I've been taking cello lessons for 6 years now, and it still surprises me that progress is non-linear. I'll notice little to no improvement, then suddenly one day, I'll have a breakthrough.
It was really exciting at my last lesson to have one of those 'aha!' moments when I could finally do something my teacher has been telling me about for years (literally!). I guess I was finally physically ready, and prepared enough for that breakthrough.
I finally could rotate my hand, wrist, and arm to get consistent bow weight on the string all the way to the tip without straining anything (particularly my thumb, which has been sore). I could feel and hear the difference in the richness of tone when I got it right. Like any new breakthough, I couldn't get it right consistently, but when I did I could feel a lot more control over the connection between the bow and the string.
It doesn't seem like much, but it sure has taken a long time to get to this point!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Concert report!
We played a concert last weekend, and immediately after it was over I left for the airport and have not had any free time since I returned yesterday. We leave again tomorrow and I'm taking a break from work now...
We played
Magnard Hymn a la Justice (about Dreyfus case)
Verdi Overture to Nabucco
Elgar Enigma Variations
I thought that the orchestra played very well. Even 2 weeks prior to the concert I wasn't sure that we would be ready. There were a few rough spots in the Elgar but we managed to play well.
This was a tough program. The Magnard and Elgar are very challenging pieces. The Magnard had some very high passages in B major where the cellos had the lead. The Elgar has such beautiful writing for the cellos with very challenging rhythms. One variation was all about the cellos and was apparently an inspiration for his cello concerto. It was lovely but not easy to play, one of the themes that repeats all the time is a set of descending seventh intervals, making getting the intonation right challenging. Then there was the finale with the ultra-fast passages, which I played as Note on the Downbeat - mush - Note on the Middle Beat - mush - Note on the Downbeat - all played really fast while accelerating to the final presto section. But all in all I was pretty happy with the way I played.
We played
Magnard Hymn a la Justice (about Dreyfus case)
Verdi Overture to Nabucco
Elgar Enigma Variations
I thought that the orchestra played very well. Even 2 weeks prior to the concert I wasn't sure that we would be ready. There were a few rough spots in the Elgar but we managed to play well.
This was a tough program. The Magnard and Elgar are very challenging pieces. The Magnard had some very high passages in B major where the cellos had the lead. The Elgar has such beautiful writing for the cellos with very challenging rhythms. One variation was all about the cellos and was apparently an inspiration for his cello concerto. It was lovely but not easy to play, one of the themes that repeats all the time is a set of descending seventh intervals, making getting the intonation right challenging. Then there was the finale with the ultra-fast passages, which I played as Note on the Downbeat - mush - Note on the Middle Beat - mush - Note on the Downbeat - all played really fast while accelerating to the final presto section. But all in all I was pretty happy with the way I played.
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