Welkom op de pagina 'tijdschrift-artikelen/documenten'. Op deze pagina interessante artikelen over beroemde en minder beroemde musici die iets belangrijks te melden hebben en zo in de publiciteit zijn gekomen.

Jaap van Zweden: eerste viool

Jaap van Zweden biedt Maartje van Weegen zijn eerste viool aan.

Jaap van Zweden doneerde vandaag in de uitzending bij Maartje van Weegen de kinderviool waarop hij het Oscar Backconcours won aan Klassiek Geeft!

In een speciale locatie-uitzending vanuit Desmet Studio in Amsterdam vertelde Jaap van Zweden over zijn betrokkenheid bij het project en het belang van muziek voor kinderen.

Radio 4 haakt met Klassiek geeft aan bij de campagne Muziek telt! die zich inzet voor de muziekeducatie aan basisschoolkinderen, maar te kampen heeft met een groot tekort aan instrumenten. De teller van het aantal gedoneerde instrumenten staat op ruim 150.

Maartje van Weegen, Bas Melis en Jaap van Zweden

Vorige week vrijdag trapte Klassiek geeft af met een optreden van violiste Janine Jansen en 130 kinderen van het leerorkest.

De programma’s op Radio 4 staan nog een week in het teken van de inzamelingsactie. U kunt ook een instrument of een geldbedrag doneren via de website: www.radio4.nl/klassiekgeeft

1. Don’t ignore pain. Pain is an indicator. Your body is trying to tell you something. Stop playing, ice the area, take some time off, and try to analyze what may have caused the problem. Don’t forget to consider nonmusical activities as well as technique at the instrument.
2. Don’t be macho. Don’t try to practice for hours and hours. Consistency is more important than marathons. Don’t practice everything fortissimo and up to tempo. Pace yourself by practicing at slower tempos and with softer dynamics.
3. Don’t practice mindlessly. Use a tape recorder to practice with critical ears. Analyze and isolate
problems in your repertoire rather than going over and over a passage. Have a realistic plan that you’d like to accomplish before you start practicing. Don’t play through pieces all the time. Vary the types of music you practice. Physically, you use different muscles for different kinds of passages or repertoire, so you actually give yourself a break when you switch to another type of piece. It is more effective to limit time on a difficult passage and to return to it later in the day than to keep playing it over and over.
4. Don’t ignore chewed-up fingers. Either your bridge is too high or you’re pressing your fingers too hard or both. It doesn’t take hammering to press strings down. Only the playing finger should be in playing tension; in other words, don’t hold your fingers down. Release all nonplaying fingers.
5. Don’t jump into playing a full schedule after a vacation, after being sick, or especially after an
injury. Take time to get back into shape gradually. It’s better to play for short periods more often throughout the day than to practice in long chunks. Start with ten to fifteen minutes. Increase the number of ten-minute practice periods per day before increasing the length of time.
By Janet Horvath

Pinchas Zuckerman en Shlomo Mintz, beiden leerlingen van de legendarische Israëlische violiste Ilona Feher.

At first glance elite violinists and cellists may not seem to have much in common with top athletes, but inside the mind, it’s much of a muchness. "In sports psychology, 'mental toughness' seems to arise more than any other word," says Dr. Noa Kageyama, a noted psychologist, in describing the phenomenon of excelling despite adverse conditions, even playing through pain or in freezing temperatures.
Kageyama, who builds these same attributes in elite musicians at the Juilliard School of Music, says that the sports world is increasingly lending these vital tropes to musicians. With more talented musicians than ever competing for limited spots in the professional string world, surviving pressure —or even thriving on pressure—could very well be the difference between a conservatory scholarship and the end of a student musician’s performing career.
Kageyama shares a few ways to sharpen one’s mental edge.

1) CHANGE PERSPECTIVE TO WELCOME CHALLENGE
Too often people are willing to dispense with effort and go immediately toward an instant solution, Kageyama says, rather than face the "brick wall" that can arise after a modicum of effort is expended. These challenges should be welcomed instead of shied away from. "In the course of doing anything worth doing, we encounter these brick walls," he says. "Instead of looking at it as an unfortunate and horrible situation, we should view it as a good thing." Musicians should view these metaphorical brick walls not as a barrier, but as a gate that only lets in those who can spend an extra five minutes in the practice room or otherwise keep going when 80 to 90 percent of everyone else has dropped out. Soon that resilient effort has become a habit, and one of the tools necessary for mental toughness.

2) SET REALISTIC GOALS & REWARD EFFORT
Preparing for a spot at a top-five conservatory while a student is still in middle school isn’t productive. A student should be working with a teacher who can lay out bite-size goals that are achievable in 30 seconds, or in a minute, and in gradually larger chunks until the student who was struggling on 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' is channeling Paganini. This, of course, will not happen overnight, but with 'microgoals' leading up to the Holy Grail achievement, it is manageable. Teachers should try leading students in a duo, Kageyama suggests. The small achievement of mimicking a talented teacher’s line of music "is really motivating," he says, and once small bits of effort are rewarded, more will come. Rather than heaping praise on talented students, reward the ones who show dogged persistence. That way, when the brick wall arrives, students will dive in 100 percent.

By Matthew Billington

Barry Green: 28 jaar lang solo bassist bij het Cincinatti Sumphony Orchestra

Barry Green

Exclusive Interview with FBPO’s Jon Liebman
February 22, 2010

Barry Green, a native Californian, served as principal bassist of the Cincinnati Symphony for 28 years and professor of bass at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  Green was also executive director of the International Society of Bassists from 1975 to 1981.

He is the author of the extremely popular The Inner Game of Music, as well as seven “Inner Game” workbooks and a video with W. Timothy Gallwey.  Green recently authored a unique series of books, The Popular Bass Method (five volumes) with jazz bassist Jeff Neighbor.

Green's solo recordings include The Baroque Bass, The Romantic Bass, Contemporary Music for the Double Bass, The Sound of the Bass, Bass Evolution and two recent CDs, Ole-Cool and Live From St. Croix, with Cincinnati pianist-arranger James Hart, percussionist-son Adam Green plus the Spanish Quartet de Barcelone.

In addition to serving as principal bassist with the California Symphony and the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Green currently directs a Young Bassist Program for the San Francisco Symphony Education Department. He also teaches at the University of California-Santa Cruz and remains active as a soloist, educator and clinician in the Bay Area, as well as on tour. 

FBPO: It appears you have made the bass your life's work - performing, teaching, arranging...  What prompted you to take up the instrument in the first place?  Was it your first choice?

BG: My first instrument was accordion when I was 7 years old. A professional accordion player lived across the street and I loved hearing him practice! While in junior high school, I was recruited by the music teacher because I had seven years of musical experience, but didn't play anything that was used in the school band or orchestra. 

My parents said: “The accordion stays at home!  If you want to play something at school, then choose something BIG like the bass or the tuba so it stays at school and doesn't come into the house!!! Your room already has too much junk!” So I chose the tuba first and then went to the bass after a year so I could play in all the school groups. 

It was ironic that I couldn't play the accordion in the school groups, but later, after being the Principal Bassist of the Cincinnati Symphony, I also became the “official” accordionist of the CSO! So that's me playing on our Pops recordings with Erich Kunzel, the Mancini albums, Western themes, movie themes, etc.  My ultimate achievement was being flown in by the Cincinnati Symphony from Paris, France, to play the accordion solo on Victor Victoria at Carnegie Hall! Yes, that's right!  While serving as Principal Bassist with the orchestra, I was on leave of absence studying with François Rabbath and Kunzel insisted that I play the Carnegie Hall tour concert.  So they flew me in as a “guest artist!” I made it to Carnegie Hall playing the accordion solo with the Cincinnati Symphony, but I wasn't allowed to play my accordion in my junior high school band or orchestra! Our music education system missed the mark there!

FBPO: You spent so many years in Cincinnati.  What made you decide to return to your native California?

BG: I loved my time playing in the CSO! Best seat in the house for all those amazing concerts. It also afforded me the opportunity to study the workings of the symphony and the conductors’ efficiency of their instructions, which was the basis for my writing The Inner Game of Music book and more. However, Frank Proto – fellow bassist, composer and dear friend – set the record for requesting “time off” for our pet projects, tours, workshops and musical passions outside of the symphony. I was a native Californian living in the Midwest. After 28 great years in Cincinnati, I discovered that I could do what I’m most passionate about without being a full-time member of an orchestra. I wouldn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to take time off to go to a convention, do a tour, study or write a book. Also, my parents are still kicking and living in Santa Rosa, only about an hour-and-a-half from where I live now.  My brother and cousins live in the Bay Area, too. It was time to go back to California, where everything had begun for me.  While I never worked in the Bay Area before, I did go to San Jose State for a year-and-a-half before transferring to Indiana University for my music education. In California, I was never lacking for work. I also made a point of doing original work in California, so I wouldn’t take anyone else’s job. That's why I started teaching young bassists from scratch. I've now been here for 15 years.

FBPO: You seem to have a real passion for teaching.  Tell me about The Popular Bass Method series.

BG: This book is my third book on bass technique. My first two books, Fundamentals of Double Bass Playing and Advanced Techniques of Double Bass Playing (for college level) and finally this book, all helped me with my new students here in California. My newest book follows the sequence of positions of George Vance's Progressive Bass Studies, which is also based on the Rabbath system. It provides duets and tunes that are more age appropriate for high school-aged students and adults, using classical, folk, jazz, rock, funk and blues tunes and it progresses sequentially. The kids love playing the music! I can't motivate a student when they don't like the tunes they are playing. I've had difficulty keeping the book in print and currently I'm between printings because it is expensive to sit on inventory. It’s currently being handled by Lemur.

FBPO: Your "Inner Game" series has been phenomenally successful, having sold over 250,000 copies.  What is the "inner game" approach? And, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't there some connection to the game of tennis?

BG: Yes. The Inner Game of Music is based on The Inner Game of Tennis. I wrote that book under the mentorship of Timothy Gallwey, the author.  Technically, the book is written by me along with Gallwey. I have also done seven workbooks for individuals and ensembles in this series and a video, as well. I have a website devoted to these topics. The concept is simple and based on three skills of concentration: awareness, commitment, and trust.

The goal is to focus on the music and not your doubts and fears. With proper focus, you connect with the good stuff. It's that simple. The principles are based on the Eastern philosophy that has been around for thousands of years and it still works. Since The Inner Game of Music, I have written two more books: The Mastery of Music and 10 pathways to True Artistry, which is based on qualities of the human spirit, like passion, courage, confidence, tolerance, creativity, humor, communication, etc. “Pathways” is very inspirational and based on the human spirit.  I developed it based on over 120 interviews with great musicians like Bobby McFerrin, Joshua Bell, Dave Brubeck and Frederica VonStade. Both these books are published by Broadway/Doubleday and easily available in bookstores and online merchants like amazon.com.

My most recent book was published last September by GIA MUSIC.  It’s called Bringing Music to Life andit covers the same approach as The Inner Game of Music, but it’s for the body! It deals with channeling music through the performing artist/actors, dancers and musicians. It is also based on the mastery of just three body skills: breath, pulse, and movement. We are currently preparing a DVD that may be released by GIA this spring. It’s designed for the individual as well as groups, teachers and high schools. I'm most excited about what I am doing now and this is my current passion.

FBPO: You've also been pretty prolific in your CD releases.  Can you touch on a few highlights?

BG: I did five solo albums on vinyl, none of which has been converted to CD. Frankly, I'm a bit embarrassed to re-issue them, as I really don't play like that any more. They’re old – I guess so am I! – but I like to think I’ve aged like a bottle of wine, having gotten better over time! Over the last fifteen years, I’ve recorded two CDs and, most recently, I’ve put several live concert selections on YouTube under my name or a weird spelling of “doublebbassist.” These recent recordings best represent my current playing. [Editor’s note: See Barry’s FBPO video submission, February 3, 2010).]

How about Ole-Cool, your latest release?

Ole-Cool was recorded when I came to California 15 years ago.  It represents my collaborations in Spain and America with two groups of colleagues. My American stuff was based on arrangements of my pianist James Hart, with swinging baroque sonatas by Bach and Vivaldi. The Spanish side was a similar fusion of Spanish music in a contemporary flamenco style.

A few years ago, I recorded Live from St.Croix, which is closer to the playing style I embrace now. That concert was also with Jim Hart, my Cincinnati pianist. We played music of Proto, Tony Osborne and more, all with bass and piano and all live. I also did a jazz CD called Seat of the Pants, with music by Lenny Carlson.

FBPO: What was it like to study with François Rabbath?

BG: Well, I first brought Rabbath to the U.S when we did our Bass Schools in Cincinnati program in 1978, so I have known and used his materials with my students for many years. I ran his institute in Cincinnati and brought him to California several times in the ’90s, as well.

I didn't really study with François for my own bass playing until 1990 and I'm not even sure about that date. I was playing Jon Deak's Jack and the Beanstalk as soloist with the CSO and we worked on that. In 1988 I heard François play Reitba at the UCLA ISB (International Society of Bassists) convention and that was the final straw for me that inspired me to make time to go study with him. I wanted to learn how to pay Reitba too! Well, François helped me with Jon Deak's challenging music, but he wouldn't teach me Reitba, actually, ever. I tell this story in the “Passion” chapter of my book, The Mastery of Music. My experience with François was a long, personal journey of letting go of the past and absorbing the new, without a specific timetable.

François treated me like a son. I would spend weeks with him, staying in his home, so lessons went beyond the bass. It is still amazing to hear him in concert. He sounds as good in his late 70s as he did in his 50s – super human! No one can do what he does. I had to take that experience of his advanced technique and allow it to integrate with my own expression. Frankly, I think it has taken me perhaps twenty years to find my own voice with my bass, which was inspired by my work with François. I was initially moved by his presence, his personality and his ability to reach an audience through his bass. This is what I aspire to do now in concerts – make a connection with the people, express and bear my soul and communicate through my body and music. It just happens that I'll hold a bass in my hands while I do that. My hope is to have the bass disappear so I can just share the joy of the inspiration I feel with others in the room. That's my goal and this was what inspired me with François. 

FBPO: What's the Northern California Bass Club?

BG: I have always been an “organization” person, as was the case when I was leading the ISB back in the ’70s and ’80s. So when I came back to California, it was natural for me to organize a bass club with colleagues. We started “Bass Bashes” and got together two or three times a year.  Now we are up to perhaps “Bass 30-something.” We have had just about everybody in the bass business, including jazz, classical and electric bass legends, because many of the players have been colleagues and friends over the years.  They have included Gary Karr, François Rabbath, Edgar Meyer, Ray Brown, John Clayton, John Patitucci, Michael Manring and others.

We also have an educational Bass Bash each spring that allows the students in my San Francisco Symphony Young Bassist Program to perform in ensembles. We offer a guest recital and master class for them. This spring we will have Eric Hansen from BYU be our guest and we will have over a hundred bassists perform in small and large ensembles.

We also have a Summer Bass Camp, called the Golden Gate Bass Camp, which is huge. It is one week in July and includes about sixteen great teachers, a staff of eight and about sixty high school and middle school campers plus adult courses. You can access the bass camp through our sight www.goldengatebasscamp.com . This year's camp is July 19th-25th and takes place in Oakland, California, at Holy Names University. In 2011, we are planning on hosting the ISB International Convention! This is a collaborative project through our Bass Club and San Francisco State University. The official announcement is in the process of being made by the ISB but I’m proud to announce it right here on FBPO first!

FBPO: I admire your energy and your genuine passion for the bass.  You must be working on something - or several somethings! - now.  What can we expect from you next?

BG: I’m working on a DVD that will be a companion to Bringing Music to Life that literally brings these concepts to life.  It’s scheduled to be out in the spring.  Beyond the DVD, the new website will continue this work.  It involves blogs, webcasts, perhaps clinics, interviews, live events, education courses, integrating all the technology that exists today. My goal is to have this site dedicated to everything other than technique, all those things performing artists share having to do with communication and artistry: dancers, actors, musicians etc. The site is in the development stage but it will grow with your participation! Go to www.thegreenartsnetwork.com.

I hope to continue doing a lot of bass playing. I love to play the bass! My latest concert project had to do with listening to music through your body, so I showed YouTube clips of dances and got the audience to stand up and dance to the styles of the music I was about to play. Then I had them sit and move tastefully while I played music based on folk cultures – samba, hora, river dance, tango, etc. I loved this concept and hope to do more of it. I'm still a bass player first.

FBPO: What do you like to do that doesn't involve music?

BG: NIA, which is a path to condition, heal and express yourself through movement and sensation. It’s a dynamic blend of dance arts, martial arts and healing arts, which revolutionized the face of fitness in 1983.  Balancing technical precision with free-form expression, NIA brings the body, mind, emotions and spirit to optimum health through music, movement and self-expression, guided by the sensation of pleasure.

I also love my wife, my children and three grandchildren, nature, living in California, good wine, hiking, jogging, the gym, my Cincinnati Bengals and Reds (I know they sometimes stink!). Most of the time I love traveling and meeting people in different cultures and countries.

Develop a Natural Bow Hold
What Is a Natural Bow Hold?
Rest your right arm at your side. Notice how your fingers curl slightly. That’s your first clue. Keeping this relaxation in your fingers, and your wrist floppy, bend your elbow and bring your hand up to shoul der height. Notice the spread of your top four fingers. That’s your second clue. Even if your thumb is already curling in toward the other fingers, turn your hand over so the palm faces up and let your thumb curl inward, most likely to touch the middle finger at the joint closest to the middle finger’s tip. (Fig. 4a)

Now turn your hand back over, but keep your thumb curling inward (Fig. 4b). That’s your natural bow hold!

Lola Mees, bekend Nedelands violiste en leerlinge van Oskar Back

Maja van der Goes interviewt violiste Lola Mees.

 
We lopen naar appartement nr. tien op de benedenverdieping van het Vegetarisch Zorgcentrum Felixoord aan de Ommershoflaan 35 te Oosterbeek
Op de deur zijn allerlei vogelveertjes bevestigd en daartussen is een plaatje geplakt van een zwarte poedel. Ook hangt er een groot papier met de woorden: ‘Poes in deze kamer. Deur snel sluiten, s.v.p.’ Op ons kloppen komt geen reactie, dus we glippen door een klein kiertje van de deur en ja hoor! Een vrij grote rood-met-witte kater komt ons tegemoet. Lola komt voorzichtig overeind. "Dat is Pike!" zegt ze, terwijl ze me begroet, en: of ik het raam een eindje open wil doen, zodat Pike naar buiten kan, maar niet te ver, want dan krijgt Lola de koude wind in haar nek. De andere poes zal wel onder een kast zitten; die is erg schuw, doordat ze als klein katje is mishandeld. Moortje, de grote zwarte koningspoedel, die we in het park wel eens tegenkwamen, is helaas deze zomer overleden.
 
Maja: "Had je als kind ook al dieren?"
Lola: "Ja, we hadden altijd honden en poezen; ik kreeg zelfs een eigen paard. Mijn eerste hond, ook een Moortje, een middelslag poedel, had ik al toen ik zes jaar was. Mijn vader hield ook varkens, om mest te hebben voor zijn moestuin. Soms kwam een vrachtauto ze halen. Ik vroeg dan: "Waar gaan ze heen?" "Die worden verkocht", zei mijn vader dan. We aten thuis veel wildbraad en gevogelte, want mijn vader was een enthousiast jager. Dat kon toen nog: een jager, die van de natuur hield en van dieren. Dat was in de jaren twintig - ik ben van 1919 - in de streek rond Utrecht. In die tijd hadden de dieren nog ruime leefen voedselgebieden. Onze vestibule lag altijd vol met pas geschoten patrijzen, fazanten, eenden, konijnen, hazen... Op een dag heb ik, als klein meisje van vier, rondgelopen met een dode eend in mijn armen; die vond ik zo lief!
Maar als er ’s avonds gebraden wild op mijn bordje lag, at ik dat gewoon op, want ik associeerde de dieren in de vestibule helemaal niet met wat er op tafel kwam.
Toen ik dertien jaar was, zag ik opeens de connectie. Van de éne dag op de andere at ik geen vlees meer. Mijn ouders accepteerden dat. Vleesvervangers waren er nog niet,
begin jaren dertig, maar zo nu en dan kwam er een jongen op de fiets naar ons toe met een doos pinakernen uit een reformhuis in Utrecht. Heb je wel eens een dennenappel gezien die door een eekhoorn is leeg gegeten? Die heeft er dan de kernen uitgeknaagd. Die kernen vond men een goede vleesvervanger. Hij droeg sandalen van touw, die jongen; dat maakte veel indruk op me."
Maja: "Hoe verging het je later?"
Lola: "Later heb ik een tijdje ook wel weer eens vlees gegeten. Dat kwam, doordat ik, als violiste, altijd veel oefende en veel concerten gaf. Bovendien woonde mijn zoon nog bij me, dus ik had het veel te druk om bewust met voedsel bezig te zijn".

Lola laat een stukje horen van een cd met opnamen van haar als violiste. Prachtig spel; een grote, heel warme toon en zeer virtuoos. Lola Mees, telg uit een bekend Nederlands patriciërsgeslacht, werd op 15 mei 1919 in Zeist geboren als Lola Rudolfine Margaretha Elisabeth Mees. Ze is familie van de Nederlandse pianiste Reinild Mees, studeerde bij Oskar Back aan het Muzieklyceum te Amsterdam in dezelfde tijd als Herman Krebbers en Theo Olof. Ze speelde in verschillende orkesten en gaf vóór en na de oorlog concerten in binnen- en buitenland. Vooral in Nederland en Canada werd zij veel gevraagd om op te treden. Eveneens gaf ze les aan het Muzieklyceum aan het Albert Hahnplantsoen te Amsterdam-Zuid. Voor de Tweede Wereldoorlog gaf Lola Mees recitals met de Joodse pianist Mischa (Michael) Hillesum (Winschoten, 22 september 1920 – Auschwitz, 31 maart 1944). Hij was de broer van Etty (Esther) Hillesum Middelburg, 15 januari 1914 – Auschwitz, 30 november 1943), die vooral bekend werd door haar dagboeken. Helaas hebben Mischa en Etty Hillesum het vernietigingskamp Auschwitz niet overleefd.

Lola was de dochter van Rudolf Adriaan Mees (Rotterdam, 17 november 1876 - Huis ter Heide, 26 augustus 1960) Lid van de firma W. Bunge & Co., importeurs en exporteurs van meekrap, specerijen en Indische producten te Rotterdam. Hij trouwde te Rotterdam op 30 augustus 1905 met Sophia Antje Stenfert Kroese (Tilburg, 2 september 1884 - Utrecht, 12 januari 1968), dochter van Ds. Willem Herman Stenfert Kroese en Lientje Anna Groesbeek. De ouders van Lola kregen drie kinderen: Anna Mees (Amsterdam, 7 september 1906 - ?), Mr. Henri Mees (Zeist, 1 januari 1911 - ?) (Officier in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw). Lola was dus de jongste uit het gezin Mees en scheelde acht jaar met het tweede kind, haar broer Henri.

Lola trouwde op 8 maart 1947 te Toronto (Ontario, Canada) met Dunstan Gurney Himbury (Montreal, 24 juni 1912 - Toronto 30 januari 1975). Hij was de zoon van Samuel Charles Himbury en Rose Gurney. Zijn beroep was brandwacht. Het huwelijk duurde ruim zes jaar: de echtscheiding werd ingeschreven te 's-Gravenhage op 5 mei 1953. Uit dit huwelijk werd één kind, een zoon, geboren. Haar tweede huwelijk was met Maarten Jan Knottenbelt (R.M.W.O.4), (Batavia 12 maart 1920), oud reserve kapitein inf., en zoon van Frederik Hendrik Knottenbelt en Helena Johanna ten Doesschate en  gescheiden echtgenoot van Evelyn Egerton Daly.

Maja: "Hoe ben je in Felixoord terecht gekomen?"
Lola: "Eerst woonde ik in een bungalow, met Moortje, die ik enkele jaren eerder uit het asiel had gehaald, en met de twee poezen. Maar ik werd erg ziek en in 2004 kreeg ik een kamer in Felixoord. Wat ik vreemd vind hier is, dat er mensen in de leiding zitten die geen vegetariër zijn. Dan kunnen ze toch niet begrijpen hoe het is? En, bijvoorbeeld, oordelen over het eten? Ook is me opgevallen, dat veel bewoners op het terrein om ‘spirituele redenen’ vegetariër zijn. Ze willen hun geest rein houden en die niet naar de aarde laten trekken door al dat bloed van de
dieren die gedood zijn. Ook het lijden, de vreselijke angst en de pijn van die dieren zou hun lichaam wel eens negatief kunnen beïnvloeden... Maar dan ben je toch eigenlijk vegetariër.
Sommigen mensen houden niet eens van dieren. Oh, vreselijk, dat lijden van dieren: ik zou minstens één ‘Pistolen – Paultje’ in dienst willen nemen! Die geef ik dan opdracht om een paar dierenmishandelaars en mensen van de vivisectie eens hélemaal in elkaar te slaan! Dat komt er niet zo van, maar ik doe wel íets: in 2002 heb ik een stichting opgericht, het Animal Benefit Fund, waar mensen donaties aan kunnen geven. Dat geld gaat naar kleinere projecten van dierenbeschermers: bijvoorbeeld nieuwe hokken voor asielen, de opvang van afgedankte paarden, het Berenbos waar mishandelde beren worden opgevangen, of het Kattendorp in Harfsen."

Maja: "Ik begrijp dat je niet vaak zelf gekookt hebt in je leven, maar kan je je een vegetarisch gerecht herinneren wat je echt heel lekker vond?"
Lola: "Ooit heb ik ergens een gebonden soep gegeten; romig en heel zacht; er zaten oesterzwammen, tuinkruiden en selderie in, die in een blender heel fijn gemalen waren. Ongelooflijk lekker!
Op deze vrolijke noot nemen we afscheid van Lola Mees en haar poezen.

Lola Mees is op 18 juli 2011 overleden in het rusthuis Felixoord te Oosterbeek.

 
bronnen:

*Nederland's Patriciaat Jaargang 1983, blz. 358

*http://strijkersforum.nl

*http://felixoord.nl

*http://www.muziekweb.nl

*http://www.familiemees.com: website van de Stichting Geslacht Mees

What could be better on a cool fall day in Los Angeles, than to sit by the fireplace in the Heifetz studio at the Colburn School and watch a masterclass with violinist Lara St. John?
This weekend Lara will perform as the soloist in three concerts with the New West Symphony, giving the West-coast premiere of the first violin concerto by Australian composer Matthew Hindson.

We know Lara from her funnest polka album ever and her Mozart collaboration with her brother, Scott, as well as the fact that she travels a lot with her fiddle when she plays all over the globe.

With characteristic down-to-earth humor and modesty, she gave some great advice on Wednesday to three students, two who played the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (first movement, last movement) and one who played the first movement of the Brahms Violin Concerto. So get out your scores, we are going to get specific here!

This was really the first time I'd sat in the Heifetz studio, now used by Robert Lipsett, who holds the Jascha Heifetz Distinguished Violin Chair at the Colburn School. Designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, the hexagon-shaped room once sat in Heifetz's Beverly Hills back yard. After his death, it was dismantled piece-by-piece, held in a warehouse for many years, then re-assembled at Colburn.

Kelsey played the first movement of the Tchaikovsky, with all those wicked passages and "unplayable" notes well in place.

"Intonation is great, sound is great -- maybe have a bit more fun, now that everything is there," Lara said. The Tchaikovsky has so many notes, so much to focus on, but with the most difficult technical hurdles already jumped, one can try letting go and thinking only musically.

Lara wanted the cadenza to keep its momentum, "You lost me there; it's too slow, too sweet and too beautiful for too long," she said. "It's kind of lovely, and I don't think it's supposed to be."

There are also many chords, particularly in the cadenza, that can be played together instead of rolled. For example, the chords at the beginning of the cadenza: even the four-note chords can be played in unison, "think of only the middle strings."

Another part of the cadenza has a double-stop descending chromatic run -- call it a "shake down," because it's like a backwards glissando (slide) with vibrato. The vibrato shakes the hand down the scale. I personally find it rather hard to do well.

So here was Lara's idea for Kelsey, which I think would work for anyone here, maybe even me: "When you're pulling down," she said, "don't vibrate quite so fast. It's nice to hear all the half-steps going down." Her advice reminds me of advice about trills, that a slightly slower but audible trill sounds faster and better to the ear than a very fast but fuzzy one.

She also suggested a neat trick she likes to do for the end of the cadenza, leading back into the orchestra part: trill to a B flat, then change to the B natural trill without changing bow. Change bow, instead, when the flute enters. I'd like to see that live!


Lara works with Kelsey, while Heifetz seems to watch from his desk, left.
Now, some advice about the beautiful theme in the first movement of the Tchaik, which we can find around m. 70, if you have your score. Lara wanted Kelsey to try bowing the theme on the open G string, while doing the normal fingering on the D string. Watch out, Kelsey, it's a portato trap! It's very common for violinists to accidentally do a little "wah wah" with the bow here, sort of enunciating each note with the bow (portato). If you play on the open "G" while fingering it, you can see if you are doing an accidental portato with the bow (BTW, my spell check keeps changing "portato" to "potato." You say "potato," I say "portato"…)

"I have a personal vendetta against portato," Lara said. It does tend to be over-used, and the theme is a little more smooth and musical without it.

More suggestions: make sure the middle of runs are audible, and that very high notes are high enough. For the double-stop triplets around m. 106, Lara suggested that the rests shouldn't be held very long, and in fact, one can even shorten the rests and make the orchestra chase you a little there because it's an exciting place where the music is building. I loved the way Lara demonstrated it, too -- with less resting and very fast triplets, it sounds a lot like the orchestra part. The first triplets can fast so that there is a contrast at m. 114, when one is asked to reign in the triplets and go "poco più lento."

As the next student, Alicia, got ready to play the first movement of the Brahms Concerto, I glanced around again at the Heifetz Studio. There are no right angles in the room, which makes everything easy to hear. A violin is made from wood and so is much of this room -- 2,000-year-old Redwood, in fact, according to Lipsett. Heifetz memorabilia is everywhere: A proclamation for "Jascha Heifetz Day" from the City of LA hangs on the wall; an old-fashioned metronome sits on a shelf; a 1940s television hides in a cabinet and an old-school electric fan sits on the floor. A picture of Heifetz on the desk gives the impression that he is watching over all proceedings in the room. He sits with his hands folded, with one eyebrow raised. Okay. Play.

The Brahms Concerto opens like a roller-coaster: a lot of stressful anticipation, then a big intense climb, and then -- coast.

"This opening is so amazing -- when it really comes off, it's such a rush, " Lara said.


Lara and Alicia
One is required to coast in fives -- shall we call them quintuplet 16th notes? A little unusual. Lara wanted these notes to sound less measured, to be pulled more over the time. "It's rushing, but it's not a tempo thing, it's a feeling thing." She wanted her to ignore the piano and let the diminuendo happen on its own.

The third and final student of the day was Yoonbe, a high school student who played the last movement of the Tchaikovsky concerto with energy and nice contrasts. I was not able to stay for all of Lara's comments (I had to catch the train for my weekly date with my 7-year-old student) but she had one that anyone playing this movement should think about: don't come in too soon, right at the beginning of the piece. The orchestra (or piano) provides a lively lead-in, and one might want to jump right on the moving train. But…

"Don't you want a little more drama here?" Lara asked. Most halls will have a sound delay, so wait until the sound stops, so that the violin's solo entrance can be heard. "Just stand there a while. Wait until that 10-second delay happens."

Then, all eyes and ears will be with you when you take it away.