Stand Partners for Life

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016: Violin resolutions we’ve made, kept, and broken Jan 06, 2019

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Happy New Year and new season of Stand Partners for Life! In this episode, we take a look back at resolutions we've made about our playing... and not all of them stuck! From scale practice to solo Bach, counting rests to keeping a practice journal, each of us had critical moments in our violin past where we made fateful decisions. Which ones made a lasting impact? Transcript Nathan Cole: Hello and welcome back to Stand Partners for Life. I am Nathan Cole. Akiko Tarumoto: I am Akiko Tarumoto. Nathan Cole: Well, since this is the new year, happy new year and happy second season of Stand Partners for Life! We released our first 15 episodes last year and had a blast doing it, and kind of took a long summer break that extended into the holidays. Now we're ready to get going again, so this is the perfect day to get back into the spirit of podcasting. Akiko Tarumoto: Yes, get back into the swing of thinking about music. Nathan Cole: Tomorrow we actually go back to work after our holiday break, that being the LA Philharmonic. Actually if you were with us last season, you'll know that we spend our days and many of our nights with the LA Phil at Disney Hall here in Los Angeles. If you're joining us, this is what we call "The secrets of the symphony from two violinists who live together, play together and work together", because we are married with three young kids here in the house, who should all be sleeping. Although, I sort of hear that they're not. Akiko Tarumoto: It might be our neighbors. Nathan Cole: Are they out reveling? Akiko Tarumoto: Yeah, I think it makes more sense that kids would be up acting rowdy because they're not even four. In the case of the neighbors, they don't have that excuse, because I think that guy's in his 20s. Nathan Cole: They do have a hot tub. Akiko Tarumoto: They do, well yeah or something, a trampoline. Nathan Cole: We give you an inside look at the symphony and the life of, well, the life with the violin. In that spirit we're not going to give you a whole bunch of new year's resolutions exactly. My idea anyway was that we'd talk today about some playing resolutions, practicing resolutions that we'd made over the course of our lives and see what stuck and what didn't. I did want to … Akiko Tarumoto: What stuck and what stunk. Nathan Cole: Okay, that's good, that's better. I wanted to thank each and every one of you for listening and especially those of you who have gone and left us a rating or a review on iTunes. It's the best way for us to get found and hopefully enjoyed by other listeners like you. If you have a moment and can go to standpartnersforlife.com, you'll see how you can visit iTunes and just take those 60 seconds to leave us a review. I read all of them. I don't think you read any of them, right? Akiko Tarumoto: No, I can't handle the truth. Nathan Cole: Well what I was going to say is that so many of the reviews, I've told you this a couple times, but they really feel like people go out of their way to mention that really enjoy the commentary. Especially Akiko's! What they'll say is, "I especially like hearing what Akiko has to say." I try not to take that personally. Akiko Tarumoto: Well I get to be the person who sort of riffs off of you, I think you're the straight man, so it's not entirely fair probably. Nathan Cole: I think people trust you, they know you speak the truth. Akiko Tarumoto: Well thank you, I appreciate it. Nathan Cole: We read them all. Well anyway, I read all of them and I pass them along to Akiko. Akiko Tarumoto: He doesn't pass on the bad stuff. Nathan Cole: Here we are, we've got our resolutions. I just remembered -- I said I wasn't going to do this, but I think one of my only resolutions I thought of for the new year as far as music is to play our kids more concerts.

015: We all need an audition helping hand Jul 22, 2018

Show notes

We were pretty good back in the day, but even so we weren’t winning auditions on our own. Here are those moments when we got a helping hand!

014: The very first steps in audition preparation Jul 08, 2018

Show notes

As soon as we see a job listing online or in the International Musician, our wheels start turning. Which way do they turn? What are the first steps we take to get started preparing? In this episode, we look at the upcoming New York Philharmonic violin openings (September 2018) as an example of how to approach a big audition. We take apart the application piece by piece to make sure you don’t miss any hidden clues. And we reveal Nathan’s project to help those violinists who might be interested in taking this audition! To see what he has in store, visit this link: SP4L.com/newyork2018 and to look at the New York Philharmonic audition packet that we’re discussing, visit their site here: https://nyphil.org/about-us/general-information/auditions

013: Violin fitness – staying healthy or playing hurt Jun 09, 2018

Show notes

As Kramer says in Seinfeld’s “The Wig Master” episode, “I don’t argue with the body, Jerry. It’s an argument you can’t win.” Sooner or later, we all learn the truth of that statement, especially those of us who are forced to rely on little tiny muscles to do things like play the violin! In the picture above, you can see Nathan celebrating his twelfth birthday with two fingers taped together. His daily neighborhood basketball game was the culprit. Nowadays, we’d think twice before playing that much basketball. Or a number of other activities. But we do hit the gym quite a lot. What makes an activity OK for violin playing, and what puts it out of bounds? More than that, what can you do to prepare for your daily practicing and performing? Are there ways to play so that you stay injury-free? And what kind of music is the worst for the body? We talk violin fitness here in episode 13, so join us for the discussion and leave your thoughts below! Transcript Nathan Cole: Hi, and welcome back to Stand Partners for Life. I’m Nathan. Akiko Tarumoto: I’m Akiko. Nathan Cole: And today’s episode is going to be all about injury, well more fitness, violin fitness, staying healthy, hopefully avoiding injury! But then also what to do when you’re hurt, how to work around it, and just to talk about the reality that everybody has aches and pains and sometimes worse. So, I know at this point in the LA Phil season, basically the last few weeks, we’re sort of like a hospital ward. At this point, I feel like everybody’s one step away from falling to pieces. Do you see that in our sections? Akiko Tarumoto: I don’t know. I haven’t talked to too many people. We’ve lost one. Nathan Cole: Right. Akiko Tarumoto: But, yeah, and I’m kind of hobbling along here. My- Nathan Cole: Oh, yeah. What do you- Akiko Tarumoto: My wrist, and you got your shoulder … Okay, so that’s three of us that we know of, so maybe you’re right. Nathan Cole: Well, and that’s understandable. I mean we always — jokingly a lot of the time, but we compare ourselves to sports teams, especially NBA. I watch a lot of basketball, so coming into the playoffs just about everybody is beat up. In basketball it’s literally one step away from some season-ending injury. We’re not quite as bad as that, but- Akiko Tarumoto: But our season doesn’t really end, so we can’t really afford to … We don’t have four months off to … Nathan Cole: No, but we do — We’ve got four weeks off from the orchestra coming up, which is something. Akiko Tarumoto: Goes fast. Nathan Cole: It does go fast but it is a chance to rest things, which in pretty much all endeavors, rest and recovery are the real keys if you’ve got an issue going on. And as the weeks go by during the season, yeah, I mean it’s hard to find even a 48-hour period when you’re not playing, and we like to play every day to stay in shape. Those are the issues we’ll be talking about. What do you have going on right now? Akiko Tarumoto: Well, I mentioned my wrist, so, yeah, that’s hurting me. Nathan Cole: And my right shoulder just a few days ago started up on me. Akiko Tarumoto: Not coincidentally, probably, we’ve been going to the gym a lot, so we’ll see how that ties in… Nathan Cole: Yeah. Well, we’re going to talk about that because I don’t intend to stop going to the gym and I’m sure you don’t either, but we’re going to talk about how to do it smart, smartly. Before we launch into it, I wanted to thank those of you who’ve gone to iTunes and given us a nice rating, and even better, a review, just a short little written review. What that does is it helps other people find the show, and we just really appreciate it so much. Nathan Cole: As you probably heard in some other episodes, we read those and take them to heart and try to improve Stand Partners based on your feedback. So, if you can take a moment to go to iTunes and leave that rating and/or review, it’s amazing. I don’t do it enough to the shows I listen to. I always think, “Oh,

012: Hugh Fink, playing Carnegie and writing for SNL May 31, 2018

Show notes

Some people were just born to do what they do, and Hugh Fink was born to be funny. Or was he born to play the violin? Because even though comedy has set the course of Hugh’s life, he has performed violin solos to a packed Carnegie Hall, something I can’t boast about! Hugh is one of a very few comics who has been able to fuse his musical life with his stage persona, much like the late great Jack Benny, whose violin I’m fortunate to play. Ever since he was a child, Hugh loved getting up in front of people and performing, no matter what form it took. Eventually, he discovered that not only could he create material for himself, but he had a talent for writing material that would suit any number of other talented performers! And that was the key that unlocked doors throughout show business, most notably at Saturday Night Live, where Hugh enjoyed a seven-year tenure and wrote more opening monologues than any other SNL writer. Hugh and I talk about growing up alongside Joshua Bell (and later using him in a wicked stage act with Tracy Morgan), how stand-up relates to musical performance, and how TV shows get made. Of course I also sit back and listen to behind-the-scenes tales from SNL! Transcript Nathan Cole: Hi and welcome back to Stand Partners for Life. This is Nathan Cole and today with me, really excited to have as my guest, Hugh Fink, comic, writer, violinist. He’s been gracious enough to join me here at Disney Hall for a change. Welcome to Stand Partners For Life, Hugh. Hugh Fink: Thank you. It’s great to be here, Nathan, instead of taping a podcast at a smoke filled comedy club, to be in a classy concert hall. I like it. Nathan Cole: We try to keep it classy here at Disney most of the time. Well, we can just jump right into that. I mean, you’ve spent so much of your life in those clubs performing, writing, but what’s not usual for a comic is that you have a serious history as a violinist. We were talking about that just a bit ago, you and I, but give us the quick version of your violin life, because that was either came before or maybe concurrently with your life in comedy. Hugh Fink: Sure. My parents were classical music lovers. My dad was the Attorney for the Indianapolis Symphony, the Musicians Union. As a very young kid I would be taken to these concerts at the orchestra and I loved it. I guess I told my parents at age four or five that I wanted to study violin. They were not so sure about that because they knew it was a tough instrument. They already owned a piano, but they were friends with the concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony at the time, Eric Rosenblith. He had known a little about this new Suzuki method, although he was not a proponent of it at all because he was like a pupil of Carl Flesch or some of these old- Nathan Cole: Old school. Hugh Fink: He was super old school, but he wasn’t sure how to tell my parents to start off a five year old with lessons. He wasn’t going to do it. There was a Suzuki teacher, one in Indianapolis, and that’s who I studied with. Nathan Cole: This would have been not so long I bet, after the method really took hold in the U.S. because I started Suzuki and that was early 80’s. Hugh Fink: You are right. I started in the late ’60s. I ended up studying Suzuki for eight years, and going to the Suzuki Summer Institute at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. Nathan Cole: Stevens Point. Okay. Hugh Fink: Right. Shinichi came. Nathan Cole: Wow. Hugh Fink: Yes. I actually was part of the generation where I got to see him live. Nathan Cole: Well, that’s extraordinary. Hugh Fink: It was extraordinary. I didn’t have much interaction with him, but I remember, I think he was chain smoking and he looked like a ripe old age and very Buddha-esque just this is why He didn’t speak much English either, but that was a great experience. I think what it taught me, Nathan, was beyond the violin part, to meet other young violinists who are just normal kids. It was a camp,

011: Orchestra tours – the good, the bad, and the ugly May 22, 2018

Show notes

In this day and age, when an orchestra can broadcast its performances worldwide (as the Berlin Philharmonic does with its Digital Concert Hall), why would a group like the LA Phil pack up and lumber around the world? That question was on our minds since we just returned from a two-week international tour. Remember, when an orchestra travels, it’s not just the 100-odd musicians and perhaps their spouses (and even children)! It’s all their instruments as well, the music, luggage, and all kinds of other orchestral detritus. Then you’ve got the librarians, administrative staff, stage crew, and everyone else who makes the tour go ’round. So in this episode, we talk about the whys, and then the hows. How do you get ready for tour, how do you deal with the strange meal times, how do you adjust for the different halls? We also discuss how tour performances are different from “home base” shows, and what touring does for the orchestra musically. Don’t forget, if you haven’t yet picked up our free guide to evaluating violin sound, make sure you click here to get it! Transcript Nathan Cole: Hello, and welcome back to Stand Partners for Life. I am Nathan Cole. Akiko Tarumoto: I’m Akiko Tarumoto. Nathan Cole: And good to have you back. Back in the home studio here in Pasadena. We are recovering from tour. Akiko Tarumoto: Yeah, that’s me being jet lagged. Sorry. Nathan Cole: You mean the long pause? Akiko Tarumoto: The long pause and glazed silence. Nathan Cole: Yeah, that’s going to be the topic of this episode, all about touring. Just before we dive into it, I did want to remind all of our listeners that if you haven’t got our free guide to choosing instruments or upgrading instruments, do make sure you pick that up. That’s at standpartnersforlife.com/guide. I’m actually helping someone right now find a new instrument, and it’s taken a lot of years and a lot of searches to come up with just how to listen to new instrument sound, unfamiliar instrument sound. You had a hand in putting that together, you’ve done your own searches. Akiko Tarumoto: Yeah, a few. For the most part I- Nathan Cole: We’re not dealers. We’re not buying and selling these things all the time. Akiko Tarumoto: Yeah, we don’t have the disposable income to be high-end instrument shopping on a regular basis. Nathan Cole: But it was a really fun guide to put together and it’ll give you a system, our system, for listening and evaluating. Whether you’re looking for an instrument right now or not, it’s just great to have a way to organize your thoughts on that. Go ahead and pick that up. Standpartnersforlife.com/guide. It’s free and tons of fun, if I do say so myself. We’re going to talk about tour today. Just to maybe color our conversation a little bit, I wanted to read a little something that someone wrote to us on iTunes, a review, which I’d love to read. This listener shares a lot of good thoughts. All this is in a constructive vain, but they do mention, “My only comment.” Well, this comes halfway through the comments, so it’s not really their only comment. Nathan Cole: But, I think they mean the only criticism would be, “That sometimes the problems you describe regarding your playing and work-life can be seen as a little as ‘first world problems.’ I believe that if you’ve made it to LA Phil and have this amazing job, which is rare in our profession, I would think that anyone would feel accomplished. I feel a lot of negativity coming from the outcome, almost as though all this practice brought you to a place where all the insecurities and frustrations are still the same. I’m sure that you both love what you do. Don’t want to come off as though you’re better than anyone else, but I hear a lot of complaining.” I think that’s fair enough. I think, for me, the phrase in there that sticks out is, “Almost as though all this practice brought you to a place where all the insecurities and frustrations are still the same.” In a way, I think that’s true.

010: Stand Parents – Nathan’s Mom and Dad on raising a violinist May 13, 2018

Show notes

If you’re a musician and you have a young child, do you start him on an instrument? If so, is it the same instrument you play? If so, do you teach him? Or do you make sure your kids steer clear of the musician’s life? These are questions we ask ourselves all the time regarding our three kids! But a generation ago, Nathan’s parents were asking them. And Nathan’s father’s father asked the same questions a generation before that. So in this special episode, Nathan takes advantage of a parental visit to chat with his parents about all this and more, including the path they chose for him through the Suzuki landscape of the early 1980s. Transcript Nathan Cole: Hi, and welcome back to Stand Partners for Life. Nathan Cole: This is a very special episode because today I have none other than my two parents here with me. Usually I’m saying “hi” to Akiko and thanking her for being here, thanking a guest for being here, but in this case I might as well say, “Thank you for bringing me into the world.” Nathan Cole: But why don’t you guys say hello? Gordon Cole: Hello. Khristine Cole: Hello. Nathan Cole: They’re visiting from Kentucky, where I grew up. Yeah, it’s a treat to talk to you guys because you’re really the only two that know most of the real story about how I got started on the violin. As Akiko and I have mentioned in some previous episodes, both of you guys are musicians, professional musicians, and that, of course, had a certain bearing on my growing up. But talk a little bit if you would, each of you, about just a quick overview about how you grew up and got started in music. Nathan Cole: Who wants to start? Gordon Cole: Well, I’ll start. My father was a flutist in the Philadelphia orchestra. The school that I was attending, grade school outside of Philadelphia, gave students an aptitude test at the end of third grade, and we were assigned instruments, and we were supposed to come back then for the beginning of fourth grad and play in band. My father had in mind that I should be a horn player, and he had arranged for Mason Jones to give me lessons. But the school sent me home as a flute player. Nathan Cole: So Mason Jones was at that time- Gordon Cole: Principal horn in the Philadelphia orchestra. Nathan Cole: Okay. Gordon Cole: But the school decided I would be a flute player since they knew that my father was a flute player. So my brother became the horn player, and I became a flute player. Nice. Nathan Cole: Now you didn’t study with your dad right away. Gordon Cole: Yes. Nathan Cole: Okay, in the beginning you did. Gordon Cole: Yes, I have no memory of what lessons may or may not have been like. He had me play on a Moennig flute that he had purchased in Europe on one of their trips. It was wooden with plated keys and a plated head joint, metal head joint. I can’t imagine what the band sounded like ’cause there were at least three metal clarinets- Nathan Cole: Metal clarinets. Gordon Cole: … in this grade school band. They were pretty common after the second world war, but I can’t imagine what the band sounded like and, thankfully, I have no memory of it. Nathan Cole: So how was it studying with your own father? Gordon Cole: Well, I really don’t remember much of anything until we moved from Philadelphia to Wisconsin, where my father taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. During my teenage years, evidently I was not very receptive to any sort of suggestions that he might have on how I should play something, so he farmed me out to a very good teacher in Madison for my sophomore and junior years, maybe ninth grade, I don’t remember. Nathan Cole: Can’t imagine not being receptive as a teenager to your parents. To jump to your part of the story too, Mom, but you studied with your dad then in college. Gordon Cole: Yes, and senior year in high school, I decided that I was mature enough then to take his suggestions as that and not as criticisms, personal criticisms. So I switched back to studying with my father my senior...

009: Nate Farrington, on stage and on-screen in Hollywood Apr 25, 2018

Show notes

Summary What would you do if you showed up to an audition and heard, “OK, when I give you the signal, play something intense. Then on the next signal, more intensity!” Well, that’s exactly what happened to double bassist Nate Farrington. Except he was auditioning for a national Honda TV spot, and the mysterious voice belonged to the director! Nate is one of those friends who’s always up for a project: he’s the guy I’d call if I needed to paint a fence, set up a gas grill, or transport a big piece of furniture. Come to think of it, isn’t that last one a big part of the double bassist’s life? But Nate is also the guy I’d call if I needed to whip up a duo program in two hours’ time. Or if I needed a pair of expert ears to hear an audition list. He’s always ready to go, and he has a broad array of musical and extra-musical skills that makes him the perfect fit out here in Hollywood. So even though he spends much of his time playing in symphonies (he’s the new principal bass of the LA Opera Orchestra), his interests range far and wide, and he’s equally at home creating music as he is re-creating it. He’s a frequent collaborator with Rocket Jump Studios, and as you’ll discover, he’s already spent some time on camera out here as well. Nate and I talk about how to win those juicy commercial roles, as well as the (also juicy?) orchestra auditions. Here’s a hint: they both involve lots of preparation and then a letting-go of control! We also get into the differences between some of the big symphony orchestras. Nate has played with just about all of them over the years. He’s a real inspiration for finding your own musical voice, or deciding where you fit in the ever-expanding musical universe. Transcript Nathan: [00:00:01] Hi, and welcome back to Stand Partners for Life. Along with my wife Akiko Tarumoto, I am Nathan Cole and we are stand partners for life. But today I’m here instead with Nate Farrington, a good friend ever since I moved to L.A. five years ago. So Nate, thanks for being with us today. Nate: [00:00:39] It’s my pleasure. Nathan: [00:00:39] Thanks for being with me today. It’s not the “royal we” here. Nate is a bass player extraordinaire, and although we went to the same school the Curtis Institute we weren’t there at the same time. We met only five years ago when I moved out here to L.A. Nate: [00:00:54] But I felt I’d known you since I was in school… you were, you know, the Nate before me at Curtis that everyone talked about. So it was interesting to connect, you know, to put a face with the name–that’s my name. Nathan: [00:01:06] Back then everybody it seemed like all the adults called me Nate and everybody my age called me Nathan. So I sort of hedge my bets I go by Nathan but my website is natesviolin.com. So there’s the confusion but you’re always Nate. Nate: [00:01:19] I am. Nathan: [00:01:20] Now, you play bass and you play so much of the time in symphony orchestras as I do and a lot of the time with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. But you’re a traveling musician. You live in L.A. but you’re really all over the place. Tell me a little about how that works. Nate: [00:01:37] In the past five years I’ve played with Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Columbus, Philadelphia, New York Chicago, Cleveland. I’ve done concerts in the past with Boston and National and Baltimore and so it’s been a pretty interesting ride to me. The Cincinnati Symphony as well and I was slated to play with the San Diego Symphony but but wasn’t able to make it that week. It’s an incredible variety of music making that happens all over the country. And you know the basic skill set is always the same. The same thing I’ve been doing since we were little children. But it’s interesting to go from spot to spot and see what drives each group differently and how they make their sound the way they do it. It all becomes evident pretty quickly once you start playing with a new group. Nathan: [00:02:24] Now me,

008: The decline and fall of an orchestra player Mar 17, 2018

Show notes

Akiko is back to take on what could be a depressing subject: the inevitable erosion of your skills as a violinist when you play in an orchestra. But don’t every violinist’s skills go away eventually, or is there something about being in an orchestra that makes it happen faster? We got the idea for this episode from listener Helen Smit, who brought my attention to a discussion thread over at violinist.com: http://www.violinist.com/discussion/thread.cfm?page=1105 As it happened, I had actually read that thread without commenting, and found it very interesting. It all started with a young person wondering if she had a chance to make it as a professional. That’s a pretty common question over at v.com, and this was a more enlightening thread than some of those can be. A lot of comments warned the original poster against putting too much stock in a pro orchestra career, partly because it’s so competitive, and then because one’s skills are bound to disappear. So in this episode, we get into whether or not that’s true, and if so, what is it about the orchestra life that contributes to it? And is there anything we can do about it?

007: Why cellist Brant Taylor took a break from the Chicago Symphony Feb 28, 2018

Show notes

A reminder that if you don’t yet have our free guide to evaluating and upgrading your violin, make sure to click this link to download it. Even if you’re not in the market, you never know when you’ll be called upon to help a friend pick a new instrument…so be prepared! For the first time, we’ve got a special guest here on Stand Partners for Life. Akiko is still alive and well, but her voice needed a break after some extra parenting this week! So I’m thrilled to have our great friend and former colleague Brant Taylor here with me. Brant is a cellist in the Chicago Symphony, and before that he was (very briefly) a member of the Saint Louis Symphony and the New World Symphony. You’ll hear why those stays were brief here in the episode! You’ll also hear why he decided to take a break from the CSO recently, or as it’s technically known, a sabbatical. The fact is that Brant was a professional quartet player before he ever played in a professional orchestra, so (like me and Akiko) the symphony has never defined his entire scope musically. That’s one of the things that gave us an instant connection when I joined the CSO back in 2002. Over the years, Akiko and I, along with Brant and his partner, have traveled the world, with the symphony and without it. But since we’ve moved out to LA, our visits are far too infrequent, so I really enjoyed getting to sit down for an in-depth conversation with Brant. He’s a tremendous teacher as well, so we get into a variety of great topics this episode. We start by talking about the intense bond that develops among the members of a string quartet. It’s often been compared to a marriage, and for good reason! That made Brant’s quartet’s decision to break up that much more painful, even if it was necessary. Next Brant reveals why his quartet background put him in perfect position to win an orchestra audition. How should you approach a new piece before getting together with your chamber group or orchestra to rehearse it for the first time? How much of yourself should you bring to the piece, and how do you learn what that means for you? We talk about the New World Symphony, and how it helped Brant transition to a full-time professional orchestral career. We also get into what a sabbatical is all about. For Brant, it was a magnification of all the musical activities he loves best, and it made his return to orchestra that much sweeter. But it also included some surprising pursuits, all of which eventually relate to his passion as a cellist and musician. We close with some thoughts on how to accentuate the positive in what can be a demanding, and at times, demeaning job!

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