Paula Joy Welter: News

In music, I am concentrating mostly on learning the cello. I'm about 4 years into lessons. It is a challenging instrument to learn, but worth all the effort when I see and hear progress made in small but steady increments.

Photography has always been another creative 'love' of mine: I have developed a line of greeting cards I've built from my photographic images gathered through the years, paired with words I have fun creating to fit each image. The cards can be purchased at: www.paulajoy.etsy.com
I am now enjoying teaching part-time as a court reporting instructor at a Sacramento-based school. I enjoy the challenge of motivating students to achieve their best and to eventually earn professional credentials.

Finally, I've traded up from my 'beginner' cello to one that sounds a lot better and plays more easily! (Though in cello circles, this is still a humble cello...)

Three years into cello, it's still a most daunting but glorious ride! Daily, patience and persistence bring me a little closer to playing it more musically. What a voice it has!

I look forward to attending the next New Directions Cello Festival. Last year's festival, held at California State University in Sacramento, was very energizing and inspirational. I really enjoyed sitting in on a Natalie Haas workshop with many other attending students of cello, watching her interesting bow style demonstrated!

Picture this: three days of music -- 350 folk artists, agents, DJ's, presenters... all in one hotel! Just back from the Far West Regional Folk Alliance Conference held in Sacramento, CA. Picture an entire floor of the Marriott in Rancho Cordova, CA -- all the guests' rooms turned into music rooms for performing artists to get heard up close! Mandolins, banjos, guitars, harps, dobros, stand-up basses, even a few guys in kilts with bagpipes ready! The music flowed everywhere, even in some elevators! It's back to the day job, now!