...my bow hold
I'm continuing to work on thinking about my hand following my arm, and on the equal and opposite reaction (to counteract the problem I have with my hand sliding towards the tip of the bow)
...my bow speed
At my last lesson, I told my teacher that I wasn't happy with the way I was playing part of one of my solo bits on the Popper Requiem. This has a dotted eighth note followed by a sixteenth note, followed by a quarter note where I have to shift up to hit the quarter note. He watched me and said that I was speeding up my bowing when I was shifting. That darn right hand/left hand independence thing again! I've modified my shifting exercise this week to change the rhythm of the shifting but keeping the bow speed steady. Another skill to burn into my brain...
...controlling the rate of my vibrato
That was the other thing I told my teacher I wasn't happy about. It's the right hand/left hand independence thing again...and the overall coordination thing (you know, the pat your head and rub your stomach thing). Plus I can't seem to hold my bow speed steady and increase or decrease the rate of my vibrato. My right hand wants to speed up or slow down with my left hand. Sigh. Another set of exercises...
...starting a note
During our Popper rehearsal yesterday, Cello1 gave me a little lesson on starting a note...putting some pressure on the string and then getting it to vibrate immediately, but without the horrible scratching sounds that I sometimes make. My teacher has been saying the same thing...I think it's a skill that I can't do automatically yet...what happens when I start a note doesn't always feel like I have it under control, even though I am trying.
...and the previous week's Cello1 tip on bowing
She's been telling me, "Sing, Sing!!!" and finally told me to bow with a "Round bow, round bow! not straight...it's not natural!!" She showed me what she meant, and I've been practicing...and it's helped my overall tone. This week she told me that my solo parts sounded a lot better
I finally figured out why she doesn't want to get coaching from my teacher...she believes that teachers are not useful to learning how to play well. I don't agree, but it did explain why she doesn't want to have my teacher listen to the 3 of us play the Popper.
Popper rehearsal notes
I think we have decided where we are bowing together and where we are not...we made some major bowing changes yesterday that improved the overall sound. Cello1 suggested fingering changes to both Cello2 and me on our parts; they were good suggestions but then she kept reminding us about the changes when we'd forget. Cello2 finally said, I need this coming week to practice the new fingerings and bowings...I'll have it changed by next week.
...And the Saturday Chamber Group
We were foiled again...Our second violinist is out with an injured finger. We thought our violist would make it but she wasn't able to and we were back to...piano trios. I love piano trios but am really looking forward to another configuration..plus we thought we would be able to play piano quartets or string trios and I have a piano quartet by Arthur Foote that I really wanted to play...maybe next week. I was looking forward to playing the cello but ended up on the piano. We played a Frederick Gernsheim piano trio (can't remember the opus...it just was loaded to the Eastman School of Music site) and it had a really hard first movement (rhythmically hard) but was really nice overall. Then we switched to Beethoven and played Trios #5 and #8. #8 was fun because it was a set of 10 variations.
...and the Brahms Piano quintet
I'm still working on it...playing bits and pieces of it when I can find time to practice the piano. I've been using a method that I read about from a link on Gottagopractice's blog - a flexible tempo - to learn the music - it really works. I've found that the sections that I've played through very slowly but concentrating on learning the music really well, that I'm able to speed it up much more quickly and accurately. I still only have small sections that I can play at speed, but more and more of each movement is starting to come together.
...and orchestra rehearsal tonight!
I missed last week's rehearsal; the first of this cycle...it was snowing so hard last week that I decided to drive home rather than stay at rehearsal. I even postponed my trip to the Bay Area for a day from Tuesday to Wednesday because I figured that it would be really icy...and for once I got lucky with the travel gods because the San Jose airport was closed Tuesday morning and I didn't have to deal with it!
4 comments:
Isn't that a wonderful article? I love the feel of leaning into the notes to make them go faster.
Lots of random practice notes there. It's good to stop and assess periodically. Sounds like some of the problems are working themselves out.
CelloGeek, Can you elaborate further on the tip by Cello1 regarding "round bow! not straight"?
Re starting a note: My teacher always tells me to use my first finger to "bite" or "dig" before moving the bow. He's had me practice that over and over ... but I still forget to do it. It's really the key to getting the string to vibrate. You can even see it happening. I guess it just takes time.
Cello1 was talking about using the natural arc of your arm to bow in an arc over the string, not in a straight back and forth linear motion. I am finding this most helpful on the A string, where stretching out towards the tip when I bow in a straight line causes me to lose power..by bowing more in an arc I am able to apply power more consistently throughout the length of the bow (but then again, my arms are short and the A string has been a continual issue for me)
Ah, steady vibrato! I still have problems with that... we can struggle together, I guess!
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