I had SO MUCH FUN playing my cello around Vancouver parks this summer! Here are a few videos, pictures, and recordings from friends and listeners..... Thank you Eric, Yvonne, Lolli, Luis, Scott, and Markie for documenting the summer!
Download Cirque for free or by donation here:Download Commercial Blues for free or by donation here:
I look forward to seeing you again next summer! If you'd like to hear when and where I'll be popping up next.....
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What a year it has been… (I've been making a conscientious effort to spend more time at my instrument and less time at the computer, so I've gotten a little behind on my blog…)
After releasing my single last summer I went cross-Canada to visit and play for friends and relatives in Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax. I played on board the VIA Rail train nearly the entire length of the country which was a fabulous experience - I couldn't recommend this enough to my musician and performer friends (it's called the on-board entertainment program). A big thanks to Helen, Alyssa, Stacy, Jessica, my sister Steph and her family, my aunts Sue and Nicky, and my Grandad for putting up with me!! I made my annual pilgrimage to Montreal to play for Yegor Dyachkov and this year, I asked him if he could take me on for regular lessons if I moved to Montreal… He said yes!! So I've spent the last year rehearsing and learning music to perform at benefit concerts with the Singing Tree Collective (on Salt Spring Island and preparing for a trip to Nepal and Cambodia), organizing events for and teaching at the East Vancouver Community Music School, working as assistant strings teacher at West Point Grey Academy, all the while preparing to pack my bags and move beyond the boarders of the Greater Vancouver Area for the first time in my life…. and experience true cold winter for the first time in my life… eek! I have had the extreme pleasure of collaborating and making music with some incredible individuals over the past year. I was thrilled when Monica Shah and I were accepted to the 12 Minutes Max dance showcase at the Scotiabank Dance Center. She brought her classical Indian dance training, I brought my classical Western music training and we mashed the two together in loosely organized improvisations, centered around the intention of channeling Kali. Monica is amazing, if you ever get a chance to see her perform - do it! Rodney DeCroo asked me to play with him in a theatre work he had written titled "Stupid Boy in an Ugly Town". We performed the work most recently at Templeton Highschool and have since rehearsed a few songs from his latest album "Old Tenement Man". I have indulged in both this album and his most recent book of poetry (his 3rd? 4th..?), "Next Door to the Butcher Shop," cover-to-cover. Rodney has found a powerful way to authentically share himself with the world. I have fallen in love with a number of friend's bands and solo acts: Only A Visitor, The End Tree, Natalie Ramsay, Hildegard's Ghost, No Mothers, The Creaking Planks, The Myrtle Family Band, Michael Fraser, and The Ruffled Feathers… just to name a few (in no particular order). I also saw a bunch of snazzy people in the Gamelan Bike Bike at the Parade of Lost Souls last, last fall which inspired me to join the community gamelan group Gita Asmara and learn two pieces of Balinese gamelan music (though I don't think we played them at "Balinese Speed"). This incredibly intricate music put my ear and brain in a whole other world, so much so that I didn't think twice about accepting an invitation to improvise with a microtonal piano this past spring. Noah and I explored two rounds of sounds, textures, and unpredictability, and afterwards another pair of musicians improvised for two rounds. It's an ear-bender for sure. This piano is re-tuned so that there are 15 pitches within an octave (instead of 12) so that each spacing is slightly less than a whole semitone. You can listen to the whole thing on soundcloud by clicking here. Now that the school year is wrapped up, I've spent a good chunk of this summer playing chamber music on Salt Spring, performing Free Outdoor Cello Concerts, practicing and preparing for Nepal/Cambodia/Montreal, and brainstorming other projects. I've been writing and reading everyday this past little while; if you'd like to poke around and hear what I've been up to click here or send me an email: clara [at] sidewalkcellist [dot] com. If I take a while to respond, feel free to send me a second poke. In the mean time, take care (and click here if you want a laugh). Wow! The big moment is almost here..... Last year I was fortunate to receive my first FACTOR recording grant to bring a new single of mine to life. The song is called "Lights in the Dark" and is very much inspired by the chaos of the world around us, and asks us to ponder - perhaps there are some lights we can only see in the dark. This journey began on a bright, sunny day in June at the lovely Vancouver home of pianist and faerie godmother, Linda Kuttis. Her beautiful Steinway piano was recorded by the lovely Alexis Douglas and Sam Koop with equipment borrowed from multiple friends and studios. Elliot Vaughan, local composer, friend, and violist, joined me at Alexis' home studio a few days later so that we could record a scratch track of the string quartet section, I laid down a rough version of the vocals, and therefore the whole track was roughed out for Dr. Timothy Van Cleave to add his percussion magic.
Our last day of recording was at Raincity Studios where I was thrilled to see all sorts of amazing local band's records on the wall (The Pack A.D.!! So Cool!!). We recorded the vocals for reals, I laid down a nice little cello line to pull the string sounds through the whole song, and then Molly MacKinnon and Genevieve MacKay joined us to record the string quartet - for reals. I thought it was hilarious that our recording engineer for the day was Mark MacKitrick (so many Scottish last names!!). Lastly, our day of mixing was at Hipposonic Records in North Van. It was soooo warm in that little room as there were so many pieces of equipment operating. I was STUNNED to see that the brilliant Alexis, the lovely Sam, and the recording engineer du jour Karl, were running all of our sounds through this guy: REAL TAPE guys!! For rrrrrrrreeeeeeeals! I was over the moon because my intention from the beginning of this recording was to allow this track to have a live and analog feel. This is why the piano bed tracks were done without a click track, all of the room sounds that we picked up we kept, and all of the layers were done with as little editing as possible... and running the sounds through this tape machine robot made everything sound so warm and alive. After the mixing was done I sent the files off to Brock McFarlane at CPS Mastering and now I'm just waiting for the final file. I made the album art myself but I'm saving that image for this Tuesday (Aug 2) when I do a soft release and begin sending it out to friends and family. If you'd like a copy as soon as its out, send me a poke: clara [at] sidewalkcellist [dot] com. Before I sign off, I want to take a moment to thank all of the lovely people that helped me write the grant to make this song a reality. Alexis Douglas has been an inspiration and a huge driving force from day one - her energy and spirit are out of this world. My friends and colleagues Ruth Cornish, Rodney DeCroo, and Timothy Van Cleave believed in me enough to write letters of reference, as did friend and radio DJ Gabriel Munro, which undoubtedly played a huge role in securing this funding. As a budding French student, and as a Canadian desiring the ongoing unity of our country, I wanted to include some French lyrics in this song. My very dear friends Alexis and Sarah from Montreal helped me translate the chorus into French and I got a little help squeezing in all of the syllables (as in leaving out some syllables) from Jean-Michel. I had initially hoped to include Alyssa Stevenson (flute), Anita Eccleston (trumpet), and Theo Kraulis (electronic producer) on this track but the reality was that we had to simplify the initial intention to finish everything by the FACTOR deadline. I think you'll like it.... I'd like to sign off on this blog by sharing the lyrics from "Lights in the Dark".... Our past is full of daggers,
it ain't wise to keep it close If we kick up our inner embers, that fire better be for light How big is your sky? Can you cradle it in your eye? Can you seek your peaks and valleys with a smile deep inside....? Time can make anything crumble There are lights we can only see in the dark Even the mountains were young once Only a fraction of what was still is I was drawn to the darkness, in spite of myself Don't touch it - clouds burst into harder things For nothing cleaves a mountain's sides like time and sky's watery eyes There may be more existence then we will ever find..... Tout peut s’effondrer avec le temps Il y a des lumières qu’on ne voit que dans le noir Même les montagnes ont été jeunes Qu’une fraction de ce qui était, l’est encore This recording was made possible in part by the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (#FACTORfunded) and the Government of Canada. Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au Fondation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings ( #FACTORfunded ) et le gouvernement du Canada. July 9th, 2016
I am very happy in this moment, floating on water between two worlds - the serenity of island life ahead with the hustle of the city drifting in my wake. I've just about got it all: a hot cup of coffee, a bustling mind palace, lessons for learning, ideas for musing and very few worries beyond not having enough time... I never have enough time... It is so easy to get caught up in all of the city's distractions and with so much to see and do, it's impossible to get everything done. All we ever have is this moment, and I cherish having the space and distance to pause and reflect. July 13, 2016 It has been a whirlwind and somehow several days have passed at the Sidewalk Hermit Cellist annual retreat. I have been practicing a lot of Bach, catching up on my practicing (cello, yoga, and French), and ending a several-month-long-procrastination of some computer work. I've also reunited with my addiction for the Daily Show, featuring the comedian Trevor Noah who recently hosted Terry McMillan. She said something very beautiful and inspiring: "Tell the truth... do it with humor, and do it with gusto" This has become my new mantra whenever I am playing my cello, especially for Bach. I have had the house to myself for a few hours over the last couple days and I have been recording little bits and pieces of the Bach cello suites. I'll probably upload a few of them to share... Check my band camp page in a few days or give me a poke, I'll send you the link :) As my partner-in-musical-crime returns to Cambodia to teach, collaborate, and share music, I find myself gazing westward to that magical place that has changed my life forever.... I realized that I never shared any stories from my last trip with my online family yet - so it's time to correct this! This was my third trip to South East Asia and it was the first time I had flown across the Pacific alone. I met a really lovely girl around the same age as me on my connecting flight from Taipei to Phnom Penh. It was her first time leaving North America, so I happily volunteered to show her all the best places in the city. We became instant friends :) Now that I've been three times, settling in is very easy.... Besides, life in Phnom Penh is out of this world: Linda (my musical partner-in-crime) and I make our coffee on our hotel roof top garden, then we walk to the music school and often pick up a fresh coconut or a croissant for breakfast.... we practice and rehearse and teach until the mid-day heat is upon us, then its time for a tasty lunch, maybe a dip in the pool, a happy-hour cocktail, some reading time, and/or a nap! The evenings are spent rehearsing, organizing the teaching/rehearsing/workshops/concerts for the following days as well as checking out lots of local events to support the growing arts scene. We went to the Phnom Penh International Film Festival as well as the International Jazz Festival - within the same week! We also got to see the Cambodian Space Project live (Linda got a video, I'll see if I can convince her to upload it...). I've got to learn one of their songs!! There are so many moments that are simply too beautiful to put into words.... If you're curious, ask me about the "White Building" next time we're in person and I will happily tell the tale. Linda flew home to Vancouver on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day I flew from Phnom Penh to Yangon to be greeted at the airport by my wonderful guitarist friend Charlie - my cello even arrived in Yangon with me this time!! (Last year, I was given the worst scare of my life when I got to the luggage claim... It showed up the next day, but that was one of the worst nights of my life.) I opted to stay at a hotel very close to the music school and I was so glad I did. Every morning I made my coffee in my room, then took the 5 minute walk to the music school, saying hello and "Mingalaba!" to faces that became more and more familiar each day. Charlie and I had a concert to do on the fourth day after my arrival so we set to work right away rehearsing each others songs, putting together a program, inviting friends, and sound checking at our venue. The rest of my time in Yangon was spent making new friends and catching up with old friends. I taught a few lessons, coached a chamber orchestra, and jammed, but everyone at the Gitameit Music School in Yangon is so friendly, it just felt like I was hanging out with friends all day. The pagoda across the street was having a week-long festival which I checked out numerous time with my friends. The festival had two or three dangerous-looking carnival rides (I did not partake), Burmese street food (so tasty!), and stalls selling everything from toys to incense, clothes to woven mats, baskets, pottery, and numerous other goods and wares. On two separate occasions Charlie and I took public transit downtown. Once to go see Star Wars, and the other time we went to explore and find the Pansodan Art Gallery (run by a friend of a friend - I had to check it out!). It was my first time on Burmese buses, and I have to say - it was pretty cool. The "seat" was a mere plank of wood and I had to hold on to dear life the whole way, but for $0.20 you can't beat the price! A truly authentic Burmese experience! My last day in Burma was New Years Eve and it came way too fast. I hardly got to see everyone that I needed to see and I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with everyone. I don't have any photographic evidence, but my New Years Eve was really quite special. I didn't have plans so I just hung around the music school waiting to see what people were up to. A few of my musical friends were packing up their instruments and I asked where their gig was because I'd like to check it out. "It's too expensive," they said "you won't want to come" "How much are tickets?" I asked, I could afford to splurge once, right? "Over a hundred dollars...." Whaaaaaa!? I couldn't believe it - $100 in Burma is a LOT of money.... But then, we had an idea! "Why don't you grab your cello and join our band? You can just jam along!" Aaaaaaand that's exactly what I did! We rolled up at a fancy downtown hotel, unloaded our gear, sound-checked, then got to help ourselves to some seriously fancy buffet! We played until the count-down, had an absolute whale of a time, and then I had to get home (my flight to Chiang Mai was leaving at 7 am the next morning). Needless to say by the time I got to my layover in Bangkok I really needed a coffee. Going through security I met a guy from Paris, we went to grab a coffee and he was kind enough to rescue me when the cashier scowled at my American cash (I didn't have any Thai currency yet). Merci mon ami!!
When I landed in Chaing Mai I was invited to stay with some friends of Linda's that run a resort just outside of the city. Nothing could have prepared me for the paradise that I found myself in.... I was besides myself with gratitude and determination to make good use of a very profound, deep, and peaceful space. Every day I did yoga, practiced my French, practiced my cello, swam in their pool, did my physio exercises.... I was very well behaved!! There are two pictures of their property in the gallery above - can you tell which one is where I stayed and which ones are the Queen of Thailand's? I'm not joking! I had five glorious days in Chiang Mai, three of which were spent on a little rented moto, driving around through the back roads, checking out buddha after buddha, pagoda on top of hill after pagoda on top of a hill. It was glorious - no map, no phone, no one with me - just the road, a helmet, sunglasses, and an adventurous spirit. From Chiang Mai I went back to Phnom Penh for three super-short days where I caught up with Kate, my friends at the music school, and a wonderful Cambodian film maker named Polen Ly. He had emailed me months prior asking if he could use some of my music in one his films. Yes! I said, you can click here to see the trailer and click here to help them fundraise to make it a reality. We finally got to meet in person and had a really lovely Vietnamese dinner on my last night in Cambodia... Alas, it has now been nearly two full months that I have been back in Vancouver and my heart aches for the countless people that I have been fortunate enough to make friends with. I very much look forward to returning this winter, maybe this you'll come with me...? Feedback is always appreciated, write me any time - clara [at] sidewalkcellist.com Whoa, what a day - and I'm NOT complaining! But what could it have been without all of the amazing people on this planet? I'm lucky enough to be friends with an amazing bunch, and I just want to share a bit about them. These are two of my best friends. One is an amazing violist/throatsinger/bike-bike-gamelan-player and the other is a flutest/knitter/amazing-vegan-chef. I highly suggest you listen to the skeleton song. Its almost Halloween, yo! This is Charlie, he is an incredible Burmese guitarist. I introduced him to my producer and he recorded an album in Bali while we were there. You can listen to it by clicking here. You can download it free or make a donation and I will ensure that 100% of the funds go directly to him. Meghan and Timothy Van Cleave (above) are starting a new life in Portland, OR. I miss them tremendously and cannot wait to: 1. go down and visit, and 2. hear more about their new studio!! I by with a lotta help from my friends, and they give me a lot of inspiration too. There have been a bunch of amazing albums this year, and I hope I can remember them all: Bicycle by No Mothers Tower Temporary by Only a Visitor Campfires on the Moon by Rodney DeCroo State of Mind by High Depth (Theo Kraulis) Iffy South (Elliot Vaughan) Ghosts of Jazz by Skim Milk (Sam Davidson) Stories by Hildegard's Ghost I don't know what I'd do without my Vancouver family, my Halifax family, my friends in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg, up and down the coasts, across the oceans in Aus, Cambodia, Burma.... Last but not least I don't know where I would be without the lovely Linda, the amazing Ryan, all of my parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and nieces and nephews.... I'm sure I'm forgetting to list someone, so let me just say that my human family the world over is loved and appreciated. Let's have tea sometime :) Have you recorded something, or put something together and want to share it? Leave it in the comments section, and I always read all of my email: clara [at] sidewalkcellist [dot] com
This summer I am spending an extensive amount of time (3 weeks) on the Golf Island called "Salt Spring Island," just off the coast of Vancouver, BC. I want to share a day in the life on island time and assure you that I am keeping busy and using my time wisely. First of all, it is only proper to start the day with no less than a cauldron of coffee. And then it is time to practice.... Bach cello suites, the da gamba sonatas, the Brahms piano trio, the Rachmaninoff sonata, Fratres by Arvo Part, the first Schostakowitsch cello concerto, the Arch Duke trio by Beethoven, the Ravel piano trio, the Debussy sonata.... there are some other things floating around, it all circulates with the mood of the day and the season of the year. Then it's time to walk Shanti.... We don't really abide by clocks. We keep track of time by spotting the occasional ferry ...it comes every two hours. Sometimes we go to the beach, some days we go to the lake. The icy cold water does wonders for my tendinitis as well as my shoulders when they are achy from practicing crazy 20th century music.... Don't forget to pick blackberries on the way home! It's probably time to do some more practicing, and maybe do a little work on my string quartet. Or will it be a piano trio? Hmm.. I haven't quite decided yet... And theeeennnn.... Bounce it all out, and do a little yoga. Have you ever done yoga on a trampoline? It's amazing, you should try it. By evening it's usually time to water the garden with our collected grey water from the day. We'll make a simple dinner and then play scrabble, watch Sherlock... ... and sometimes just conk out in bed with a good book. ... or study French. ... or write. All this and I still have time to eat, sleep, wash dishes, sweep the floor, feed the dog, update my website, check emails/facebook/twitter/soundcloud/bandcamp/couchsurfing/patreon/mailchimp, get bedrooms ready for other guests and visitors, go to the market, jam with the neighbors, and have moments for meditation, time to smell the roses, the peace of mind to remind myself to be present.
I'll be heading back to the city on Labour Day, and returning to my lovely but busy city life of teaching, commuting, gigging, recording, collaborating, performing, cello-hauling, booking gigs and the whole shabang. I realized a short while ago.... I will do more good in this world if I look after myself first, take the time to recharge my batteries, and practice. I'm going to make the most of this sabbatical! I just got back from my latest cross-country tour. It was very much a working-vacation as my primary objective was to visit family and friends, as well as have a little down time for writing. I played house concerts in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Montreal, for some of the nicest people I know or have ever met, and my home coming was a house concert at the home of one of my cello students in Vancouver. I have never felt so blessed, so grateful for the countless warm welcomes, meals, hugs, smiles, and new friends.
While traveling I meditated on the universal nature of loss, the brevity of life, and our relative insignificance within the universe. I wrote a poem, and I'm diligently working away, setting it to music.... Our past is full of daggers, it ain't wise to keep it close. If we kick up our inner embers, that fire better for light. How big is your sky? Can you cradle it in your eye? Can you seek your peaks and valleys With a smile deep inside? Time can make anything crumble, There are lights we can only see in the dark. Even the mountains were young once, Only a fraction of what was still is. I was drawn to the darkness, in spite of myself. Don't touch it, clouds burst into harder things. For nothing cleaves a mountain's sides, Like time and sky's watery eyes, There may be more existence, Then we will ever find. Thanks for letting me share. I'll write again soon :) You wake up, gulp down some coffee (the source of all life), get dressed, run out the door, get to work, work all day, eat some stuff, come home, veg out, go to sleep, and do it all over again. With some variation, this is the sampling of the kind of lives one lives in our modern society, but really - what does it matter?
What do you contribute to the universe? What influence does all of humanity have on space beyond, the expanse that is constantly expanding - at a rate so great, we may never know it's limits? If you're like me, then most of the things that we think about day to day, don't really matter. We can get caught up in routines, worrying about traffic and the rising costs of food. We get ticked off when our sports team doesn't win, or when the annoying person in the office gets a promotion that we wanted. We can be both overly self-critical and egotistic - at the same time. The world is complicated, I'll give you that, but let me share a few words of wisdom from the Buddha himself... Do no harm Which is a lot harder than you think, because the biggest amounts of damage that we're doing is the damage that we're doing by not paying attention! "Do no harm" doesn't mean refraining from punching someone in the face, it means not buying blue-jeans that were made in such a way that lakes and rivers near factories were poisoned by run-off dye; not buying regular eggs and instead supporting farmers that let their chickens go outside (certified free range); it means not beating yourself up if you made a mistake; it means opening up your eyes really, really wide and cultivating a sense of compassion for the world, its peoples, and yourself. This is what really matters in life. Maybe you're a supportive co-worker, or you work with kids or the elderly, perhaps you're a really good friend or a great parent - what ever your path may be follow it with awareness and compassion for the betterment of mankind and the prosperity of our beautiful Mother Earth. These are my thoughts for the day, feel free to share yours in the comments below. Namaste. If you could go back in time and kill Hitler, or Stalin, or Pol Pot, or some other jerk - would you do it?
If you answered yes, watch this... and tell me what you'd do about it. Personally, I'd read this to make sure that video was real. Then I'd check my sources here, here, and here... I'd feel impulsive to do something to help, so I'd go here and sign up for a small monthly donation.... What else could I do....? Maybe write this blog so other people know that there is a real-life Hitler on this planet - right now. If anyone knows a real life batman, can you please call him? |
Clara Shandler is a full-time cellist currently based in Vancouver, Canada. This is my personal blog where I write about my travels, projects, and passions. Feel free to leave a comment or click here to see where I'll be popping up next!
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