Preparations for our Group Study Exchange

My name is Chris Farrell. I will be a member of the team heading to Northern England in May. First,I must admit I have never blogged before. In fact, I don't know if I have ever actually read a blog. I would consider myself reluctant to embrace new technology and I believe that I was perhaps one of the last humans to get a cell phone, although I can't prove that and might be a slight exaggeration. I am a violist with the Nashville Symphony. For those of you who don't know what a violist is, the viola is a slightly larger version of the violin and therefore a player of the viola is called a violist. I don't really know why it's pronounced "vee-o-la," but it is. In addition to the full time work with the symphony, I am a member of a chamber ensemble called Alias and play recording sessions that span pretty much all musical genres from country to jazz and classical. The symphony has been quite busy. Lately we've performed Tchaikovsky 2nd Symphony with Leonard Slatkin and Prokofiev 5th Symphony with our Maestro Giancarlo Guerrero. The last month has been an eclectic mix for me also, as I've also performed Debussy String Quartet with the Eclectic Chamber Players and played recording sessions including one for a duet with Lionel Ritchie and Shania Twain. In preparation for the trip, I have been writing some music to perform and practicing solo works to play whenever I can. I'm currently trying to bridge the classical/country divide by making the Willie Nelson song "Crazy" a viola solo. Listening to Patsy Cline's great version has given me some ideas, however it's a challenge to shrink the melody and piano and guitar all onto one instrument. Also this is the dreaded tax season. My wife is a CPA, so our 5 year old daughter and I have not seen my wife very much lately. This too shall pass, but on April 18th this year. Those of you putting off your returns get a few extra days! I am very excited about our trip and will continue to post more about our preparations and all our adventures while we're in England.