Kendra Grittani is an experienced cellist, having started playing at only four years old. Kendra has completed her Masters in cello performance at McGill University with accomplished symphonic and chamber musician, and cello professor, Elizabeth Dolin.
Kendra has performed with various orchestras including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the McGill Symphony Orchestra, the McGill Opera Orchestra, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, the Thunderbay Symphony Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
Recently, after forming the piano trio, Trio Meira, the chamber group swept the McGill Chamber Music Competition 2018, being awarded 1st prize. Along with a debut performance in Montreal, Trio Meira was awarded a week long residency at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
Kendra has also had the privilege to perform alongside accomplished professionals such as Axel Strauss, Stephane Lemelin, Elizabeth Dolin, Ariel Barnes, Riko Higuma and many more. Kendra is currently a substitute musician with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra cello section, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony cello section, and the Thunderbay Symphony Orchestra cello section. Kendra is working as a freelance cellist, chamber musician and as a private teacher in Toronto.
Get to know Kendra…Beyond the Bio!
Hobbies: Aerial Acrobatics, animal care.
Musical influences: Johannes Moser and Santiago Cañon-Valencia
Favourite food: Sushi
Least favourite food: onion
Favourite music: Esperanza Spalding and Ariana Grande
Favourite song: Midnight in Harlem – Tadeschi Trucks Band
Favourite musical theatre/opera: Hamilton
Favourite book: The Book Thief
Best thing about teaching at ABC: Exchanging teaching techniques with other excellent teachers
Latest Homework from KENDRA
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Matthew Nov 15
Hi Matthew!
Please see the notes below from this weeks lesson. Happy practicing and great work!
Sharps – Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle
Bow exercises
Finger taps
- keep working on your finger taps.
- try to get 5 taps in a row of each pattern at a faster speed
Open strings – slurred string crossings
- C string – frog stays close tot eh body and the tip points away
- starting down bow. 2 beats on first string, 2 beats on second string, 4 beats on the string you land on for the up bow
- use the whole bow, make string changes/crossings smooth
- no breaks from one bow – keep the sound continuous
- keep all fingers on the bow
- remember to drop the elbow at the frog
- Down bow = pull bow
- Up bow = push bow
D major + G major + C major
- find the pitch before starting: check the fourth finger with the string below it
- practice with drone
- add the bow to the scales.
- one note per bow. whole bow per note: from the tip to the frog and back :)
- keep a good bow angle
- sink into the string with left arm. don’t squeeze with the finger
- try not to slant the fingers on the A string.
- Keep the thumb under the secon finger, think of making a C shape with the hand, very rounded
- use the open strings to anticipate the next note. prepare with the left arm.
Twinkle plucked
- release left hand fingers from the string straight up in the air, not slanted. Don’t lift them too high or you will lose the sense of where the pitch is.
- use the whole arm to sink into the string, not individual hands and fingers
Tucka tucka stop stop
- make sure push and pull sounds are the same
- start in the middle of the bow. 4 fast notes, and two slower notes.
- half way between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard
- practice bowing pattern on open A and D strings first
- add to twinkle. Every note gets 1x the bowing pattern
- remember to get the bow arm UP and elbow UP for the A string (but the pinky down)
- practice in front of a mirror so you can see what the bow is doing
French Folk Song
- practice checking D and G (fourth finger with the open string). Stop on the 4th finger and pluck the string below it to check intonation
- Make sure we are moving the hand as a unit. Use the ARM to adjust the angle, not the hand.
- Raise the fingers straight into the air. Try not to lift them sideways.
Preferred Books for Kendra’s Students
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Suzuki Cello School
Teach cello with the popular Suzuki Cello School. The Suzuki Method(R) of Talent Education is based on Shinichi Suzuki’s view that every child is born with ability, and that people are the product of their environment. According to Shinichi Suzuki, a world-renowned violinist and teacher, the greatest joy an adult can know comes from developing a child’s potential so he/she can express all that is harmonious and best in human beings. Students are taught using the “mother-tongue” approach.
Suzuki Cello School
Teach cello with the popular Suzuki Cello School. The Suzuki Method(R) of Talent Education is based on Shinichi Suzuki’s view that every child is born with ability, and that people are the product of their environment. According to Shinichi Suzuki, a world-renowned violinist and teacher, the greatest joy an adult can know comes from developing a child’s potential so he/she can express all that is harmonious and best in human beings. Students are taught using the “mother-tongue” approach.
Suzuki Cello School
Teach cello with the popular Suzuki Cello School. The Suzuki Method(R) of Talent Education is based on Shinichi Suzuki’s view that every child is born with ability, and that people are the product of their environment. According to Shinichi Suzuki, a world-renowned violinist and teacher, the greatest joy an adult can know comes from developing a child’s potential so he/she can express all that is harmonious and best in human beings. Students are taught using the “mother-tongue” approach.
I Can Read Music
These easy-to-read, progressive exercises by Joanne Martin develop a student’s reading skills one stage at a time, with many repetitions at each stage. I Can Read Music is designed as a first note-reading book for students of string instruments who have learned to play using an aural approach such as the Suzuki Method(R), or for traditionally taught students who need extra note reading practice. Its presentation of new ideas is clear enough that it can be used daily at home by quite young children and their parents, with the teacher checking progress every week or two.
Position Pieces for Cello
Position Pieces for Cello is designed to give students a logical and fun way to learn their way around the fingerboard. Each hand position is introduced with exercises called “Target Practice,” “Geography Quiz,” and “Names and Numbers.” Following these exercises are tuneful cello duets that have been specifically composed to require students to play in that hand position. In this way, students gain a thorough knowledge of how to find the hand positions, and once there, which notes are possible to play.
