Time flies playing the cello professionally while being a teaching artist for over 30 years.
What a great fortune to have one's lifelong passion disguised as the career.
And then there was a time before the NOW.
Beth Vandervennet’s formative years were spent in Michigan. She began her cello studies many moons ago, at the ripe old age of 10. She was fortuitously drawn to the fact that nobody else in the class dared to haul the large behemoth of a cello and how convenient that her home was a stone's throw from her public elementary school. Beth found her path to university music schools for a stimulating and well- rounded education at University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University, and Kent State University. All that momentum in the Midwest thrust her westward to explore music and creative teaching in the
San Francisco Bay area.
Beth has called Oakland home for over 23 years, while bathing herself in an admirable assortment of music making: From Orchestral masterpieces to Squid Inc., from original Pagan Lounge sonorousness of Rosin Coven to traditional chamber music of the grand masters. Beth is a devoted teaching artist as well as a community ambassador, promoter, and musician throughout Oakland and with the Oakland Symphony’s MUSE (Music for Excellence program).
Favorites you ask? Her favorite color is purple, favorite food is kale, and favorite song is what she is playing at any given moment. Leisure time is spent laughing, skiing, hiking, backpacking, & exploring the world of places and cuisine with her treasures of
husband, son, family, & friends.
Performing is an ephemeral musical creation.
Ensemble or solo performing experiences are
exclusive to a given instant.
The sonic experience of participation in a symphonic ensemble while at full throttle, one‘s whole body resonates with the orchestral organism. When the textural tones vanish, hard to imagine a large group of musicians containing their sound so eloquently. All transforms into a cooperative vehicle of technical expression as you keep one eye on the conductor. Magic happens simultaneously while absorbing the sounds around you, blending and bending with many instrumentalists to sculpt a unique performance.
"When you are a performer, you are creating a moment." ~ Erykah Badu
Teaching is like tending to a garden, each student should be nurtured to become their own flower, fruit, or vegetable. Beth has developed a nurturing teaching style that meets students where they are at all ages & levels, implementing various teaching techniques including Suzuki Philosophies, traditional classical, creative imagery, and contemporary methods in a supportive and imaginative environment for over 30 years. Today's climate allows us to experiment with technology more than ever before.
Zoom lessons are here if we need them.
Let’s work together to bring out the best in all of us!
"Tell me and I forget
Show me and I remember
Involve me and I understand."
~ Anonymous
Collaborations feed the creative spirit. Projects that explore left of center are intriguing.
Since journeying to the bay area in fall of 1996, Beth has taken on the mission to explore music and musicianship beyond her traditional classical training. We often think of ourselves as a “cellist” or “violinist", someone may dutifully become an instrumentalist, but an absolute musician, artist, and performer opens to exploring genres of music and expands the familiar boundaries of comfort.
Not only a cellist; a visionary contributor,
musician, composer, collaborator.
"The arts distinguish us as human beings." ~ Anonymous
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