Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 04-08-19 12:58 <=-

If someone says, I'll give you $100 to play Kanon,
what do you do?

Probably go for it, unless you really did have other options for the date.... but hopefully wouldn't be the only piece you were asked to
play...

I've not tried to learn a cello part for a long
time. Wonder how long this one would take - it's
only 8 notes, after all. Probably the most demeaning
piece in the repertoire, for cellists anyway.

I have an organ version of it... that part is in the pedals.... when
I've played it, many a time I've had Richard on the bench with me,
turning pages, and doing that almost mindless part, freeing me to
concentrate on the much more challenging upper three voices on the two manuals... ;) He's always done creditably... (G)

In about 6 weeks I get to play
Fiddler on the Roof; I said yes purely for the dough.

Are you playing the Fiddler violin part...? or just part of an
ensemble...?

Yah, I'se the real thing.

I'm presuming that you have that part indelibly in your memory so that
reading music would be superfluous, even if you could see it...?

Despite my recent history, I'm not accustomed to
rubbing elbows with people who perform gratis.

Ah... that's the difference between being a professional or being a
talented amateur... While we've had (and still do at the moment)

Talented amateurs get to choose their gigs.
Beyond that there's this vast area of varying
degrees of slavery and indenture, until one gets
to be Yo-Yo, which doesn't happen very often.

Once one retires, does that get one into the ranks of the talented
amateurs...? ;)

professional musicians as part of our church, most are and have been

RPO people among them, right?

Yup, along with Roberts Wesleyan faculty, and connections with other
music schools (Hochstein, Eastman, etc)....

more in the talented amateur category (along with, of course, some of
the less talented as well).... So more of my experience has been with

They're tolerable unless they get an attitude.
Chipped notes and skipped beats are forgivable
when there's kindliness and good intent behind.
If they don't happen in performance.

Are you referring to the less talented there...? or the talented...? :) Generally any performance ends up pretty decent, the more talented
covering for the less... the less talented getting some experience that
helps them grow, too... :)

the latter... and both family and church ensembles have tended to have
been a mix... two of Aunt Sylvia's daughters became professional
musicians, one a violist and the other (now deceased) a cellist... but always were also part of their family ensembles... :)

Was there a conscious effort to mold the
family members into ensembles? Ma and Pa
playing the violin, perhaps, which leaves
viola and cello for the kids.

Both parents played the piano, quite creditably... Not sure if Aunt
Sylvia played any string instrument or not... Uncle Sam also played
recorder (fipple flute), and I think Aunt Sylvia did also... Lydia put
together a family group for my wedding consisting of mostly their family
on recorders and strings... But in their family, I'm pretty sure that
all five girls learned to play some string instrument, probably the
other three were all violins... but they didn't go on to be
professionals... Sheila, the cellist, taught cello, viola and violin...
They also sang together as a family... :)

He knew she taught at SUNY-Buff and played in the
Philharmonic but was not overly concerned with the
details. He himself was not an intellectual nor
very artistique.

Seems like a bit of a distance in their relationship as well as a lack
of concern for the details....

They adored each other. But he was a handyman
and house painter, and she was one of the few
women principals in a sort of major orchestra.
Nisalliances sometimes work.

Oh, ok... I just would have thought he'd've been more aware of her work,
but perhaps not... :)

Greenfleeves. Isn't that a pretty unlikely title for a fong?

It's a well-known folksong, after all (like La Follia), that lends

That's a Flanders & Swann reference. I quote them
often when I don't have any G&S on the tip of my
tongue.

Ah.. ok... it felt like that sort of a retort... ;)

"Ah, H2SO4, Professor! Don't synthesize anything
I wouldn't synthesize. And the reciprocal of pi
to your good wife."

Is that F&S, too...? I'm a lot less familiar with their repertoire...

a fun piece to play... :)

I hope you enjoyed the performing.

Well enough... :) I was much more relaxed as part of a trio than I've
been when soloing at such events... (I don't get the jitters when
playing for services, but that's a different setting...)

Oh, yes. I hate being primus, but it's fine
being primus inter pares.

Exactly.

I knew a kid by that name. Played the cello, too.

Coincidence, no doubt... (G) We did pretty well.... at least we weren't embarrassed by our performance, and lots of people thought we did great... ;)

I always take the well wishing with a grain of
salt. Sometimes I use too much salt.

Well, of course, one is more likely to have noticed all the errors and mishaps.... but there are some people whose opinion is genuine and
reality based... ;)

But being one of those myself, I wonder what they're
really thinking!

It depends on the person... I've known some very generous professionals
that even when they do notice the shortcomings will be encouraging to
the performer (and admit to having the bad times themselves)... and also
some rather ungenerous ones that don't notice their own mistakes as much
as they do those of others, and are super-critical... but then the
latter wouldn't be telling you how nicely you performed, either...

ttyl neb

... Apparently, "Now More Cashews!" is code for "Now Only Two Pecans!"

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