Skip to main content

Balletik Happenings

This is an exciting week! Natalie flew down from Boston last weekend, and we have been rehearsing for our upcoming concert at CU.


We are excited about this new program. Titled memory play, our concert consists of delicate repertoire. The perspective of these pieces feels distant, as if remembering a different time and place. 
We are very excited to have two world premieres on this concert: Aphorism 10, by Andrew Paul Jackson, and lyte, by Tim Mainland, a member of the CU music faculty. We will also perform works by Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Marti Epstein, and Elliot Cole.  See the official press release here.

Tonight Natalie and I will present an impromptu improvisation workshop for the CU community. Modeled after an approach from our beloved and admired teacher, Pierre Hurel, we hope to remove some of the anxiety associated with improvising as well as encourage them to play and listen openly. We had the opportunity to present the workshop to the jazz band yesterday, and were very happy with the response of the students. We think they surprised themselves with their insights and ability to express themselves! We were very grateful to two faculty members, Casey Cangelosi and David Ball, for attending and offering their words and thoughts to the students. 

- - - - 

When we picked up Natalie at the airport we came home to a driveway covered with 8 inches of snow. With one snow shovel, a baking sheet and a cake pan we (plus Casey) dug our way into our little house. 


Can't you see it?...

      "Balletik Duo: your one stop shop for chamber music and comically inefficient snow removal."

More to come.

Lovelovelove


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Marimba Body: Superfriends (aka Wrists part 3)

Tendons are like a muscle's alter ego: a superhero that manages to somehow make sure every scenario ends up ok, regardless of villainous plots.  They have undeniable strength, can hold on to just about anything, and save just about anyone. Like Superman and Clark Kent, tendons aren't separate from muscles. They are simply two kinds of soft tissue, gently converging to form one shape.  In a way, one without the other is functionless. Both are needed to form a cohesive whole. Any time a muscle attaches to a bone, a tendon forms the literal connection. Take a look at the diagram below. There's a tendon - drawn here in white - at each end of the bicep and tricep. Though it might be oversimplified to the MD's and DO's out there, each muscle in the body has a tendon at each end to anchor it to the skeleton. What is exceptional about the wrist is the number of highly active tendons running through such a small space.  Not only are there tendons for the wrist,...

Marimba Body: Back Muscles

This essay is all about the muscles of the back, since we talked about the spine in my last segment.  Since I get to talk all about shoulders at PASIC (woohoo!!!) on Friday, I thought a good connection between spine structure and the shoulder joint would be about the muscles of the back that help to protect both. Though I've never experienced it severely first-hand, it seems like there is nothing worse than constant back pain.  Ask anyone who has dealt with it and they will say that you must  protect your back so you never  feel what they do.  Doctors warn their patients that once they have one surgery, chances are they will need more.  (This makes sense, as you can't fix one part of the long spinal structure without later needing to correct other areas.) There's good news, though: keeping the muscles of the back strong, and freely aligning the spine, can help us lead pain and surgery-free lives. Waterfall Muscles source source   ...

Marimba Body: Aching Elbows

As we gear up for fall and the concert season ahead, whether as a student, professor, or touring artist, it's a good time to reflect on our technical habits.  For those that took time off over the summer, there's the process of re-integrating hours of practice. For those that are preparing entire new programs (ehhem...yours truly), there's the challenge of not rushing through the learning process, mentally and physically.  Throughout my time writing the Marimba Body series, folks have approached me with different questions of "do you have anything about ___?"  Coming up a few times is the issue of elbow pain - what it is, how we get it, and how to heal and then prevent it.  Here's what I've learned, experienced, and found. Three Common Pain Areas Most commonly, percussionists experience elbow pain: - on the outside of the elbow (lateral epicondylitis, aka: tennis elbow) - on the inside of the elbow (medial epicondylitis, aka: golfer's elb...