Stumbling Upon a Gem

Duet
Originally uploaded by csquard

Our middle son is in 4th grade and chose the cello when looking to pick an instrument for orchestra (our eldest plays the viola). The viola rarely gets cracked open at night, which we're OK with. Our eldest enjoys playing but isn't really into it, so we're not going to try and turn him into a wunderkind.

The cello is another matter. He's been into it since he got it and requested lessons from a musician at our church. She also teaches music class to our youngest at the church. I had the opportunity to take him once when my wife was out of town. It was me and eight stay-at-home mom's with their two and three year-olds lounging on the floor, clapping and dancing around. Maybe in some cities, it's called Group Therapy.

Anyways, he's working on a solo for the recital coming in the spring sometime, and he's doing just great. He wants to take his cello to the mountains this weekend for some reason, so I'm sure we'll dutifully stuff it into the minivan.

My favorite cello music has to be Bach's Cello Suite, which may be familiar to you from Yo-Yo Ma's performance in "Master and Commander," the Russell Crowe movie.



He puts so much into his music. I listen to this on iTunes all the time.

Mstislav Rostropovich, a Russian cellist, plays the same piece in 1991.

As I wandered on YouTube, I discovered an incredible gem. Again, hopefully old news to some of you, but I found an arrangement from the late Michael Hedges at the end of a concert he did in the summer of 1987.



He was a revolutionary acoustic guitarist, laying the groundwork for the likes of today's Kaki King among others. (btw, Kaki will be playing at The Tractor Tavern tonight at 9:00PM in Seattle, just in case anyone can get the nanny to watch the kids tonight...) On a side note, I found out The Wife is eligible for quadruple reward points from DSW Shoes as their only customer to buy 100 pairs of shoes in 2007.

I'm planning to download some of his music later today. The instrument he's playing is referred to as the harp guitar in the YouTube, which I've never heard of but was pretty neat. This was at the end of a concert in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It will blow you away...