gestures Archives

Tour of Duty, Tour of Pleasure — by Aron Zelkowicz

A postcard from Vienna: By the time the Danube winds into concrete beds through Stadtpark, the water is just a trickle. Children in their parkas swing on the playground, the U-bahn train pulls into its station, and people stroll or bike over the canal’s bridges, all within a stone’s throw of the surface. This view from our hotel is lovely and quaint, for those of us on tour with the Pittsburgh Symphony that have north-facing rooms (those with opposite views can peer down on the bustling skating rink next door). Pittsburghers, no strangers to rivers and bridges, hardly needed reminders of the horrible flooding that occurred this week. The tame canal is at odds with what we’ve seen on the front page of local papers and all over TV. I [...]

By Aron Zelkowicz|2017-10-30T05:18:40-04:00November 9th, 2012|Categories: Cello Travel, Orchestra|Tags: challenges, Zelkowicz, endpin, live performances, stage, audience, perspective, Dvorak, themes, illness, acoustics, cello, tour, cellobello, orchestras, gestures, struggle, musicians, Aron|

The Tools of Embodied Music® – the Feldenkrais Method® for Musicians (Part 2)

The tools of Embodied Music® – the Feldenkrais Method® for Musicians: 1. Movement 2. Awareness 3. Reeducation of perception 4. Learning to change habits 5. Learning to use the whole self in playing Movement Dr. Feldenkrais used to say: “Movement is life. Without it, life is inconceivable. Improve your movement and you improve your life”. One can use the word “music” instead of “life” and the meaning will be as true. Playing an instrument is a succession of movements. The properties of movement are the properties of sound as well: time, space, weight, rhythmical impulse, gesture, momentum towards an action, the process of speeding gradually and slowing down gradually. Improving these properties in our movements will make it easier to achieve the sounds we want. We derive meaning from [...]

By Aliza Stewart|2019-03-04T03:02:03-05:00May 31st, 2012|Categories: Beyond the Traditional, Performance, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: cellobello, Aliza, music, Dr. Feldenkrais, Awareness, movement lessons, Stewart, improvement, perception, movement, gestures, cello, Injuries|

Raising the Arms (Part 2) — by Selma Gokcen

A wheel needs a central point of contact, an axis, in order to turn and spin. One never loses touch with one's central point—the spine—as one moves through life. But society today has lost that core. It has no idea where it is going. - Svami Purna When I was well into my studies as a young cellist, I became fascinated with the question: How does one raise the arms to play? My naive mind wondered: is there a wrong way and a right way, and how does one distinguish between the two? I read a great many books on cello technique and for years I asked this question of my teachers. It seemed to me to be a very important gesture that most people took for granted, and my [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-09T01:35:06-04:00May 7th, 2012|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Performance, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: connection, Alexander Technique, cello, Gokcen, cellobello, music, Selma, Preparation, gestures, Awareness, cello technique, Primary Control, sound production, injury, energy|

Learning Through Listening — by Yeesun Kim

The other day in my studio class, an excellent question was brought up by one of the students. How do we use the recordings of artists for study purposes? What is the right way and amount to listen to these recordings? How much imitation is acceptable? Can it be somehow detrimental? We had a wonderful discussion where everyone chimed in to share their experiences and thoughts about this question. It is a very important issue to be thinking about, considering how much easier it is to be downloading recordings than attending concerts these days. There are so many ways to collect many different versions of a piece one is interested in. Also, we can listen to it as many times and at any time of the day as we please. [...]

By Yeesun Kim|2022-09-12T14:32:15-04:00June 6th, 2011|Categories: Artistic Vision, Self Discovery|Tags: artistry, musical language, Symphony, cello, atmosphere, cellobello, learning, NEC, communication, New England Conservatory, Listening, gestures, Sound, recordings, sound production, musical expression, performance, musical instruments, Kim, Production, Teaching, Yeesun, studying|

Running After What is Behind You — by Selma Gokcen

Much of our training as cellists has us working long hours, working hard, but are we working smart? Do we know what is productive and what is counter-productive in our manner of working? How do we know? Is it possible to know? Many years after my cello study at the Juilliard School, I hit a wall. I could not go further in my work with the traditional methods of cello technique, cello etudes, additional lessons and hours of practice. It seemed I was going round in a circle. I finally realised that solution to problems at the instrument might lie somewhere beyond the green pastures I had hitherto spent my life exploring. I said to myself: Maybe the study of music is like science. You have to go into the [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-08T02:41:22-04:00May 18th, 2011|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: productive, body awareness, Habits, gestures, balance, head, Coordination, nature, Alexander Technique, Spine, Gokcen, sports, training, Selma, sensory awareness, artistry, artists, back|