The most recent podcast updates.
Hugo Becker and his epitomizing Romantic work entitled Love Scenes, Op. 7 (“Liebesleben”) has enthralled me for some reason. Not least because I felt every bit of the emotion for all six movements when I was courting my wife. It nearly perfectly tells my story in musical imagery. If the Renaissance had its word painting the Romantic era had its Tone Poems (Tonbilder).
Few know this fact about me, but I once composed poems at a furious rate and consistently for most of my undergrad years. In a way, this set of Love Scenes encapsulates my thoughts in a wonderful way. Although my poetry was nearly all an emotional wreck of negativity and this musical poetry is mostly positive, it is easy for me to relate to.
Love Scenes: The Gist of the Poetry
The movements show the progression of two people meeting, thinking about each other, wanting to be together, doubting if the other one likes the other in return, asking if it could be possible, and getting an answer.
Episode 60: Hugo Becker and “Love Scenes”
This episode is mostly a short bio about the cellist/composer H. Becker. It also contains my own thoughts about the music. If you are interested in hearing the entire opus go to my Youtube channel for a listen.
Special Series in the Podcast.
Next, I have strong desire to become more proficient in German. More specifically, it would be great to learn more of the musical terminology auf Deutsch. I never studied music in German formally, except a period of six months of cello lessons with a wonderful Austrian lady.
Why post episodes of me learning German musical words and how to express my thoughts in German?
As it turns out I am now teaching one cello lesson in German to a native German speaker. It sounds crazy, and I never imagined I would ever have this sort of mind-bending opportunity, but here I am.
Basically, I falter and cannot find the proper words (never mind my teeth-clinching grammar mistakes). I know how to speak German in a casual way. That’s all I ever used it for. Now I need to know musical jargon and how to say it properly so the student can benefit from my knowledge of how to play cello.
The special series—as of yet undetermined in length/number of episodes—will be me going through Hermann Heberlein’s Self-Instructor for Cello, Part I. There will be readings and playing of musical examples initially. As I get more comfortable with the verbage I will gradually include me talking about the concepts in my own words (in German).
This is not intended for anyone to willingly listen to. Rather, I do it for my own character building exercise. Just by placing it in the public for anyone to listen to puts pressure on me to practice well. Thanks for your support and let me know how you approach learning a hard subject, one in which you feel self-conscious about.
TravelingCelloJourney 