Review: SUPER CELLO: HERO PRACTICE at The Kennedy Center

All right, so I'm a sucker for string instruments - something that makes Scottie Rowell's already delightful Super Cello: Hero Practice even more adorable to watch. Anything that features strings as more than stuffy, old, and stiff is automatically winning points in my book, but this is especially true since Super Cello shows off the range, versatility, and beauty of the cello, which is criminally underrated.

Kennedy Center's latest digital stage contribution is a fantastic display of how art and education can go hand-in-hand. Featuring National Symphony Orchestra cellist David Teie, the piece is a mixture of live action and animation (courtesy of Teller Productions and Kennedy Center's Motion Graphics Artist and Editor Georgia Bergin), showing Teie as he discovers and hones his cello's hidden powers with the help of his alien and robot friends. Teie himself composed the majority of the music he performs, with the exception of an interlude performance of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, though that is also given his own unique spin. The result is a stunning display of the range of the instrument - Teie's performance ranges from basic scales to more complex glissando (sliding), spiccato (bouncing), and shifting.

Along with the performance, Kennedy Center's Education team compiled questions and activities to accompany the performance, making it an interactive piece for those interested. But, truthfully, even just watching the performance is strong motivation for viewers to want to practice their instruments - or learn to play.

Perhaps the best part of this performance is that it's appealing to all audiences. The animation draws in and entertains young viewers, but Teie's music is bewitching in its own right. This serves as a great entryway to children interested in learning music, but also as a fun experience for music-lovers of all ages. And any performance that can do all that is indeed super-powered.

Kennedy Center's Super Cello: Hero Practice is available through the Kennedy Center website under their Digital Stage+ Performances for Young Audiences umbrella. Super Cello is available to all educators (including home schoolers) with registration, and streaming access includes access to Closed Captioning and Audio Description accommodations as well as companion education materials. Super Cello is streaming through June 27th, and is recommended for audiences ages 3 and up.

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