So there are 30 days left of the IndieGogo fundraiser. as uncomfortable as it may make me, I’m going to turn up the volume on my efforts a little bit. I’ve gotten emails from people I thought were well tuned into my social media outlets saying “What’s this I hear about you not having a cello?” so I’m not reaching nearly as many people as I thought I was.

As of the time of this posting, $4276 has been raised, leaving 29 days to raise the balance of $10, 724.  Please spread the word as best you can, and remember that aside from all of the perks (lessons, books, subscriptions, etc) donating offers, I am giving an hour of time for every $50 raised to 5 amazing local charities. Click here to be taken to the fundraising site! 

Here are the latest donors, to whom I am so grateful:

The Morgan Family (Theresa, Dustin, Ani and Lux)

Erin Podolny

and 3 anonymous sponsors

Now, for the second half of the post. My students come up with some ridiculous/funny things during lessons. Sometimes it’s after ten failures, each more spectacular than the last. Sometimes it’s an offhanded comment. Sometimes it’s what happens when a young maestro first takes the stage and the pressure kicks in. Here are 10 things that are particularly emblematic of the cello learning experience. The good, the bad and the “well that just got you kicked out of my studio.”

10. “No, no. It doesn’t sound like a duck. It sounds like a sad moose. Trust me. I’m from Alaska.”

9. “Am I…hurting it?”

8. “No, I’m serious. She wants to leave me if I don’t start sounding better. The kids agree with her.”

7. “Hello, my name is Aaron. I’ve been playing the cello for 6 months and today I’m going to perform May Time by the famed Italian composer Con Moto.”

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6. (after I’d demonstrated) “I don’t want to do it that way. I mean, you don’t sound very good, yourself.”

5. “What do you mean I have to remove my acrylic nails? Oh hell no. I am OUT of here.”

4. “It sounded great after a day, so I took the rest of the week off.” (this has been said many times!!)

3. “I think Bach must have secretly hated cellists. I hate him now, that’s for sure.”

2. “The good thing about playing the cello is that you don’t have to count as much as the other instruments.” (this one gives me the worst giggles because it is as true as it is false. All great instrumentalists count, and count well. But growing up playing in amateur groups and later as a ringer, it is astonishing how the strings can be something of a wash of sound, spilling over the beats like a too-full bucket being carried up a bumpy road.)

1. “I thought this was going to be easy.”

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2 Responses

  1. Guilty of #1!! After 9 years I still wonder how I could have been so dumb! Oh yeah, you professionals make it LOOK easy! I didn’t know you put in lots of hard work too.

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