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Von Cello Etudes, Duets, & Songs
The videos may be viewed with Real Player. If you need to download it, click on the Real Player image link below.
A few years after Oxford University Press started to publish his compositions, Aaron would attend music festivals thinking he was just another anonymous participant, but people would come over and ask if he was Aaron Minsky, and after he would say yes, they would say things like, "Oh my God, I can't believe it's you! I love your etudes! I just played them in a recital", etc.! So, after a while, he grew to expect that at each festival he attended he would have some kind of exciting encounter with someone who practiced, taught or performed his music.
On this page we will post some video clips of Aaron Minsky and others performing his original published music, and also some unpublished cello songs. The sound quality is sometimes bad, but we figure there are people out there who would be interested, nevertheless, in seeing the composer performing his own music. Though Aaron has said that his music should be open to interpretation, it is always good to know how the composer interprets his own pieces.
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THE AARON MINSKY TRIO AT THE NEW DIRECTIONS CELLO FESTIVAL!
In this video we find Aaron with his "pre Von Cello" trio, performing at the University of Connecticut. He played for an enthusiastic audience of cellists who got to see first hand how Minsky blazed his unique path through the cello world. During the day, Aaron also gave a seminar on how to use his etudes as a basis for improvisation. You can hear it on the Von Cello Early Musical History page.
The pieces on the video are as follows:
Broadway - from "Ten American Cello Etudes", it is a view of New York City as one travels down its main street through its inner city neighborhoods
Cello Blues - from "Three American Cello Duets" - provides a road map showing how two cellists can play the blues. Cellists can then take this concept and create their own improvisations
Celtar - this is the original one that started it all, the first cello song Aaron created as a teenager. The words were later changed to the version you will hear. They express his hope that his innovation will be accepted, as he says, "Wake up America, it's finally time for something new!"
Mulatta - also know as #3, from "Three Concert Etudes for solo cello", is a creative piece that combines all kinds of Brazilian melodies and rhythms, culminating in samba-like dance of the kind done in Brazil by the beautiful Mulatta dancers of Brazil. It is a tribute to the great musical culture of this vibrant country. It may also be the first cello piece ever written where the cellist puts the cello over his knee and strums, while tapping his feet and sings! (Do you know of another?)
The Challenger - is a song that was written shortly after the explosion of the spaceship Challenger, the one that had the teacher, Christa McAuliffe on board. Aaron was particularly affected by this tragedy because it happened on his birthday. He wrote a song questioning the need to even go into space when there are so many problems right here on earth. The song is not anti exploration, but pro human rights. He asks, "Why must we go up in space? What do we think we will find?" In other words, the answer to life is not "out there somewhere", but right here. The answer is "Peace on earth is what we need now"!
SMOOTH GROOVE!
"Smooth Groove" was Aaron's band from the late 1980's and early 90's. The concept of the band was crossover: it combined R & B and pop with jazz harmonies and solos. It also crossed racial and ethnic lines. CK James (Jim Figueroa) played a Motown influenced bass, and Tanya Tobias (who had toured with Debbie Gibson) became the singer.
The band got the opportunity to perform on Sid Bernstein's TV show. Sid was the man who brought the Beatles to Shea Stadium. Actually, Tanya performed to a tape of the band, and Aaron and CK were interviewed, along with Tanya by Sid. In this performance, Tanya does a great job of acting out the feeling and meaning of the song, and shows how this song could be a great hit! It's Aaron's answer to "The Greatest Love of All".
"There's Someone Waiting", was originally written for a show. The words were written by Ken Berman and Pearl Tisman Minsky, and Aaron wrote the music. When the show was performed in a Bronx high school, and this song came up, all the students started swaying back and forth, like at a rock concert. When they started cheering at the end, Aaron realized this was a special song. The director even came over and said, "I think you have a hit!" Aaron added it to the repertoire of Smooth Groove and it became a high point of their live shows.
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