eyes in a blur.

The 'blur' is caused by two things. It's fast. Your eyes are tearing after not daring to blink for the last 2 hours. If there was anything called hernia of the eyes, it might just occur one of these days considering I have totally no time to practice with my cello exam drawing dangerously near, so every week from now till 29th August spells a sightreading challenge. (and a long and dusty walk to the Braddell Heights CC from Serangoon MRT.)

And all this because I agreed (in my folly) to play for the BH Symphony Orchestra. It was more like a reluctance to say no, considering Noella (my other cello teacher) has been nice enough to take Your Humble Narrator under her wing. (Mrs Ilano says it is an exercise in cellists' ethics, though I never knew such a thing existed) N's an amazing cellist. And amazing's really not the word. During a break in rehearsal today (where I could finally catch up on my blinking) she was practicing the Shostakovich Cello Concerto (read: grossly difficult) from memory, in preparation for some SSO Young Performers Series audition. I suppose you can say it's nothing surprising since she's supposed to be a concert cellist and all, but still?! I gaped in glassy eyed wonder.

Anyway back to today's rehearsal, it was better than last week's, when the uninitiated me was trying to juggle keeping time with bowing correctly and making sure my fingers didn't get stuck playing the fast passages, all the while listening to my japanese desk partner counting 'ichi ni san ichi ni san" under her breath. I think I wasted more energy trying not to laugh (the whole thing was inexplicably hilarious) than on the actual playing. Although it was just N and I in the cello section today it was better because she was easy to follow ie. she did breathe more than the jap cellist and she plays a lot louder too! I think a good desk partner makes a whole lot of difference! (So if you're floundering at the difficult passages you can rely on your partner to cover up, although that's not ethical at all...)

It's time I stopped gushing.