Next Level Cellist Musicality Issue

| MUSICIANSHIP |
Chicago
Symphony Orchestra
CELLO
SECTION
DUET
JUST ONE
DANCE
BY RANAAN MEYER
INSPIRATION,
EXECUTION,
EDUCATION
EFE BALTACIGIL
STOPPING
AT NOTHING
ALISA WEILERSTEIN
SPRING 2014

Contents
Spring 2014
Feature Story
5 Just One Dance
RANAAN MEYER
6 Stopping at Nothing
ALISA WEILERSTEIN
10 Spotlight: Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Cello Section
11 Inspiration, Execution, Education
EFE BALTACIGIL
Contributors
Ranaan Meyer
PUBLISHER / FOUNDER
Brent Edmondson
EDITOR / SALES
Karen Han
LAYOUT DESIGNER
2 NOV/DEC SPRING 2014 2013 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST BASSIST

Publisher’s Note
What an incredible feeling it is to be writing to you, the
newest members of the Next Level Journals family. I
started Next Level Bassist a year ago to bring double
bass players together, and to help share wisdom and
experience with everybody. The goal of Next Level
Journals is really to create a community among people
who have one very important thing in common.
For cellists, it’s playing one of the most versatile and beautiful instruments
humanity has ever created. I am personally so excited to spend time speaking
with, learning from, and even inspiring cellists, our brothers and sisters from
the low end!
Our first issue is about musicality - the art of conveying our emotions and
statements through our instruments, the essence of why we all put in the long
hours and spend so much time focused on self-improvement. Hopefully, we
can all remember that very first moment when we got swept away by the music
we were playing, fully committing to the sound of the group and the notes
coming out of the instrument. It’s the adrenaline of an amazing performance,
or the quiet pleasure of accomplishing something we knew was impossible only
weeks ago.
I am so excited by the content of this journal. Alisa Weilerstein has had such
a stellar career, and her explanation of the “impulse” is information that is of
critical importance to every single musician. While not everyone shares her
incredible musical background, we can all benefit from the wisdom of her
perspective. Efe Baltacigil, a great friend and an unbelievable cellist, shares his
thoughts on the fundamental building blocks of musical sensitivity, as well as
the story of a musical family that is making quite an impression on the world.
We are also including a regular feature from the bass journal, a spotlight on a
great cello section. This time around, we heard from the Chicago Symphony’s
Brant Taylor on his 16 years as a member of the cello section which is an
11-person force of nature! As we all aspire to play with the best musicians
we can find, it helps to know that life at the top is wonderful and fulfilling.
I am so excited to be including a page of my latest composition, a duet for cello
and bass called Just One Dance. As a celebration of the launch of this journal, I
hope this duet will unite the low strings and allow us all to share in the wisdom
that every player brings to the table. I am truly honored to be in the company
of so many new people in the cello world - may we all inspire one another and
never lose the impulse!
RANAAN MEYER
Publisher Next Level Journals
SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST
3

JOSEPH HILL RAYMOND J. MELANSON JOSEPH CHAROTTE-MILLOT ANNE COLE
NICOLAS GILLES CARLO ANTONIO TESTORE ANTOINE CAUCHE DIDIER NICOLAS
BOYD POULSEN PAUL HART JAMES B. MIN CARLO CARLETTI GIOVANNI TONONI
GUY COLE RENATO SCROLLAVEZZA CHRISTOPHER SANDVOSS LAWRENCE WILKE
AMEDÉE DIEUDONNE DIDIER NICOLAS E.H. ROTH JOSEPH HILL W.H. HAMMIG
EDWARD DANIEL TETSUO MATSUDA PAOLO ANTONIO TESTORE GAETANO COLAS
BRONEK CISON DANIEL HACHEZ ANDRANIK GAYBARYAN CHRISTIAN PEDERSEN
STANLEY KIERNOZIAK GIOVANNI TONONI DAVID TECCHLER WILLIAM FORSTER
GUNTER VON AUE DIDIER NICOLAS JOHANNES CUYPERS J.B. VUILLAUME SACQUIN
robertson reCital Hall
2014 Cello ColleCtion
partial
4 SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST
www.RobertsonViolins.com
Tel 800-284-6546 | 3201 Carlisle Blvd. NE | Albuquerque, NM USA 87110

Want more? The complete version of this duet is available by clicking here.
SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST
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at
ALISA WEILERSTEIN
6 SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST

I
have been inspired for as long as I can remember to play music.
I was the driving force behind my decision to play the cello as
a child. My parents are chamber musicians and were constantly
practicing and rehearsing with colleagues in the house (my father was
the first violinist of the Cleveland Quartet for 20 years). The Cleveland
quartet rehearsed in my home until I was 7 years old, and on top of
that my parents were constantly taking me to concerts and allowing
me to be around musicians. My mother tells me, when I was about
2 years old, I would constantly listen to her practicing. At one point
she was practicing the Beethoven 32 Variations, and I would become
extremely unhappy if she spent less time than I wanted practicing
that piece. I would throw tantrums because I wanted to listen to the
incredible music. When I was three, it became clear that I had
perfect pitch, and I would play games with my mother where she
would play chords on the piano and I would try to name all the notes
- it was very easy for me, a game I could always win. When I was four,
I started to ask, and eventually demand, a cello and a cello teacher. Six
months later I had my first cello, and I don’t remember questioning
for a moment that this was what I would do with my life, I just loved
it from the start.
In the first months, I would do perhaps 30 minutes of formal practice
a day, but once I was finished with my Suzuki pieces or simple music,
I would take the cello into my bedroom and play around with it for
hours. It was my dream at that time to play the Dvorak cello concerto,
even though I could barely pronounce the word cello! I would try to
teach myself how to do it, and I ended up with some funny physical
habits that I took years to undo. It was the philosophy of my parents
and my teacher that I should love the instrument first, and worry
about the mechanics later.
I developed my sense of musical imagery very early. It started for me
when I was hearing music as images and characters. The way that my
parents rehearsed, they were always discussing what characters or
colors they were trying to communicate. I got right away that all the
practice wasn’t just aimed at technical perfection. When I first started
to play the cello, I was thinking about that already.
My parents are chamber music players, and so the communication
between players and the inspiration one receives from colleagues
was something I really got from them. They have a huge amount
of personality in their own playing, and I think I was naturally,
subconsciously drawn to that. They encouraged all these things
in me when I started playing.
I remember once I had worked with a teacher for one lesson at around
age 8. I played for my parents, and they told me to try and show me
what I had learned from the teacher. I did, and I was very focused
on the technical side of my playing, which I might not have been fully
aware of at the time. I’ll never forget the horrified look on my parents’
faces! My dad worked with me relentlessly until I got my natural
impulse back. Of course, the mechanics of playing are extremely
important, but only if they are married to the music. I’ll never forget
the look they gave me when I played without the impulse.
What is the Impulse?
The impulse is your own natural, primal response to music. It’s how
it affects you emotionally, and rhythmically. The impulse is movement,
because the heart of music is rhythm. The response to rhythm is
harmony, how something makes you feel on the most basic level.
If you’re really in touch with your impulse, you already know how
to phrase. Of course, that has to be refined with training, by listening
and understanding.
At the risk of repeating myself, it’s about really marrying technique
and music on the deepest level, so you can still be in touch with your
impulse even if you’re working through mechanics, even with physical
problems. Ultimately the goal is to communicate something naturally
without any hindrances. That’s what technique is for. I would never
advocate going easy on technical training - I had an extremely rigorous
technical training - but you must never lose sight of the fact that it’s in
pursuit of a larger goal. I advocate practicing in a very mindful way,
investing all elements of music making into every note that you play,
even if it’s open strings or a vibrato exercise. That’s my philosophy.
The aspect of teaching that I find most interesting is the task of finding
out what will reach a person. This idea that you can’t separate technique
and music at any time is central to me. Even when practicing
scales, you have to think about the harmony, phrasing, quality of
sound, different colors that you want to produce. For some people,
these points are obvious, but for others this concept is being uttered
for the first time. Even for the people who know this, it’s good to have
that nagging reminder to always practice mindfully.
It seems to be a universal concern that people don’t know what
to do in the practice room. This invariably comes out while they’re
performing, whether because they feel uncomfortable, or because
certain concepts in their minds aren’t able to come out in their playing.
It takes hard work for all of us to do this, and I find it very helpful
for students to hear that this is a shared challenge for musicians, not
an embarrassing or shameful personal shortcoming.
In my own practice, the best example is found in slow practice with
the metronome. Even when I’m trying to make sure the mechanics
of a passage are back in place, I’m always thinking about the structure
and phrasing - even if I’m focused on intonation. I’ll be looking for
new colors, new things to learn or to say through the piece. It’s a very
disciplined approach to practicing. Once you’re beyond the point of
learning the notes and where everything goes, I think that practicing
at 2/3rds tempo gives you the strength and reflexes to play the piece
and allows you to keep a slightly relaxed yet focused mind.
Starting young gave me some advantages learning my instrument. I
don’t think anything was conscious when I was a young child wanting
to learn the Dvorak concerto. It started as the ultimate goal! When I
really started to learn it, I was about 12. Taking a focused approach
to learning the music, I found that the better I got, the more I realized
I didn’t know. When I first started to learn the Dvorak, I was surprised
at how quickly some things came to me. I had waited my whole 12-
year life to learn this piece that everyone had told me would be too
difficult, and now I found that I could play most of the notes! Later,
when I was performing it a lot, I began to appreciate the depth and
layers to the piece. I caught some of those things early on, but my
understanding of its structure and musical complexity continues
to develop even now. Every performer should endeavor to remain
a student, and to look for the lessons in everything he or she plays.
If you are hoping to achieve real success in music, try to absorb as
much as possible. I went to a lot of concerts, listened to a lot of recordings,
and studied a lot of scores on the path to my career. The other
SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST
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side, of course, is to have incredible drive and
focus. I feel blessed that I have found motivation
since I was a little kid - I don’t know why
it has been that way, but it has.
This life has tremendous benefits, but it can
be very tiring and difficult, not to mention
lonely at times. Returning from a hugely
successful concert to an empty hotel room,
with everyone you know asleep, and then
three hours later having to fly to the next city
- these are challenges that not everyone is cut
out for, and it wouldn’t make all people happy.
Luckily, this life makes me incredibly happy,
but it’s vital that one should know all aspects
of the performing lifestyle.
It takes a tremendous amount of practice and
focused hard work, and a great deal of curiosity
to succeed at the highest level. You need to
be able to read about the repertoire you study,
and absorb a great deal of music. Since I don’t
have the luxury of practicing six hours a day
like I did as a student, I have to accomplish in
two hours what I might have done with much
more time before. I was forced to learn this
mindful practice by the rigors of my schedule,
so that I can perform at my top level on
relatively little practicing.
My practicing varies so much depending
on the repertoire. I’m most often carrying
three concerti and two recital programs on
any given day. As I write this, I am currently
playing one very demanding recital and three
different concerti, as well as two chamber
music projects. I have to prioritize, on a
given day, which repertoire gets priority.
From there, I look at what I already know
well, and what is less familiar. Looking at
programs ahead, I try to identify the music I
feel is “uncomfortably fresh,” so I take out my
scores and sort them. I start with 15 minutes
of scales, played meditatively, to warm up. I
then take 15 minutes to attack many of the
most difficult spots, those places that still feel
uncomfortable. Almost always, I do this at
2/3rds of the tempo, practicing the difficult
passages as if they were written to be played
at the slower tempo - I have to execute all
of the phrasing, colors, and shapes while
maintaining a slower tempo. I will then hit
the places in my concerti that need ironing
out - of course, these vary from day to day
and something may feel good one day and
the day after become an issue. For virtuosic
passages, I like working in rhythms, imposing
a different rhythm on a passage to help me
retain it more quickly. Sometimes this is
effective, other times it isn’t! Of course, usually
by this time in the practice session, I have to
throw the cello back into my case and run off
to a flight.
I rarely record my practicing - I feel that
doing so makes me more tense in practicing.
The idea is that by not recording, you can be
private enough to even get away from your
own extremely critical ears. I know that my
ear will be more critical than anyone else. It’s
especially important after a demanding run
of concerts that I have some time to quietly sit
down with the instrument, not have anyone
around me, and feel at liberty to experiment.
There are exceptions to this in my own
experience. I was recently learning the Eliott
Carter Cello concerto, which is written in a
very difficult language to familiarize oneself
with. I was trying to really connect with it,
and I recorded myself playing it several times.
This was a very unusual approach for me -
I found it to be very helpful, but it’s not
something I would adopt as a norm.
© Photo Jean-Baptiste Millot
© Photo Uwe Arens
Famous Cellists
Playing Pirastro Strings
© Photo Aloisia Behrbohm
© Photo Andreas Malkmus
© Photo Christian Steiner
Strings Handmade in Germany
www.pirastro.com
8 SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST
© Photo Andreas Malkmus

The Well-Traveled Musician
I think a big reason why I enjoy splitting my time evenly between
the North America and Europe is that I get so many different
perspectives and thoughts from both cultures. My own approach
is really the result of osmosis, thanks to having had contact with
so many unique musicians. Musicians are capable of learning so
much from interaction with other great artists. This is one of the
most important components of anyone’s musical education. I feel
like I’m an eternal student, trying to take in as much as possible.
One of the things I’ve always hated is labels. I’ve found that no musician
falls into a particular category, and you can always find something else
when you’re looking for it. One comment on my playing has always
stood out and made me happy: “You don’t really have a school, I can’t
tell where you’ve been trained.” Sounding like a mishmash of traditions
to me is a comment on forming your individual voice. How do you go
about forming this voice? Get your hands on everything - old recordings,
new recordings, different nationalities, different artists! No matter
where you come from, we do communicate in a universal language.
It doesn’t matter what your background, it’s what you do with
the information.
I try to practice what I preach and listen to a great variety of recordings.
I do go through periods where I don’t listen to a large quantity if I’m
too busy, or if I’m developing a relationship with a new piece. Most
of the time, though, I mix the old and the new because it’s important
to reflect on the past and find new sources of inspiration. Like many
professional players, I don’t have much time to attend concerts and
find out what’s currently out there.
These days I’m not listening to that many cellists. I’m listening to a lot
of symphonic recordings, with both living and deceased conductors.
I’ve always listened to a lot of Claudio Abbado recordings with the
Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna, and his passing has been a reason
to reflect on them again. I listen to a lot of Bernstein and Barenboim
as well - these are minds that I respect so much. It’s always been
fascinating to contemplate how you structure a Mahler symphony, or
how you make sense of 9 Beethoven symphonies, or Wagner operas.
I was scared by Wagner in my early twenties but now I’m absolutely
entranced by it.
When I’m listening to cellists, I listen to Casals and Jacqueline du Pre,
Rostropovich, Piatigorsky, Yo-Yo Ma, and of course the cellists of my
generation. It’s very interesting for me to hear different perspectives.
I’ve always been in love with Casals’ recordings of the Bach suites.
In terms of stylistic differences, they seem “outdated” in some ways,
but I find them to be the most honest and intelligent recordings of
the works. Jacqueline du Pre had such a short career, but she really
recorded every concerto that was major at the time - every great
Romantic concerto she performed is an excellent resource. Rostropovich
takes me right back to when I was studying the Shostakovich concerti,
Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante, and Britten Cello Symphony. We
almost owe him above anyone else for his recordings of the 20 th century
cello repertoire. Beyond the classical world, I’m a big fan of Bjork, and
I think the Beatles are geniuses. I listen to bossa nova, Venezuelan folk
music, some Argentinian folk music, and Portuguese fado.
The Future for Cellists
Cellists today still don’t fully pursue their instruments as being as
versatile as a violin. They’re not fully convinced that it is a true
solo instrument. This is despite the fact that cellists agree that our
instrument covers the range of the human voice and as such, it is a
very relatable instrument. Honestly, I believe that it’s the chameleon
of instruments, and it can really be anything we want it to be. Students
especially need to embrace that fact and pursue it.
One skill I would love to see my fellow musicians cultivate to a high
degree is the performance mentality. I find a lot of performance
anxiety in students today. I remember I was around 7, and I was
preparing to do a small recital at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
I was all dressed up and ready to go with my fractional sized cello.
My mom looked at me and said “There’s no reason to be nervous
because you’re very talented and you’re very prepared.” I think about
that to this day, even though it’s so basic. We forget this in the throes
of our doubts and the stress of trying to absorb everything we’re told.
Knowing that, and really believing that to your core, for me was
really powerful.
Ultimately, any musician’s primary job is to communicate. We are so
lucky to have this incredible language that touches everyone if we do it
right. We can convey these ideas and emotions to touch everyone all at
once, yet in an individual way. The Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante is
one of my favorite vehicles for this, because it’s a playground of voices
and colors. Someone asked me once: Alisa, there are so many notes,
and it’s so weird! The 2nd movement is twice as long as the others,
and there are all these crazy characters. What do you imagine?
To me, it’s like a big ballet - I think Romeo and Juliet is all over it.
That piece in particular seems to me like a sequence of paintings, with
colors and images that alternate being vivid, bucolic, wild. For me, as
an artist to delve into that, it’s so much fun. I really enjoy performing
it, and I hope that I can share that experience with audiences.
A Note on My Gear
I found something that really works in most halls - as a soloist you
need to be able to project in 3,000 foot concert halls as well as recital
halls. I use Jargar forte A and D strings - they are not a common string
in the US - and I use Spirocore medium tension G and C strings. I
have a 1790 William Forester cello and an Emile Ouchard bow. I have
used the same cello since I was 16. I use Bernardel rosin, and I am
a very heavy rosin user (ask anyone I know!). The only reason I use
different rosins is when I forget mine, which happens much more
often than I’d like to admit.
For bow rehairs, I am very particular about the hair I get on my bow,
when I have the luxury of choice. One of the strenuous aspects of this
lifestyle is not always having control over who performs these services
or where I can get them done. I’ve had jobs done is various cities when
I just need it done, but if possible I like to go to Gregory Wylie in New
York. I’ve also gone to Salchow, who has done a fantastic job. The
single greatest rehair I’ve ever had done in my life was done in Vienna
by Christina Eriks, and it actually lasted me more than a month, which
is extraordinary for me!
SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST
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SPOTLIGHT
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CELLO SECTION
When a great cello section plays in perfect ensemble together, there’s
almost nothing in the world more exciting. Working with talented
colleagues elevates your own playing, and it doesn’t get more talented
than the men and women of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra cello
section! With an impressive 11 musicians anchoring an already stellar
orchestra, we want to recognize great musicianship and find out what
makes this one of the best jobs in the country.
In an orchestra as dynamic and precise as the Chicago Symphony,
each section holds a key to creating the magic that audiences and
record buyers count on from the group. Section member Brant Taylor
has been playing with the orchestra for 16 years, and takes pride that
the section is “widely regarded by our colleagues as one of the best
sections in the orchestra. One of my section’s valuable contributions to
the CSO is rhythmic stability.” Precision of rhythm is one of the most
crucial elements in a successful ensemble, and in many ways this is the
distinguishing point between a “good” interpretation and a “great” one.
The CSO section is unquestionably armed with a great deal of experience.
Veteran players bring wisdom and perspective from their time in
the Grant Park, Milwaukee, Fort Worth, Florida, and Winnipeg Symphonies,
to name a few. Brant Taylor describes his initial impression of
playing with the Chicago Symphony: “I remember being swept up by
the tremendous energy and sound of the CSO in concert, particularly
in big works like Mahler symphonies and Strauss tone poems. Imagine
a car that has an extra gear that other cars don’t have.” Small wonder
that a 2008 Gramophone survey of the world’s greatest orchestras
placed the CSO at #5, and first of all American orchestras.
Many musicians share the credit for their recognition with a string
of strong leaders in front of the orchestra from Pierre Boulez, Riccardo
Muti, Daniel Barenboim, to Bernard Haitink. The orchestra
has escaped the fate of some peer orchestras, not languishing during
lengthy searches for music directors. These maestri are “musicians that
value elegance and refinement,” says Taylor. This rare musicianship has
allowed the CSO to sink its teeth in traditionally difficult repertoire
for symphony orchestras, the more nimble and transparent works of
composers like Mozart and Schubert. The orchestra also finds new
inspiration by tackling less familiar works, bringing to life rare gems
introduced by Muti thanks to his diverse tastes and experiences.
in person to experience the true power of their performances. The
unpredictability, the spontaneous moments driven by each person in
the orchestra are rarely matched by any orchestra in the world. When
contemplating the philosophy of the cello section, Taylor theorizes,
“We play the way we play, and the combination of what we all have to
offer as individuals makes a result greater than the sum of its parts.” ■
SELECTED VIEWING:
• Verdi Requiem, live in concert with Riccardo Muti
This video has lots of great closeup shots of the action
throughout the orchestra. Be sure to check out 58:45 - The
opening of the Offertory is a great feature of this dynamic
section in action.
• Mahler Symphony No. 6, Bernard Haitink
The orchestra performs at Royal Albert Hall with such an
incredible range of colors and timbres and the legendary
brass sound augmented by more horns than one can count.
Great cello moments at 9:35, 21:25, and an incredibly
menacing moment at 1:04:45. If you only have time for the
highlights reel, don’t miss the hammer strike, start at 1:06:30
for the buildup!
CHICAGO PERFORMS. SO WILL YOU.
Perhaps one of the most impressive elements of the cello section is the
diversity of playing backgrounds represented by its members. Coming
from all over the world, each player was selected to enhance the
greater whole of the ensemble. Says Taylor, “I treat the section like a
large chamber ensemble. I did not have to modify or compromise my
artistic personality in any way to play in my section.” All great orchestras
are at their core a collection of great artists, who make individual
and group decisions spontaneously in concerts. No player reaches
the level of the CSO without forming strong artistic opinions, and the
sensitivity and adaptation that takes place, even in a single phrase,
create unique results in every performance.
This artistic melting pot is the essence of live music, and it is the
reason an orchestra like the Chicago Symphony needs to be seen
10 SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST

Efe Baltacigil
Inspiration, Execution, Education
I’ve been thinking for weeks about what I would say about this.
I think there are 2 ways to look at this. One would be the technical
and objective way, and the other would be the reactive and inspired
dimension, which is hard to explain.
INSPIRATION
Part of being a human being is having an individual voice and a desire
to express yourself. We musicians are fortunate to have means beyond
words to do this. It’s inevitable, once you start to play an instrument,
that you should eventually want to say something with it. I think that
string players in particular are lucky, because we have a great deal of
flexibility and variety in our tone colors, our articulations, and the way
we use time.
I grew up in a very musical family, and was always drawn to music
thanks to inspiration from them. My father is a bass player, and I
grew up listening to him play the Bottesini Concerto and Grand Duo
and other virtuosic repertoire. From the age of 3 or 4 on, my mother
gave me a tiny handheld radio when I went to bed, and would put
on Istanbul’s classical music station. These days, I am proud that my
two younger brothers are also extremely accomplished musicians. My
middle brother Fora has held double bass positions in the Minnesota
Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the New York Philharmonic;
my youngest brother Poyraz is studying at my alma mater, the Mimar
Sinan University conservatory, and is doing some wonderful things
on the cello and winning concerto competitions. What was really
spectacular about Fora was his progress at a young age, studying with
our father. I may be exaggerating, but it seemed like he had only been
playing a few weeks before he started playing things I didn’t think were
possible on a bass. It may have been a lucky break that my father took
a trip to the US when I was a child and brought back an Edgar Meyer
CD called Work in Progress from the airport. He played the CD for
us, and for the first time we heard a bass playing Wieniawski’s violin
music, and it was incredible! We listened to that CD day and night.
Fora went on to study with Edgar at Curtis, as well as with Hal
Robinson, and I’m sure that having this early childhood hero to
aspire to allowed Fora to do some of the incredible things he’s done.
I was very lucky to play beside Fora last year in front of the Berlin
Philharmonic - we performed the Bottesini Grand Duo, and I played
the violin part on cello, with Sir Simon Rattle conducting. This was
an incredible honor for me, especially because we did it at the end of
the orchestra’s European tour, in Istanbul and Izmir in front of 20,000
people. It was really a dream come true for us, and sharing a stage with
my younger brother was unbelievable. It can do a lot for your success
to surround yourself with gifted musicians and keep exposing yourself
to inspirational people.
Two musicians alive today are particularly special to me. If you’re ever
able to attend a rehearsal with either of them, you must take that opportunity,
because the rehearsals are where the ideas and inspiration
come alive. One is the fantastic conductor, Sir Simon Rattle. The way
he rehearses is inspired - he’ll make you play a phrase, and you’ll
realize that you’ve played it so much better than you’ve ever imagined.
He can bring you to that 150% level you didn’t think you had. The
other musician who does this extremely well is Yo-Yo Ma. Whether it’s
chamber music or solo playing, he can look in your eyes and it brings
you to this level of musicianship that includes you in his mastery.
Ma also inspires this incredibly generous musical feeling. You end up
playing on a level that you never could have imagined reaching. There
is a talent to sharing your music making and understanding, and these
two are perfect examples. They are both very self-sufficient people, and
very happy with what they have achieved. They may have experienced
struggles, but they are mostly struggles to achieve greater things
musically and in life. I think that’s the key to being happy with what
you are doing, to always be challenging yourself to do better at the
things you love and care about. I think those are very important
qualities to have to try and make better music.
It’s truly difficult to say what it is Rattle and Ma are doing to be so
inspirational. What’s very obvious is the love that they both have for
every single note and the space between each note. You feel as though
they’re focused on that in-between space, something you can’t quite
perceive. It drives you to seek the immense beauty in each tiny
increment of time. When you play with someone so committed,
it’s hard not to give in to that passion and feel it yourself. You end
up striving to do better yourself, and you end up doing it almost
subconsciously, playing to the limits of your ability. They invite you
to share in a common, powerful love for music making.
It is true that some people from an early age find music comes easily,
while others struggle and find it unnatural. Some people didn’t choose
to begin learning music, they were forced to by parents or educators.
It makes sense to me that not everyone feels phrases internally right
away. Others desperately need music to express the things they have
to say. It’s a wonderful outlet for emotions, and a very important part
of many people’s lives. If you find yourself trying to teach somebody
who doesn’t have that emotional connection, I think that helping them
make one is more productive and important than any technique work.
Looking forward to the rest of their lives, you will be helping them
move many steps closer to fulfillment playing with other enthusiastic
colleagues of any skill level. If you can help a person achieve that
Yo-Yo Ma/Simon Rattle level of inspiration, you will have done an
extraordinary thing!
EXECUTION
As a musician, you will collect knowledge from almost everyone you
interact with. At one of my first cello lessons in Istanbul, my teacher
Ihsan Kartal told me never to accent the end of a phrase.
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ODE TO JOY
Never hit the last D,
always finish it humbly
and respectfully.
Some 27 years later, I still remember that
moment, and he was so right! The only time
I allow this to happen is when I’m told to do
it by the composer. It’s very important that
you have part of your mind on these tiny
details. The little rules and bits of information
accumulate over time, and hopefully combine
with a good environment of friends and
fellow musicians that you can use to stay
connected to inspiration. The world we’re
living in, with cell phones and computers,
Facebook and other distractions, can get
in the way of focusing on the purity of an
individual phrase. In a way, music is a therapy
to prevent yourself getting carried away by
the world around you.
While in high school in Istanbul I met a
German cellist named Werner Thomas-
Mifune for whom I played the Saint-Saens
concerto. What was supposed to be a
30 minute lesson ended up being almost
2 hours long! He talked about the importance
of the distances between the notes. He made
distinctions between how you would play
a half step versus a whole step. This lesson
moved me so much that I couldn’t even fall
asleep for about a week! That first phrase is
a great example of how half steps and whole
steps create this simple scale down that is
filled with complex feeling and character. The
minute you put this under a microscope and
look at the notes you start to appreciate the
differences between these intervals, you can
begin to feel intimacy with the phrase.
to singing, that ideal we’re always trying to
emulate. The larger the interval, the more
effort is required to sing it, and therefore
the more attention and love we can put into
playing it. It’s a crucial part of phrasing.
If you truly understand the nuance that
comes from these intervals, you can slow
down your perception of the music and
experience this wonderful close-up view.
You start to appreciate what the composer
had to say. You can’t live in this close-up
world all the time, you have to go back to
real time to get a larger picture, but it’s an
essential part of learning and developing
your musical vocabulary. There are tensions
between notes, and if you can even halfway
understand those distances, it will drastically
affect your phrasing.
Another of the incredibly powerful tools we
have as musicians is the manipulation of time.
Time, and the way you use it, expand or
compress it, is essential to mastering classical
music, especially when it’s very detailed and
written out. However you control it and
which sections you focus on create the style
of music you are playing. Classical, Romantic,
Modern, Baroque, all are affected by the way
you take or give time. [Editor’s note: for a
more detailed discussion of time, check out
John Patitucci’s article Groove and Inspiration
in Next Level Bassist.]
My teacher at Curtis, Peter Wiley, really kept
beyond execution, and that’s why it’s so
important that you find inspiration
in your life.
Finally, I believe an invaluable tool for
becoming a great musician is improvisation.
It probably sounds scary if it’s unfamiliar,
but ultimately, improvising and classical
music are both just types of music. It doesn’t
matter what genre you’re playing, in the end
hopefully you’re trying to make music. It all
comes down to the same core. If you can learn
to do that, regardless of what your medium
is (bow, pizzicato, cello, voice, whatever!),
then you’re doing the best you can. As long
as you can move the person that’s hearing
you emotionally, then mission accomplished.
The more easily and more readily you can get
into that zone, the more successful you will
become and the more success you can have.
A WORD ABOUT SOUND
AND EDUCATION
One of my great advantages growing up was
being around two phenomenal bass players,
my father and brother. Why does it matter?
I think it’s very important - the bass is by
definition the foundation of music. It holds
the whole harmony, and that is often a job we
cellists have to perform as well. Even when
you play the melody, if you’re not aware of
where your feet are meant to be grounded,
you will sound like you don’t know where
you’re headed. I think
it’s an essential part
of musicianship, the
sense of direction.
It gives you a good
compass when you are
aware of the bass line.
Consider why the line moves in the directions
it moves, and why the color of one whole step
is used instead of a half step. When you begin
to contemplate why it was written a certain
way, you start to care deeply about the music,
become one with what the composer is trying
to say. Whole steps and half steps are only a
tiny part of the big picture of music - when
you expand to look at other intervals, you
can start to think about how the music relates
Mi - Re - Do (whole steps) followed by a half step to Si and back to Do
my focus on slowing the music down and
finding the meaning. He really drilled me on
left hand and right hand subtleties, like using
a different quality of vibrato on each note,
and playing different notes with different bow
speeds to shape the phrase. There is a limitless
potential on the cello for realizing phrases,
and all the etudes and exercises in the world
can’t come close to the complexity of playing
one phrase of music with meaning. It goes
I had a lot of wonderful
teachers of harmony,
theory, and counterpoint at Curtis. They
all encouraged me to understand (or at least
try to) what was going on harmonically in the
music I was performing or hearing. A good
entry point is Bach’s cello suites, because they
are complex but still have only one or two
lines going at once.
I think it helps a great deal to be familiar
12 SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST

with the sound of the double bass, and its warm depth. It’s a quality
of sound I look for in every new instrument I try, just as important
as a singing A string. You want that fulfillment all around you when
you play the low notes of a string quartet or solo line, or in the cello
section. We spend a good amount of time in first position, and it’s
vital to have a complete and well informed bass sound concept.
BEING A COMPLETE MUSICIAN
Cellists have a unique set of roles to play in any genre. We can be the
foundation of the music, then support the melody, then play melodies
of our own, sometimes in a very short span of time. Not only that,
but we sometimes move from string quartet to cello section
to soloist in front of an orchestra almost as quickly.
You have to be musically sensitive, because you won’t
make any friends in your string quartet by playing like
you’re performing the Dvorak Cello Concerto!
You have to switch certain things, and be capable of
taking a supporting role. In truth, you have to recognize
that there are even moments in your concerto when
your job is to accompany the violins or the flute with
the melody. It all comes down to being familiar with the
score in all settings. It’s a good thing to know what the
second flute, for instance, is doing at all times. If you
aren’t familiar with that, you lack the ability to know
what the composer really meant for your own role.
I spend time looking at free scores from IMSLP all the
time. Recently, I was able to use the original manuscript
in Beethoven’s hand for a recent performance of his 6 th
Symphony. It’s all readable, although it takes a few pages
to get used to the handwriting. You can see his thought
process, mistakes, his scribblings! If you really want to
do well, it’s a good idea to learn what’s going on. Week
in and week out I study the scores of the repertoire
to get a little bit closer to understanding. Having this
knowledge of other instruments’ parts gives me wonderful
guidance, it keeps me from being a fish out of water.
A CHALLENGE
I would like to encourage every musician out there to get a little
more deeply in touch with his or her musicianship with this exercise.
Imagine you are being asked by a radio station to program 45 minutes
of your favorite classical music as a guest DJ. What would it be? What
would it say about your tastes, your interest in different composers
or ensembles? Once you are able to do this, try making a 45 minute
definitive mix of your favorite music of any genre. I guarantee it’s
challenging, because it was really quite hard for me to do it. I was
asked by a Seattle radio station to do exactly this, and you can see my
responses here. Listening is crucial, loving music even more so. Find
what makes you inspired and capture that same feeling when you sit
at the instrument. Anybody can make their musical ambitions reality,
by working hard and keeping an open mind.
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