Amateur Musician

Piano, Viola

[julienpeluche]

Friends, Yesterday I ran my first 5K race in the Haddonfield Snowflake Run. This was my first race ever - and I dedicated it to Gabe Grunewald who inspired me to start running almost a year ago during my own cancer treatment. I have made a donation to Brave like Gabe (bravelikegabe.org) #bravelikegabe today and want to encourage all of you reading this to do the same. I never met Gabe and I do not know anyone at Team Gabe, but this is my story. A year ago I was undergoing a 45 day course of radiation for a recurrence of prostate cancer. This has been my 3rd battle with cancer. While waiting my turn in the treatment room, I noticed a magazine on the coffee table in the waiting room and the cover story was about Gabe Grunewald. Without my glasses, I could not see the text to read the story. It was pretty comical to see me open it on the table and see if I could get high enough to read it. Even with that - it clicked, it resonated and it completely captivated me. OK, so I stole the magazine after treatment so that I could read it at home with my glasses (are you happy now?). My own experience with treatment allowed me to understand what others with cancer go through. I “got it” like no other thing I have ever understood in my life - everything about it. So I started to run. Then in June when Gabe passed away I was devastated and despondent for a while, but intensified my training to where I ran a 5K yesterday. Today I am fine, but people with rare cancers are struggling. The #bravelikegabe foundation supports research into rare cancers. So that’s why I am dedicating this run, and every mile that I run from here on out to Gabe and the foundation. As she said, “I’ve got big fears but my dreams are bigger”. #runningonHope I don’t really know if I am a runner yet, but I know I have taken the first step and that I love this and just can’t see ever willingly giving this up. In this past year, Gabe, running and cancer have taught me everything I need to know about life. If you were planning to make any year end donations this year, consider #bravelikegabe it supports rare cancer research and hope. #runningonhope #bravelikegabe. https://www.instagram.com/p/B51ivyYBiTk/?igshid=kvfj61sgzs2s

[julienpeluche]

... and a follow up to my hugely orch-dork post about Fanny Mendelssohn’s incorrect portrait on a playlist of a streaming service. They have corrected the portrait and now show the real Fanny Mendelssohn, not Cecile Jeanrenaud. A small victory for musicology and justice for Fanny. PS if you have never heard her piano trios or piano pieces, they are stunning, complex and full of emotion. https://www.instagram.com/p/B0RZEqkB2y-/?igshid=1ryqb69iohzod

[julienpeluche]

Oh, I’ve just done the most geeky music nerd thing EVER. E V E R. The first picture is of a playlist I just saw on a classical music streaming service. Only the portrait is not that of Fanny Mendelssohn, but that of Cécile Jeanrenaud, Felix’ wife. The second picture is the real Fanny Mendelssohn. But Fanny’s full name was Cäcilie. Easy to see how this could be confusing. But I set that pedantically obnoxious e-mail to this service pointing out the error. I regret nothing. https://www.instagram.com/p/B0J5cNIByaG/?igshid=hm4rntc7n05t

[julienpeluche]

Cicero apparently said, “If you have a garden and a library, you lack for nothing “. I love this garden. This is Toronto’s Music Garden where each section follows one of the movements from Bach’s G maj Cello suite. It was partly designed by Yo Yo Ma. We are looking at the path leading up to mvmt 5, the minuet. Can you imagine the pure bliss of walking this garden whilst listening to Yo Yo Ma playing each movement as you stroll along?

[thecuriouspianist]

Yo Yo Ma on practicing:

I actually enjoy practicing more and more. […]  As a child, I practiced because I had to practice and you didn’t want to mess up. But that’s not a good thing. You want to please your teacher, you want to please your parents, you want to please your peers. 

And now I practice because I’ve experienced so much love that you practice out of loving a phrase, loving motivic change, loving a structure or harmony change or the way a sound can get to something.

[ from an interview in the Sept 2016 issue of Strings. image via ]