Category: Uncategorized

Dotzauer Day 9: On Conducting Technique and on ‘Authentic’ Performance of Twentieth-Century Arrangements of Earlier Works

4 April 2018 Standlake, Oxfordshire ‘He thought he heard a noise – Ha!’ W.S. Gilbert,  Pirates of Penzance, Act 2 It's freezing in the information shed this morning, and I am wearing an enormous thickly-lined jumper, loose enough to allow my elbows to bend, but a problem nonetheless, because with my arm disappearing into the … Continue reading Dotzauer Day 9: On Conducting Technique and on ‘Authentic’ Performance of Twentieth-Century Arrangements of Earlier Works →

Dotzauer Day 8: Other Pieces, Other Problems to Solve

3-4-2018 Standlake, UK 'She would be in nobody's way, you know' - Lady Catherine De Burgh, Pride and Prejudice   I am in the ‘Information Room’ at Lincoln Farm Park campsite, which is a better option than the games room, with its flashing lights and pinball machines, and less of an attraction to the campsite … Continue reading Dotzauer Day 8: Other Pieces, Other Problems to Solve →

Dotzauer Day 7: On Posture and the Walnut Tree

2-4- 2018 The Walnut Tree Inn, Blisworth   I am writing from the camper van in a campsite in Oxfordshire, This is definitely a superior affair compared to the scene of our adventures in Grendon: hard, gravelled standing,  clean bathrooms with spacious cubicles and running (truly) hot, a laundry, a pool, a sauna, WiFi (which … Continue reading Dotzauer Day 7: On Posture and the Walnut Tree →

Dotzauer Day 6: Away in a Manger vs Dotzauer

1-4-2018 Wellingborough, UK     It's Easter Sunday, and having decamped from the drowning-in-mud campsite at Grendon, we are at a motorway Hotel. I am using my metal mega mute, and have the television on, to avoid bothering my neighbours. It's a programme about the Easter Story, and bizarrely, the Scottish presenter is singing Away … Continue reading Dotzauer Day 6: Away in a Manger vs Dotzauer →

Dotzauer Day 5: On Practising in a Small Camper Van, and On Playing Different Cellos

31-3-2018 Grendon, Northamptonshire   Today's challenge consists chiefly of trying to play a cello in a small VW camper van, perched sideways on the back seat with the music stand jammed up against the back of the front passenger seat, with not quite enough space to use full bows in either direction. The seat is … Continue reading Dotzauer Day 5: On Practising in a Small Camper Van, and On Playing Different Cellos →