Cellists Travel in Packs to Penn State

Cellists always travel in packs. At least that's what some of them say. On this cold October weekend (October 14-15) packs of cellists gathered at Penn State for its first Cello Festival. Not only did Cello Festival attract packs of student cellists but it also attracted a variety of cello enthusiasts—from instrument makers to performers to teachers.

"Don't be cheap," Dalton Potter told us passionately during his presentation, "How to Get the Most Out of Your Instrument." Potter might not appear to be the quintessential instrument maker with his sandy-blond hair, goatee, olive-green blazer, and blue jeans, but he knows that finding the right instrument depends on the personalities of both the player and the instrument. He mentioned the life span of strings and bow hair (about 120 playing hours), the differences in bridges, and the different types of wolf tone absorbers.

William Harris Lee, an instrument maker based in Chicago, also gave a workshop on finding the right instrument. During this workshop, we learned some of the specifics of instrument making. "Instrument making is like instrument playing: to be really good at it, you have to do it all the time," Lee started. He also told us that wood is more of an issue for cellos and basses than it is for violins and violas, because of the differences in quantity. So, what do they use for the various parts of the cello? Often they use spruce for the top, and maple for the back and sides. The bridge is usually made of maple; the sound post of spruce; and the fingerboard, pegs, and tailpiece are often made of ebony.

Our resident instrument repairman at Penn State, John Lamancusa, taught us the golden rule of do-it-yourself repairs: "Do no harm. Do nothing that cannot be reversed later on." Lamancusa's interest comes from his diverse background—he is part of Penn State's Mechanical Engineering Department and a violinist. Also among his advice, Lamancusa prepared a list of do's and don'ts. "The worst thing you can do in these kinds of repairs is glue it," he warned.

While some of our guests taught us about our instruments, our teachers talked about technique. Our featured guest artist, Alan Harris, gave a concert, in which he played Suite No. 1, 4, and 5 from Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Violoncello, and a master class. Renny Deremer, a graduate student; Andrew Simpson, an undergraduate; Lisa Hooper, an undergraduate; and Laura Hedden, an undergraduate; performed the Courante from Bach's fifth suite, Hindemith's Sonate Op. 25, Saint-Saens' Concerto in A minor (first movement), and Lalo's Concerto in D minor (first movement) respectively. During his master class, Harris began with each performer by asking him or her how s/he felt about the performance. Deremer noted a "breathless" feeling to her playing. Harris responded, "I remember my mother preaching to me 'don't go on to something else until you've finished what you started.'" He went on to talk with Deremer about the way she was ending her phrases. Andrew Simpson, in answer to Harris' questions, mentioned difficulties with some of his shifts. "The problem with shifting without preparation is we must first overcome inertia," Harris told Simpson. This easily led the discussion to shifting technique. The topic on all of our minds, the one with which every performer struggles, was overcoming performance anxiety. "We get tense for a good reason," Harris explains, "We don't feel secure or we want to feel strong and secure. As soon as you put another person in the room, the mind tries to kill us. It tells us, 'you shouldn't be here; you shouldn't be doing this.'"

Kim Cook, Associate Professor of Music in Cello at Penn State and festival director, also held a master class. Peter Cama and Dennis Persin performed a Golterman Concerto and the Lalo Concerto respectively. Cook, who studied with Alan Harris, also began by asking the performers how they felt about their playing. In her discussions with the students, Cook emphasized consciousness of muscular motion-the feeling of relaxed shoulders, the memory of the elbow motion during a shift, and the extension and collapse of the bow arm.

In addition to holding a master class, Cook directed the Penn State Cello Choir for the performance on Saturday night. The Cello Choir's selections included works by Bach, Gabrieli, and Villa-Lobos. Gerardo Edelstein, the new director of orchestras at Penn State, directed the Festival Ensemble in its performance of works by Bach, Handel, and Dvorak. This was the event that Lisa Hooper, the festival's student coordinator liked best. "It was great that people traveled some distances to come to the festival," she says, "That's what it's all about-getting together and making music." The Cello Festival Ensemble showed a mixture of cellists-young played beside old, experienced played beside beginner.

"This is the time to practice. The quality of musician is incredibly high. One hundred fifty cellists often audition for one position," says Kathleen Kemp. It's a truth that must be spoken to aspiring orchestral performers. Kemp, our guest expert on orchestral playing and Associate Principal Cellist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, led a workshop on "Playing Cello in a Professional Orchestra" and "Careers in Music." Our expert came fully prepared with lists of excerpts that are commonly asked for an audition and invaluable advice. Most importantly, she answered the question, "what are orchestras looking for in a cellist?" "They're looking for a good solid orchestral player who can play in tune." Kemp had some of our cellists attempt several of the excerpts, and taught them the key to orchestral playing. "Rhythm. Rhythm. Rhythm," Kemp asserts, "is the key to all this stuff. And style. You can't play Debussy like you play Beethoven. With orchestral playing, you have to play musically within the box." Afterward, Kemp and Leonard Feldman, former associate professor of music at Penn State, spoke to the cellists about careers in music. If you aren't going to be a teacher or performer, what else can you do? Arts Administration and Management and Music Business degrees and positions are quickly rising. Their advice to those of us in school right now, however, is to learn everything we possibly can whether it's playing jazz on the cello or getting involved with some aspect of music or art administration.

Cello Festival brought together cello enthusiasts of all types—students, teachers, performers, and instrument makers-who learned an enormous amount from each other. From the wow-it's-early coffee to the music of Dvorak, we shared a weekend experience. We share a love of the cello. Perhaps that's the simple reason that cellists always travel in packs.

-Gretchen Grzybicki-

The Penn State Cello Festival was sponsored by Penn State's College of Arts and Architecture, Penn State's School of Music, and the state and local chapters of the American String Teachers Association.

Gretchen Grzybicki is a cello student of Kim Cook. She will graduate from Penn State in May 2001 with degrees in English and Music.