The Shifting Exercise

This is a very tedious exercise, but has been paying off...the finger patterns are:

1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4
2-1
2-2
2-3
2-4...etc....

I have been rotating strings each day (A string yesterday, D string today, etc.).

I start on a high postion on the fingerboard...my teacher had me start in first position, but since I have had so much trouble placing fingers on other notes in other positions, I've been practicing from other positions (getting the practice hitting, for example, the D on the A string with any finger when my hand is not on the cello)

I then start the shift patterns, using a finger pattern described above. Say it's 1-2 on the A string; I do shifts on the same string from that high position (if I start from first position it would be B-D, B-E, B-F, B-G,etc....or by half steps...your choice but to the point in Gottagopractice's post, have decided where you're going so you know whether you've shifted to the right note). Then I move to the harmonic A and practice shifting back on the A string...harmonic A back to the B in first position, harmonic A back to C, and so forth.

Then I do it again from both high and low positions but this time switching strings...on the A string I can only shift to the D string. When I'm on the D and G strings I shift to strings on both sides. In this case I usually play octaves, just so that I can hear whether I've shifted to the correct position.

Okay, now repeat with the next finger combo! With 16 possible finger combinations you do this shifting exercise many, many times...so it is very tedious. Some days I start with my 4th finger because I've found that by the time I get towards the end of the exercise it is really hard to concentrate on doing the shifting correctly and I really want to be done with the exercise. Oh, and don't forget the replacement shifts (shifting fingers but same note on same string) with each finger pattern combo.

During all of this I am trying to remember to keep my fingers on the string. Because I spent so long playing the piano before starting the cello I have a bad habit of lifting fingers and not keeping them down (well, it works on the piano!). Also, when you place fingers down or remove them matters...I've found that when I miss a note when shifting it's because I didn't put my fingers down (or remove) soon enough.

I've been doing the same bow stroke when and making sure I hear the glissando when shifting on the suggestion of my teacher, so that I can hear that I've placed fingers down, He did also suggest that I practice different bows and practice shifting without the glissando so that I practice shifting cleanly. I haven't been good about the different bows, and I also have been rather random about whether I shift with or without some sound in between the shifts. I suppose I could get even more anal about it...but this whole thing is long enough as it is. Perhaps I'll just rotate things...glissando one day or with certain fingers, or no glissando.

Whew! that was long, almost as long as the exercise! But as tedious as it is...it really pays off. Yesterday with my Sunday chamber group, we started with 3 of us playing cello (us cellists have started getting together early to play multiple-cello music together). For some reason we started playing The Swan. For the very first time I hit every single shift perfectly and felt very confident as I was playing it (oh yes, different finger, different string! oh! different finger, same string!)