PA, it's your turn in the hot seat! I'll start with a couple questions:

1) You asked if we could guess what your Halloween avatar was. It looks like a germ from the 1960's ad campaign for vaccinations, where the germ jumps out and roars, and the kid says, "I've got immunity!" But I think you're too young to remember those. So what is it?!

2) I think it's so cool that you play both cello and piano. Which feels more natural to you? And what do you get from each?

3) As part of question 2, really: do you prefer solo or ensemble playing?

Have fun!

Gee, I'm honored. I think!

1. My Halloween avatar is supposed to be a bedbug, but it doesn't look like one to me. I don't remember that ad campaign, although I don't think I'm too young -- I just turned 53! (Yikes.)

2. The cello feels more natural to me, definitely. It's more tactile -- you are directly touching the strings and controlling the sound. The piano is more of a big machine. But piano music is much more interesting than most cello music. I find when going back and forth between them that they somehow complement each other.

3. On the cello, I like small ensemble playing in which I am the only cellist, or at least in which I can clearly hear myself. Maybe I'm secretly a narcissist? On the piano, I really haven't done any ensemble playing, so I can't say.

I know you have a degree in music.

When did you start playing the cello and why that instrument?

When did you start playing piano?

I love your blogs BTW and mention of the website there might be of interest to others.

I know that you and your hubby eat veggies. Can you tell more about that choice? Why? When? What?

If not for the vagaries of the DC public school budget, I would have started the clarinet in 4th grade, but they canceled instrumental music that year, and the next chance you got was 7th grade. By that time, I had for some reason decided I wanted to learn a stringed instrument instead. My parents had a little book with pictures of all the instruments, and the cello looked more sensible to me than the violin because you could sit down to play it, so I chose that. I had no idea what one sounded like. The band/orchestra teacher at the school was delighted that anyone was interested. He let me take the cello home to practice, so I went through String Builder and basically taught myself. I started formal lessons a couple of years later, but didn't get serious about it until I was about 20.

I started playing the piano before I could read (so I was maybe 4), but I didn't begin taking lessons until I was 9. I think if I'd had a better teacher, I would have stuck with the piano, but the teacher was terrible, and the cello was a lot easier and just kind of happened, so that's where I went. I took lessons for about 10 years, and then played a little bit now and then after that before stopping entirely. I started playing again about 6 years ago.

Thanks for your comment about my blog. I only post there about once a week or so, or if I have something interesting to post about, but the link is in my signature line if anyone is interested (or even if you're not!).

I've been a vegetarian since I was 16. I had some eating issues then, and that was something I tried, but even after I had resolved those problems, I had gotten used to eating that way and still really like it. Mr. PA didn't eat much meat when he met me, but a few years ago he decided on his own to stop eating it entirely. For a long time, I didn't eat fish, but I do eat some occasionally now. But mostly my diet consists of grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, dairy, and eggs. There is a lot of variety possible.

As long as I'm answering a question about food, I might as well post a picture Mr. PA took this afternoon of a sign on a local grocery store we frequent:

I too really like your blog. I think AdagioM made a great choice.

Let's see...How did you get into publishing? Was it an intentional choice, or did you stumble into it?

What's your favorite sport to participate in? To watch?

What was the best vacation you've ever taken and why?

Where were you born?

Publishing -- well, yes, I did stumble into it, though I always thought I would enjoy editing, so it wasn't something I'd never considered. What happened was that after I finished with my doctorate in music, I was almost 35 and knew it would be tough for me to earn a living as a musician, so I decided to join the real world and get a day job. I worked my way through a stint as a court reporter (which I got into through one of my sisters, who was an office manager at a court reporting agency), then a couple of administrative assistant jobs, then a job as technical editor that I got through a friend, and finally where I am now, a scholarly publisher where I currently am a production editor in their book department. Somewhere in there, I took a couple of classes in proofreading and copyediting, but most of what I've learned has been on my current job, where they had a pretty rigorous training regimen at the time I started here, 10 years ago.

Sport? Does walking count? As a spectator, if I had to pick something, I'd choose figure skating.

Best vacation: I haven't been on that many, so each one is a novelty. Most of the big journeys I've been on have been music related, back when I was a music student. Now, just getting away from the daily routine is what I enjoy, and if it's in a nice place, that's a bonus. I liked our trip to Vancouver last year, when we took the ferry to Victoria and explored a tiny bit of the island. I do like going to New York City, where there's always something interesting to do; my favorite thing there is just walking (see my favorite sport, above).

I was born in Washington, DC, one of the few -- and even rarer, my mother was born there as well.

You seem to be so good at so many things, but what is the one skill or talent you lack, and that most annoys you?

Do you have a favorite food, one on which you could subsist for a week without too much trouble?

Have you ever considered being a teacher? (It's funny, because that's the vibe I got from you when we met.)

If you could pick just one spot to live in the Southeast, where would you choose?

As a native of DC, do you consider yourself a Yankee?

I wish I was good at talking to people and being persuasive of my point of view. I seem to be completely unconvincing in any discussion or argument.

Peanut butter.

I have been a teacher (I taught private music lessons for a while), but see my answer to your first question.

This is about as far Southeast as I want to get.

As a native of Southeast DC, I consider myself a homegirl. (Actually, I feel more like a citizen of the world. Is that the same as a Yankee?)

Interesting to read why you were so sensible in choosing the cello!

I am glad that you have picked up the piano again
(oh, a pun!!!) as you play very nicely.

What are you working on now for piano pieces?

Apple recently posted a nice Bach piece you might enjoy.

Busoni's transcription of Bach's Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMlgyCb6vfg

It is something that you might enjoy. I love it!

quote:

Originally posted by Piano Again:
I wish I was good at talking to people and being persuasive of my point of view. I seem to be completely unconvincing in any discussion or argument...

Hmm. I always thought good sense was persuasive enough and that you had that in spades when you speak up. Maybe it's that there's no persuading the loonies that has you doubting yourself. Trust me, it's them.

LL, not a very romantic reason for picking an instrument, is it?

I'm working on the three B's: A Bach prelude and fugue (No. 6 in D minor from WTC I), Beethoven, Sonata in C major Op. 2 No. 3, and Brahms Op. 118 (very slow going on this one). My long-term goal is to learn all of the Well-Tempered Clavier, so I work on a set until I have it memorized and then pick another one. It seems like it has taken me at least 6 months for each one; I've learned about 10 of them so far. I don't know if this is a good approach or not; for one thing, I don't seem to have time to investigate other Bach works. It definitely has helped my technique, though.

ChickGrand, I just don't seem to have persuasive powers when the other people have any doubts. And there are situations in which choices are not a matter of good sense but of taste (i.e., no one choice is "correct"). I would NOT be a good salesperson.

All of 118? or the wonderful 118 2?

You are ambitious to conquer all the WTC!

I'm trying to learn all of Op. 118. No. 2 is certainly the easiest of them, and I've worked on it before (as have most piano students -- it's kind of the equivalent of "The Swan" on the cello). So I've been able to record it and play it on a recital this year, but the others are not there yet, by a long shot.

I'm kind of learning the WTC in lieu of exercises, though of course trying to play the pieces musically.

I remember one of my grad school cello teacher's other students complaining, "He tells me to play music like an etude and etudes like music!" I figure I'm better off just doing the music and spending my limited practice time with Bach than with Czerny.

Who does most of the cooking at your house?

quote:

Originally posted by rustyfingers:
Who does most of the cooking at your house?

I do, though Mr. PA knows his way around the kitchen pretty well and does a reasonable share of it. I like to mosey through cookbooks and try new recipes, whereas he makes the same few dishes. People have given me a number of cookbooks as presents (I just realized, as I sit here with our shelves of cookbooks in front of me). Mr. PA has a much better touch with stir fries, omelettes, and pasta than I do. He has never tried to bake bread or desserts or anything like that, for some reason, so if we're going to have a homemade bread or dessert, I am the one who makes it. If we get some kind of fruit or vegetable that needs to be prepped extensively to cook with or eat (melon, artichokes, beets, etc.), I am always the one who does it. (Mr. PA said he never bought a whole watermelon before he met me.)

We also do about an equal share of the grocery shopping, which I always feel is part of cooking.

Whoever cooks doesn't have to clean up, unless the noncook is sick or has another good reason for slacking off.