Why I Love BBC Sherlock

Sorry if you don't get the geeky reference. Not that sorry.

So, I was sick last week from Tuesday-Saturday. Oy. I don't usually have sick days because I have the kind of job where, if I don't go to work, I don't get paid. The only time I cancelled lessons last year was when I had the stomach flu and could only eat popsicles for 5 days. I get sick around the average 4-5 times per year for a healthy adult, but usually I'm just able to soldier on and I don't cancel because frankly it's just too much of a pain trying to reschedule people. This cold really knocked me out though, so much that I thought it might be the flu because of the high fever. But now I'm on an antibiotic which will cause me to miss out on dairy products a bit (I rely on cheese for my personal happiness, so this is a bit of a problem), and I feel way better.

Just as an FYI, right now, EVERYONE is sick. Sorry to internet yell, but it's true. My quartet-mate cancelled rehearsal because she is sick. When I e-mailed my supervisor on Thursday to let her know I wouldn't be coming in to teach, she told me she was also home sick. One of the students I had to cancel told me he would have missed anyone because he is sick. This is one of the sickiest winters I can remember, so please if you're coming down with something, quarantine yourself, have a Netflix marathon, and stay away from the land of the living until the viruses have surrendered.

To prevent myself from becoming unpleasant while convalescing, I re-watched some of the recent BBC Sherlock episodes which were broadcast in the U.S. this month. If you haven't checked out this show, I believe it to be one of the smartest and most emotionally compelling shows on T.V.  The show sets the Conan Doyle stories in present-day London, complete with smart-phones and modern forensics. Sherlock is brilliant but cold, blunt, and often rude and is driven to seek out cases to solve to assuage his boredom with daily life.  John Watson, who really steals the show, acts as the voice of reason and Sherlock's moral compass, while also being attracted to dangerous situations himself.

Although it centers on murders, the show is not graphically violent like other crime dramas can be, which lets the viewer focus on the psychological aspect of the cases and on the characters. What is compelling for me about the show is how they present the reasons behind why Sherlock and John are in crime-investigation in the first place. Sherlock especially is an example of someone with a truly one-track mind. He claims to mentally delete information in his mind that isn't helpful to his work, including basics about the solar system, as show in one episode. Before John's arrival, Sherlock has put no time or energy into cultivating friendships and his blunt, caustic manner is perhaps intentionally off-putting. He is a man who truly lives for his work. Throughout the series, John helps Sherlock to realize his has something to live for other than being clever. And, for his part, Sherlock treats John like a normal person, not a fragile returning veteran and befriends him at a low point in his life. It's the character development and the acting, not the rock 'em sock 'em action, that make this a great show.

Oh, and Sherlock plays the violin. Not the viola, I know, but seriously, how many primetime characters play a classical instrument anymore? With Sherlock's mind, one should think he would be a pianist, playing constant fugues, analyzing scores,cerebral. But Conan Doyle chose the violin to be Holmes' voice, which I find interesting. I think Sherlock makes sense as a musician. Think about it: we spend hours every day alone, with a single goal, sometimes obsessing, sometimes having a hard time leaving the instrument in the case to go on vacation. I've forgotten to eat lunch while wrapped up in a problem. There is something of that single-minded focus which I think is absent from society to a large degree. We focus so much on being "well-rounded" in high school, exploring every possible opportunity in college, and, for women especially, "having it all". How about doing a few things really well? I'm not sure, but I don't think Mozart played a lot of soccer.

Maybe we need to have a unitasking revolution. Maybe we need to redefine success as doing a few things well, and not worrying too much about cooking gourmet organic meals a million hobbies. But, conversely, I've learned that I need to take a step back sometimes and not define myself by the one thing I do especially well. We all need a little Sherlock to make us excel and push the limits of knowledge, and we all need a little John to keep us human.

Sherlock used a BonMusica shoulder rest for the first two seasons, but appears to have traded for a Wolf in Season 3.

First Quartet Recital and Stocking Up for Another Storm?

I thoroughly enjoyed our quartet concert last night. I am so grateful I get to perform such fantastic music with such delightful people. We're getting a real group sound, and are more and more able to
"read" each other's cues and intentions. Chamber music is such an interesting experience for the mind, I think. I always feel like I have to have all my antennae out, and am constantly adjusting and checking in and trying to play off what other people are doing. Really a lot of fun.

Haven't listened to the tape yet (I know that I still call it a tape, even though it's not 1994 anymore). OK, haven't listened to the digital recording yet, but there was a lot of good energy and phrasing and very few surprises for live music. We also got a great crowd, which I was worried about, after finding a quarter inch of solid ice on my car. But people still came out, which was wonderful. So nice to play for a packed house. It really does change the energy.

Today, I took the day off of practicing after a LONG week of productivity. I don't often take days completely off, but I felt that my body needed it. From the photo, you can see that I'm sitting on the outside for quartet, and I think that may have contributed to my sore left shoulder today, but then it could just be excess tension. In America, violists usually sit on the outside in quartet, and in Europe it's traditional for violists to sit on the inside. Here is a brief commentary on some of the reasons for each way, if you're interested.

 I have played both on the inside and the outside, but was realizing that I tend to fold inward more when I sit on the outside, maybe in an effort to make eye contact with the cellist. I might ask if we can experiment with that, but even if I stay where I am, it's good information to have about that tendency. Violists and violinists tend to hold a lot of tension in the left arm and shoulder.

Speaking of cellists, our cello player, Stephanie, was rocking it on a student instrument after hers had a minor disaster the day before the concert. I won't go into it, but I was super impressed that she could play so beautifully and in tune on a totally different instrument. As string players, we forge a very close relationship with our specific instruments, getting to know their every tendency and where every note lies. I would have been freaking out big-time if something had happened and I couldn't use my viola, but Steph was unflappable.

Apparently there is yet another storm barreling toward the Midwest. Or maybe not? People have been saying we're going to get hit with a lot of snow, but all I see on the forecast is wintry mix for next week. Then again, the forecast here tends to change quite often. We're sort of on the edge of a lot of weather systems, so I wouldn't be surprised either way. In any case, I went to Schnucks today. Did you know there is a football game tomorrow? I actually asked the checker if it's usually so crowded there on Saturdays. Duh, Eliana.

I don't care for football, so I'm going to spend tomorrow getting some work done from home. I'm currently almost done with a hand-out of all 24 Major and Minor Scales in the first position for my beginning and intermediate viola students. Mooch is helping me. She loves to cuddle while I work on the computer. It actually does make me better about answering emails.

Tonight the hubz and I are grabbing dinner with a friend, then heading to see another friend play the Kanun, a trapezoidal Turkish zither which she is very accomplished on and both plays and writes and publishes about. Her last show was a lot of fun and definitely not a musical tradition I'm familiar with.