Scott County Strings, Inc.

The Beethoven/Schumann recital has been postponed. My talented pianist colleague suffered a (hopefully minor) back injury last week. I'll keep everybody updated as to when we will perform.

I've been out of pocket and away from cello for a while. Took my son on a whirlwind tour of historical sites from July 8 to July 24. While we were gone, my cello was in the shop in Metairie, LA getting some much-needed adjustments done. While I love my cello, and have always thought it had a nice sound, lately I've felt like I have to work too hard to get that nice sound, because the string height was way too high. My playing was tense from having to press so hard with my lef...t hand, so my sound was tense. Sal Giardina in Metairie did the work. He came highly recommended and did a good job working out my baby's issues. Because I am used to higher strings, he left them just high enough that coming back to it wouldn't feel totally foreign, but low enough that I wouldn't have to work so hard to press the strings down. Thumb position isn't painful anymore--other than the fact that I haven't played in almost a month so my hands have to get used to celloing again. My postponed Beethoven/Schumann recital will be happening two weeks from Thursday. Fortunately, I was pretty well-prepared back in April, and kept working on the repertoire once MSO season slacked off. So my almost-month-long break doesn't seem to have done too much damage to my solo chops. I guess we'll see when I rehearse with my pianist next week. At least I have some time to practice before then. See more

Update on the Beethoven/Schumann recital that was scheduled for last Thursday and postponed due to tornadoes: The performance is tentatively rescheduled for Thursday, August 15, in the evening. Stay tuned for more updates in the next couple months. Future performances: 1. The third and final installment of the Music and Scripture series, featuring Bach Cello Suites 5 and 6, is tentatively scheduled for Holy Saturday (April 11) in 2020 at Forest UMC.... 2. Vivaldi concerto for two cellos with former MSO principal cellist Bennett Randman and the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, tentatively scheduled for fall, 2020 in Jackson. 3. The second installment of the Beethoven sonatas series, tentatively scheduled for fall semester 2021 at East Central. 4. The third and final installment of the Beethoven sonatas series, tentatively scheduled for fall semester 2022 at East Central. Stay tuned for more updates. See more

Sadly, the threat of tornadoes has forced us to postpone the Schumann sandwich on Beethoven bread concert until August. Stay tuned.

Two days left. This Thursday, I will be performing Beethoven's two opus 5 cello sonatas along with Schumann's Fantasiestucke at East Central Community College with my talented friend and colleague Dr. Justin Sharp. Looking forward to it.

I finally got around to reading the story on my talented colleague, Dr. Justin Sharp, in the Scott County Times' "Profile" edition. Thank you, Dr. Sharp, for the shameless plug of our Beethoven/Schumann recital!