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Bach Methodology

Bach, Blog, Early Music, Essays, Marlboro Music /

Since I left the Midwest and moved back to Philadelphia a couple of years ago, I haven’t made music with any period instrumentalists here.  In early January this year, I debuted my violoncello da spalla, beautifully built by Dmitry Badiarov, in a concert of Bach cantata BWV 41 with the period instruments, but that was not in Philadelphia— it was in Bloomington, Indiana.  I should be networking harder to make early music connections here, indeed, but it isn’t easy for me… It is so true that your networking base and strong connections are developed while you’re in school, and it gets much harder after that. But since I left Bloomington, […]

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I’m still here!

Bach, Blog, Marlboro Music, Random /

It’s been more than a half year since I posted the previous blog entry…  I don’t know how I let the time get away like this.  I still have much to say, and I still love to write when I have the time that I can somehow justify spending for blogging. One big reason I didn’t write during this past summer and in the fall this year (2013) was definitely my exhaustion at Marlboro Music Festival— it was the busiest summer I ever had.  Having no true days off for 8+ weeks, and getting no fishing (to me a real therapeutic activity) during the festival season for 7 weeks, seriously

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Selfish self-deprecation

1件のコメント / About myself, Bach, Music /

Fairly recently, I had an opportunity to play the prelude from Bach’s cello suite VI on the violoncello da spalla to a small crowd in a modest suburban church.  The pressure was almost non-existent; I’d played some cello duets there in the past and I was already familiar with this sanctuary.  Not many classically trained musicians and experienced listeners were there.  Many of them were just kids…! It was a very good chance to start playing Bach solos on the spalla for someone.  I was even going with five full synthetic strings to make some technical elements more forgiving, although my preference to gut strings hadn’t diminished a bit. But

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Gamut Bach Ensemble

Bach, Music /

In March 2005, I organized a Bach ensemble and performed 4 cantatas in a concert in Tokyo.  It was a group consists of the supportive and willing members of Bach Collegium Japan and my friends from Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts)— I can say it was an ideal ensemble in the realistic realm, or perhaps it was beyond my plausible ideal…  In some sections I had those players whom I’d pick for my fantasy Bach ensemble!  And despite my shortcomings as a director, we as a team did put together a successful and memorable concert.  I believe I had learned and grown as an organizer and conductor through the

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The Compleat Violoncellist

1件のコメント / Bach, Blog, Football, Music /

My fixation on the cello playing stems from my fascination with basso continuo. It’s not that continuo part is extremely important in baroque music — of course it is — but what fascinates me most is how continuo playing can dictate the outcome of a whole performance.  The leader of the continuo group is like the quarterback of the offensive side of a football team; not only that he/she can drive the whole ensemble forward, but also that he/she can make the soloist(s) perform so much better, in the same way a good QB can make the offensive skill position players play lights-out. My mentor Hidemi Suzuki is, by far,

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Context

Bach, Early Music, Essays /

(Originally posted on February 20, 2011) Fairly recently on facebook, I commented on an online video clip that I watched earlier.  It was of an European virtuoso violinist making a recording of Bach violin concertos.  In the video this young violinist said: “I love to hear about authentic interpretation and baroque violins; however, we do not know how it was actually played. So the freedom of interpretation is much wider than some people might think.  I do believe that I play for the people of the 21st century.”  My comment was about this quote that stuck with me… It struck me as too shallow a thought for an established violinist

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Violoncello piccolo da spalla

3件のコメント / Bach, Blog, Marlboro Music, Music /

(Originally posted on October 30, 2010) This is a dream instrument for any violinists and violists who want to play the cello.  And this is the dream instrument for a guy like me who wants to do Bach cantatas that call for this instrument.  It is, for me, a quite essential instrument!  Sure, you can go buy a chin-cello to play some cello pieces if you are a violinist/violist.  But this instrument has an E string that chin-cello doesn’t have, and it is more like a smaller cello while the chin-cello is just like a huge viola.  This  instrument is often called the violoncello piccolo [da spalla (shoulder)], or the

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September in Japan

About myself, Bach, Blog, Fishing /

(Originally posted on October 3, 2010) I was in Japan during the most of September.  It was nice to be back in Japan for a while— seeing familiar faces and having some Japanese goodies were priceless.  But some would wonder (well, I did) why I wanted to go to Japan when not going to Japan might have been a smarter choice from a couple of standpoints; one: I just went through a financial hardship after my wrist fracture and I would need to save the money I just earned during summer; and two: I’m preparing for my first qualifying exam and I should be studying for it if I wanted

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Lake Sadawga

2件のコメント / Bach, Blog, Fishing, Marlboro Music /

(Originally posted on September 25, 2010) This past summer during the Marlboro Music Festival season, my buddy Miles and I went to a lake we had never fished before.  We knew of this lake for a couple of years at least, but we had been too busy exploring Harriman Reservoir as our primary fishing water.  Probably we go fishing on a boat about 10 times a season, and we usually get to fish for a couple of hours at a time — that isn’t really enough to explore Harriman.  We had tried a few different boat launching sites, different tackles, and different tactics there during a few Marlboro seasons…  And

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The 2010 Marlboro Season

About myself, Bach, Blog, Marlboro Music /

(Originally posted on August 19, 2010) The 2010 Marlboro season has ended.  This morning, for the first time in 8+ weeks, I woke up in a room that was not Random North 7.  I’m no longer in Marlboro— and I don’t even want to think what that means to me.  I know, I’ll just have to face the harsh reality. This season was a difficult one for me.  Not only that I had heavier loads this year as head librarian, but also that especially earlier I had been always physically exhausted, probably because of the lifestyle-shift from inactive and calm one in the plaster cast before the season to very

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