Next Level Cellist Musicality Issue
Featuring articles by Alisa Weilerstein and Efe Baltacigil, a spotlight on the Chicago Symphony Cello section, and a duet by Ranaan Meyer
Featuring articles by Alisa Weilerstein and Efe Baltacigil, a spotlight on the Chicago Symphony Cello section, and a duet by Ranaan Meyer
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Publisher’s Note<br />
What an incredible feeling it is to be writing to you, the<br />
newest members of the <strong>Next</strong> <strong>Level</strong> Journals family. I<br />
started <strong>Next</strong> <strong>Level</strong> Bassist a year ago to bring double<br />
bass players together, and to help share wisdom and<br />
experience with everybody. The goal of <strong>Next</strong> <strong>Level</strong><br />
Journals is really to create a community among people<br />
who have one very important thing in common.<br />
For cellists, it’s playing one of the most versatile and beautiful instruments<br />
humanity has ever created. I am personally so excited to spend time speaking<br />
with, learning from, and even inspiring cellists, our brothers and sisters from<br />
the low end!<br />
Our first issue is about musicality - the art of conveying our emotions and<br />
statements through our instruments, the essence of why we all put in the long<br />
hours and spend so much time focused on self-improvement. Hopefully, we<br />
can all remember that very first moment when we got swept away by the music<br />
we were playing, fully committing to the sound of the group and the notes<br />
coming out of the instrument. It’s the adrenaline of an amazing performance,<br />
or the quiet pleasure of accomplishing something we knew was impossible only<br />
weeks ago.<br />
I am so excited by the content of this journal. Alisa Weilerstein has had such<br />
a stellar career, and her explanation of the “impulse” is information that is of<br />
critical importance to every single musician. While not everyone shares her<br />
incredible musical background, we can all benefit from the wisdom of her<br />
perspective. Efe Baltacigil, a great friend and an unbelievable cellist, shares his<br />
thoughts on the fundamental building blocks of musical sensitivity, as well as<br />
the story of a musical family that is making quite an impression on the world.<br />
We are also including a regular feature from the bass journal, a spotlight on a<br />
great cello section. This time around, we heard from the Chicago Symphony’s<br />
Brant Taylor on his 16 years as a member of the cello section which is an<br />
11-person force of nature! As we all aspire to play with the best musicians<br />
we can find, it helps to know that life at the top is wonderful and fulfilling.<br />
I am so excited to be including a page of my latest composition, a duet for cello<br />
and bass called Just One Dance. As a celebration of the launch of this journal, I<br />
hope this duet will unite the low strings and allow us all to share in the wisdom<br />
that every player brings to the table. I am truly honored to be in the company<br />
of so many new people in the cello world - may we all inspire one another and<br />
never lose the impulse!<br />
RANAAN MEYER<br />
Publisher <strong>Next</strong> <strong>Level</strong> Journals<br />
SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST<br />
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