Lake Union; February 7

• 5.4 mi

Back in the boat after a long hiatus. Cloudy, breezy, a little rain. Wanted a simple trip and Lake Union is always interesting. The hot tub boats are hilarious!

Nodded at a guy in his houseboat kitchen. He popped out on his deck and we had a quite an interesting conversation. He and his wife had boats made by the same guy that made mine. Fun!

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Recitals are useful musically because performance art calls out to be performed and shared with others. They are also a good learning event in themselves: Only practice and familiarity can overcome nervousness. There are traditions for the process of performance, and these are learned by doing.

But what to play next? Ellen suggested the Brahms' Sonata No.1 for Cello and Piano. I was familiar with it and some parts of it I liked. Other parts didn't speak to me though, and personal interest is important for personal motivation. But, after listening to it again I thought maybe I could get into it.

Certainly the piece is interesting in that it covers the whole range of the cello - from the bottom note up to almost as high as you can go. It has sweet parts and rowdy parts. I think it was the noisy parts that I did not "get". However, contrasts are often needed to appreciate things: loud vs soft, low vs high, gentle vs rough, tension vs resolution. This one has it all.

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