Elton John is one of my favorites, and so is the friend who introduced me to 2CELLOS, two young men who play their cellos in pop duets fiercely and well. I mention the megastar because he picked the gentlemen up as part of his band, and they now tour with him, where their opening acts […]
While reading one of my mainstays this morning, Andrew Sullivan, I found a reference to a novella by Leo Tolstoy called The Kreutzer Sonata. Also known as Beethoven’s 9th Sonata for Violin and Piano, the novella’s namesake musical composition is a masterwork, and it has intrigued me since first I heard it . The linked […]
My ignorance pertaining to music is a recurring theme in my life. Today on Facebook, I found some folks poking fun at young people for their musical ignorance of a past legend and I couldn’t help but relate (to the ignorant youngsters, that is!): My first response is to confess that I barely know who […]
I’ve been struggling with a pretty nasty cold or something of the sort since we got back from Wichita. I was even supposed to go back to work for a day and didn’t. I’m mostly better today, a welcome development, since I’m headed back to work after the New Year holiday and have quite a […]
Today marks another Wednesday with no lesson. It’s been a few weeks – the longest stretch without a lesson since I began playing just over a year ago. Though I’ve been off of work and traveling, I’m definitely getting some good practice in. I especially feel I’m improving on my new Gavotte. The minor section […]
While in Wichita last week, I mentioned my interest in digging up more information on the boys choir in which I participated when I was about ten years old to my mother. So on Christmas morning we took a few minutes to go hunting through our family ephemera for whatever we could find. Though we […]
When I was about 10 years old, I participated in a boys choir. The occasion was a major anniversary of some composer or some piece of music – I can no longer remember, but I do remember it was a very big deal for all involved. It was a phenomenal experience; I’ll never forget the […]
It seems I am not fated to practice in isolation. At home, the condo is in a building with 449 others. Of course only about fifteen or twenty of them can realistically experience the joyous sounds of Ryan’s Beginner Violin on a daily basis – few grace the seventeenth floor who do not live on […]
I have no real stages planned for anytime in the foreseeable future, of course, but the violin did make the annual Christmas trek to Wichita with us this year. We rented a little SUV, so we had room to include it, as opposed to the two-seater we own, which, in addition to being as useful […]
Ryan Libel 