It's been an interesting year and despite the pandemic, I was able to make a lot of cool music in 2021. Here's a little recap of some fun things I did this year. Shoutout to all the amazing musicians I worked with this year and to my students for keeping me inspired!
Since the pandemic started and everything got shut down, I have been running free Online Improvisation Workshops for String Players. With the release of my new books, String Jams, I wanted to give people a glimpse at what the book offered, but also to give them concrete steps they could use to practice improvisation. Let’s face it, I’m not a doctor, nurse, or grocery store worker fighting for the safety everyday out there. Nevertheless, I did want to give something back to help boost people’s morale and the only real skills I have are cello and teaching, so I thought it could at least be a drop of positivity in a seemingly endless stream of scary news.
I have done 3 workshops so far and have been blown away by the support from the participants. Essentially, I give everybody the sheet music for a piece from my Advanced String Jams book as well as the improvisation loop track that comes with it. I then outline about ten different ways that they can go about improvising such as doing nonstop improvisation, limiting note choices, leaving space, etc. Everything I’m saying is detailed in the beginning portion of both String Jams.
It really is humbling and inspiring to have a workshop with people from across the globe in one Zoom meeting. I’ve had participants from Finland, Vietnam, Australia, Brazil, USA, Germany, and more. This past workshop I had my grandfather attend. He’s a saxophone player and like I mention in the book, he’s the reason I started music and the inspiration behind creating these books. At the end of the lecture, he told a story about the first time he taught me how to improvise when I was around 9 or 10 years old. It was a story I hadn’t thought about in a long time and it was really special to have him remind me and the other attendees.
It’s been a really positive experience for me to run these workshops and connect with string players from across the world. It’s a very strange time and I doubt that live music gigs will return this year. Nevertheless, having the ability to connect with others virtually and offer something useful has been helpful in keeping me focussed and grounded.
I’m going to try to offer more workshops, concerts, collaborations, and music in the future and hopefully we will pass through this time safely.
Thank you all for the support.
