[img]541|left|Carter Dewberry||no_popup[/img]I couldn’t get it to stop. Here I was taking a cello solo on our opening piece, and my fingers had stopped listening to my blushing cheeks’ plea to just stop already. All my carefully worked out passages collided at the intersection of preparation and spontaneity.
I had wanted to be clever, and I over-practiced. Peter, the group’s leader, summed it up so kindly by suggesting, “You just need to let go and get out of your head.”
Hah, What irony! I spend so much time trying to figure out (and then control) what is going on INSIDE my head that the thought of deliberately letting that go continues to terrify me. No wonder that for years the thought of improvising seemed to run counter to the very fibers of my classically-trained artist self.
Of course, Peter was (and still is) right. This really isn’t so different from how I grew up practicing pieces dozens of ways. Knowing I had options in my interpretation allows me to have more freedom in the moment of performance. Now I’m just changing notes in addition to bowings.
Now my task is to be sure that I remember to focus on one approach at a time and make all the other great ideas wait for their turn… unless I am going for the collage effect, of course.
Ms. Dewberry, an accomplished cellist, completed her DMA in Chamber Music Performance from UCLA in December 2005. She received her MM in Cello Performance from UCLA in June 2002 and her B.M. in Cello Performance from Western Michigan University in April 1998. She also holds a B.A. in French with a minor in Women's Studies and Philosophy.
Her website is www.carterdewberry.com
She may be contacted at carter@carterdewberry.com
