Colorado Suzuki Institute

Isabelle and cello friends backstage at the orchestra concert

Wow. That was a great trip! Isabelle performed a big solo at the Colorado Suzuki Institute Honors Recital. She's amazing. She's solid. She's musical. She has great dresses!

It was a tiring week though. I took Isabelle to four music classes a day. She had master class, rep class, musicianship class and --- da da da da! Orchestra! She was so excited about orchestra. They asked her to be in orchestra and it made here feel so happy and big! She really did do great in that class, too.

She performed on Wednesday in a lilac purple shimmery ball gowny kind of dress. Gavotte by Lully. She got tons of compliments all week and was kind of a star then at the camp. She loved that!

The musicianship class was really good too. It was a theory class. We used a computer program called Auralia by Sibelius, and she loved it. So we have ordered it for her.

The teachers were really fine.

We did some fun activities throughout the week. Ice skating, bungee trampoline jumping, mini golf, lots of swimming and hot tub at our Beaver Creek Resort called The Charter.

We had a day free before flying home, so we decided to go to WaterWorld in Denver on Sunday. It was very expensive to get in, but such a cool park. An hour and a half after we got in, it started to rain. The winds were blowing like mad. Everyone was running to take cover. It started to hail. There was actually a tornado! Unbelievable. We had rainbow colored umbrellas and after trying to wait it out for about ten minutes beneath a concession stand that sold funnel cakes with whipped creme (not kidding), we made a break for the car.

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in a Holiday Inn pool and hot tub. We were very happy to get home to Alameda on Monday!

St. Marks Episcopal Benefit Concert

Last night Isabelle and I opened the show at 7:30 in Berkeley at St. Marks Episcopal. St. Marks is a beautiful church and we were very excited and a little nervous about playing. There were alot of people in the audience. I was trying to get Isabelle to think about the music and to go over the music in her head before we went up to play, but, being six years old, she just said, "Mom, I already know the music!", and continued coloring in her Hello Kitty book. Hmmm, maybe she has something there. Maybe it is better to do something fun and relaxing before performing, instead of stressing about the music that we know so well already.

We were called to the stage and our cellos were already up there so we walked up hand in hand and took a big dramatic bow, which the audience loved. We performed Schubert's Berceuse, Gavotte by Lully, (Suzuki Book 3), and then two fun Irish songs, the last of which is called "Star of the County Down." Isabelle played with determination and musicality. It was really fun. We were not perfect, but we made some magic, I believe, which was our goal. The crowd was very appreciative, and the clapping left a wonderful echo that filled the church.

Isabelle was very tired, but we managed to stay and listen to the entire first half. Valdez Hill played some lovely piano music. (He is the organizer of the event.) There was a flute trio headed by flutist Carol Alban that was really nice. A very macho tenor sang some Italian arias, and there was a student jazz trio. Last was a clarinet concerto performed by a young girl. This was a variety show kind of a lineup. It was a benefit for the San Francisco Aids Society.

Isabelle got all kinds of nice comments as we left the church. It was freezing outside! They handed us two teddy bears for performing, and Isabelle held them tightly as she fell asleep in the back seat on our way back to Alameda.

We are now planning our summer, or trying to plan our summer. One of my groups, Ramana Vieira and her Ensemble, has just signed with a record label, Pacific Coast Jazz, and a booking agent, Maria Matias, and so I am supposed to be ready for some tours of the east coast. But I have to book my own gigs and trips...so it is very difficult. I would like to take Isabelle to Beaver Creek, Colorado again this summer, to the Colorado Suzuki Institute, in June. It will be much fun! We love Colorado!

I have also been looking at the Strings by the Sea camp, in San Diego. This Suzuki music camp is run by a family friend: Karla Holland-Moritz. I have never met Karla, but she is a prominent San Diego cellist. Her parents used to come on trips with my family when we lived in Michigan. Her father, Helmut, played trombone in some of the same orchestras where my dad used to play viola. I remember sitting around campfires, telling stories and making jokes with her parents and my parents on Drummond Island, Michigan, where we used to vacation often. What a beautiful spot!

Anyway, I think it would be fun to try to go to Strings by the Sea in August. San Diego! I could drive us there, as it's only 500 miles. And, we could go to Sea World too, and maybe Disneyland...Wait a minute---this trip is getting a little bit out of control...my summer is getting too packed...help!

Christmas!

My favorite Messiah to play is at the Unitarian Church of Berkeley. The conductor, Bryan Baker, dresses up like Handel!

Wow- Christmas is already here. Unbelievable. We have inlaws in town. They are even in house. Help! No- just kidding. I really enjoy Scott's parents. Probably more than he does!

I have a Christmas Eve midnight mass to play, and then a church service on Christmas morning. After that, Isabelle and I are off to Lake Tahoe to ski. (If we can get over the pass!) It should be fun.

Not too many concerts coming up. Isabelle and I have two benefit concerts though. They are both for the Aids/Lifecycle series, to benefit the San Francisco Aids Society. One is on January 24th in Berkeley and the other is on March 14th. You can certainly check my calendar on my webpage at http://www.marciebrown.com/ to find out details. These are variety shows. Isabelle and I get to go first because they don't start until 7:30 at night. I am not sure what we will play yet. She might sing this year. But definitely we'll do some cello duets also. We are working on some great Irish music, so maybe we'll put some of that on the program. Isabelle is now working on Suzuki Book 3. She has learned the first two compositions and she is playing beautifully. But, as always, it is still a challenge to get her to practice. We pretty much try to practice every day, except on Sunday, when she gets the day off from cello.

The big surprise recently has been her vibrato. We talked about it a little bit this summer. She just started shaking her arm one day at the Colorado Suzuki Institute after watching some of the other kids doing it. Her teacher at the institute, David Evenchick, told me to just really exaggerate my vibrato when I played my cello around her. So I did that, and she now has developed this really great vibrato. I haven't told her anything about how to do it---I only encouraged it and told her how beautiful it sounds. She is very proud of that vibrato. Vibrato, at age 6!

The other big concert coming up is on Friday, February 13th at the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto. It's a really nice concert series in this beautiful theater. I am playing there with Ramana Vieira and her Ensemble, my Portugese fado band. We are excited about it. We have a new CD that is almost out now, and a new record company, Pacific Coast Jazz, that is promoting it. We are also on the prowl searching for the right booking agent for the group. To find out more about that group, go to http://www.ramanavieira.org/ .