Retreat on the Lake

February brought
the first of two practice retreat weeks for the PSQ. I took my practice
retreat in my hometown, Ithaca, where I holed up in a cabin on Cayuga Lake to
work on the Brahms Eb Viola Sonata. And I logged 18 wonderful hours with
my teacher Rolfe Sokol, finding inspiration in Milstein and Zuckerman
videos and lots of Brahms.

We started practice
retreats as a perk for CMW musicians several years ago, when we realized that
mid-winter was a time we needed recharging. When normal days as
a community organizer / quartet musician / teacher
/ non-profit administrator are so busy, a welcome feature of the
practice retreat is an empty schedule. Long days of practice, exercise,
lessons, watching the lake.

At the end of my week, I performed the Brahms with pianist Hisako Hiratsuka at
Providence’s illustrious Music Mansion. The week has left me with a new
approach to making sound, and I’ve been exploring this in quartet
rehearsals. Also, fresh from this retreat, I brought a video of Nathan
Milstein to my teaching last week and played it for students. The
inspiration is passed along…

-Sebastian
Ruth, PSQ