I haven't posted in a while...been very busy with work and travel. I'm still trying to keep up with practicing but it's much harder now that my travel has started picking up again. My favorite Hertz attendant at the San Jose airport told me that he believes that business is picking up because rental returns are up to 1/2 of their pre-downturn levels, after dropping to about 1/4 the rate at the worst.
I'm continuing to work on the same things, mainly on bowing. I think I've finally found a bow grip that doesn't hurt my thumb. I had to work on getting my pinky to be supple and to be an active part of bowing. It felt like it took forever. I spent lots of my practice time just bowing on open strings trying to get a feel for the string. Thank goodness my sound started to get better; it was getting very discouraging when I felt like I had started all the way back at the very beginning. Now I'm working on making my tone sound great while I'm changing bow speed. Also I'm trying to keep a steady vibrato when I'm changing bow speeds...once I get more comfortable with that I'll start trying to vary my vibrato speed too. But one thing at a time.
Orchestra had a concert a few weeks ago and I finally listened to part of the concert. I traveled the entire week prior to the concert and came home the day before - not optimal for getting back into playing. I practiced the morning of the concert and by concert time was feeling better about my playing. In one piece, Sibelius Spring Song, my stand partner and I opened up the piece with the melody, which we held for quite a while. The violins came in and doubled with us, but it took quite a while before the cello section was together. I thought we did a good job.
Showing posts with label bowing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bowing. Show all posts
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Breakthrough
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!
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!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Practice Goals for June
One of the nice things about being a member of CelloBloggers is that one of the sub-groups is the Practice Club. There are 13 members and we are keeping each other honest by sharing our practice goals and reporting our progress. Here are my goals for June, which as it's more than halfway over, are a little late (but hopefully doable!)
--being ready for the last concerts of the season for orchestra. That means panic practicing to be ready for the first concert on Monday. We have a hard program; the 1812 overture, Copeland's Rodeo (rhythms are really hard on this!), a really neat trombone concerto, and some other pops and patriotic music.
--improving my ability to get a consistent and even sound when I'm changing bow direction. Today my husband said that for the first time he heard my play the longest sustained sound he's ever heard...meaning that he couldn't tell when I changed the bow direction! Now if I could only do that consistently and reliably...that's the goal
--and for consistency, practicing every day that I'm home. I'm traveling 3 out of 4 weeks this month, but have managed to practice all except for one day when I was at home. My excuse for the day that I missed was that it was the evening I arrived home from a trip and I had a pile of work to finish before the next day.
I forgot to add this last goal to my post, and it's an important one, and that's being very careful to be very relaxed and in good form with very little tension while playing. For the past few weeks I've been suffering from pain in my neck and having problems with numbness, pain, and tingling in my left shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers. My doctor sent me to get an MRI done and the MRI showed a bone spur and a disk protrusion in my neck, along with degeneration in the disk. I think this is the long term effect from a rear-end collision I was in 6 years ago. The pain started a few weeks ago but so far I've tried to keep it from interfering with my practicing. But I am so aware now of whether I have extra tension in my neck and arm...and have actively sought to get rid of that. I want to be able to keep playing the cello for a long, long time!
--being ready for the last concerts of the season for orchestra. That means panic practicing to be ready for the first concert on Monday. We have a hard program; the 1812 overture, Copeland's Rodeo (rhythms are really hard on this!), a really neat trombone concerto, and some other pops and patriotic music.
--improving my ability to get a consistent and even sound when I'm changing bow direction. Today my husband said that for the first time he heard my play the longest sustained sound he's ever heard...meaning that he couldn't tell when I changed the bow direction! Now if I could only do that consistently and reliably...that's the goal
--and for consistency, practicing every day that I'm home. I'm traveling 3 out of 4 weeks this month, but have managed to practice all except for one day when I was at home. My excuse for the day that I missed was that it was the evening I arrived home from a trip and I had a pile of work to finish before the next day.
I forgot to add this last goal to my post, and it's an important one, and that's being very careful to be very relaxed and in good form with very little tension while playing. For the past few weeks I've been suffering from pain in my neck and having problems with numbness, pain, and tingling in my left shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers. My doctor sent me to get an MRI done and the MRI showed a bone spur and a disk protrusion in my neck, along with degeneration in the disk. I think this is the long term effect from a rear-end collision I was in 6 years ago. The pain started a few weeks ago but so far I've tried to keep it from interfering with my practicing. But I am so aware now of whether I have extra tension in my neck and arm...and have actively sought to get rid of that. I want to be able to keep playing the cello for a long, long time!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Busy!
It's been a busy week - got in some extra practice time because I actually had Martin Luther King Jr. day off as a holiday. Trying to fit in everything I want to practice is tough.
We had our first orchestra practice for the new year! The program is very nice - Holst 2nd Suite; Butterworth "A Shropshire Lad", and Vaughan Williams Pastoral Symphony. I was really confused about which part I was playing - the cellos go divisi a lot and sometimes it was by stand and sometimes it was inside/outside...so a lot of the time I wasn't sure if I was playing the correct part.
This Wednesday I'm playing a gig at work with a flautist. We were supposed to play at the office holiday party, but the party got postponed because of all of the snow Seattle got around Christmas. We had to find some new music to play because Christmas carols in January didn't really seem like a good idea. So Friday we played some music together for the first time, to pick what we'll play on Wednesday. We're going to play some dances from Febonio op29 "Rustic Airs and Dances" (I've never heard of Febonio before!), and a Beethoven duet that was originally written for clarinet and bassoon. fortunately, today I was able to run through everything with the violinist in my chamber group...not much time to get it ready for Wednesday.
Today's chamber group was a duet for a while, then a string trio. The string trio we read was a keeper! It was 3 string trios by Hyacinthe Jadin (a male, not a female). We were pretty excited about every movement in every trio!
and last but not least...my lessons continue and we just started playing a Kummer duet op156, duo #4 - we played through all of the movements at my lesson on Friday and hopefully soon will be able to play it at speed. I have my list of things that I'm working on..
--loosening my wrist while bowing, right now really working on dotted rhythms and a quick snap of the wrist and getting the short note to articulate
--detached bowing (on the string and off the string)
--arpeggios: this week need to work on nailing the shift down from the root to the fifth of the chord when descending)
--shifting exercise from Sevecik op8
--trill exercise (based on Cossman)
--vibrato
--scales: work on controlling bow pressure so that sound volume stays consistent (my teacher pointed out the it looked like I was easing up at the tip and at the frog...and hence producing inconsistent volume/tone)
oh..and don't forget to have fun playing...!
We had our first orchestra practice for the new year! The program is very nice - Holst 2nd Suite; Butterworth "A Shropshire Lad", and Vaughan Williams Pastoral Symphony. I was really confused about which part I was playing - the cellos go divisi a lot and sometimes it was by stand and sometimes it was inside/outside...so a lot of the time I wasn't sure if I was playing the correct part.
This Wednesday I'm playing a gig at work with a flautist. We were supposed to play at the office holiday party, but the party got postponed because of all of the snow Seattle got around Christmas. We had to find some new music to play because Christmas carols in January didn't really seem like a good idea. So Friday we played some music together for the first time, to pick what we'll play on Wednesday. We're going to play some dances from Febonio op29 "Rustic Airs and Dances" (I've never heard of Febonio before!), and a Beethoven duet that was originally written for clarinet and bassoon. fortunately, today I was able to run through everything with the violinist in my chamber group...not much time to get it ready for Wednesday.
Today's chamber group was a duet for a while, then a string trio. The string trio we read was a keeper! It was 3 string trios by Hyacinthe Jadin (a male, not a female). We were pretty excited about every movement in every trio!
and last but not least...my lessons continue and we just started playing a Kummer duet op156, duo #4 - we played through all of the movements at my lesson on Friday and hopefully soon will be able to play it at speed. I have my list of things that I'm working on..
--loosening my wrist while bowing, right now really working on dotted rhythms and a quick snap of the wrist and getting the short note to articulate
--detached bowing (on the string and off the string)
--arpeggios: this week need to work on nailing the shift down from the root to the fifth of the chord when descending)
--shifting exercise from Sevecik op8
--trill exercise (based on Cossman)
--vibrato
--scales: work on controlling bow pressure so that sound volume stays consistent (my teacher pointed out the it looked like I was easing up at the tip and at the frog...and hence producing inconsistent volume/tone)
oh..and don't forget to have fun playing...!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
One Thing After Another
It's been a busy month since I last posted...Thanksgiving, travel, concerts, an unusual amount of snow for Seattle, and getting sick (while on a trip, ugh). I had a nasty bug -- sore throat and coughing (still coughing after 2 weeks) and haven't felt so sick in a long time. I managed to keep from coughing during the last concert (I managed to hold the coughing except during the loud parts from the brass...holding it in during some of the solo parts was really hard)
Where has practicing fit into all of this? It's been tough, especially having to stop to cough and drink hot liquids. But at my last lesson (we had to cancel this week because of snow and the previous week because I was sick) my teacher asked me to think about the weight of my bow hand/arm and to keep applying pressure while staying flexible. So among all of the other things I've been working on I've been thinking about that...and it is helping. I can hear more consistency in tone up and down the stick, and I am starting to feel the string as I move the bow across it. It sounds funny describing this feeling, but it is a good one!
Where has practicing fit into all of this? It's been tough, especially having to stop to cough and drink hot liquids. But at my last lesson (we had to cancel this week because of snow and the previous week because I was sick) my teacher asked me to think about the weight of my bow hand/arm and to keep applying pressure while staying flexible. So among all of the other things I've been working on I've been thinking about that...and it is helping. I can hear more consistency in tone up and down the stick, and I am starting to feel the string as I move the bow across it. It sounds funny describing this feeling, but it is a good one!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Infinite Loops
First, my husband is recovering quickly from surgery. He is able to walk without using a cane for miles without pain in his hip. He said that he had actually forgotten what a 'normal' stride felt like. He still can't bend past 90 degrees, so if he can't pick it up with his grabber device, it stays on the floor until I can get it. So he's in his own loop, learning to walk again.
My infinite loop is going back to the beginning days of playing cello. My teacher told me in one of my lessons that he could still see a scoop in my bowing when I changed directions. So I went back and isolated the problem. It was that I couldn't stop my bow on an upbow. I noticed that I couldn't stop the bow movement at the frog without the bow wiggling around a little. Now doesn't that sound basic? Starting and stopping the bow?
So, I started the very tedious process of fixing the problem. For a while every time my bow went near the frog, I stopped the bow. If it wobbled, I played whatever it was I was playing again and stopped it. I even did Emily's scale challenge stopping the bow at the frog every single dang time the bow went near the frog. And guess what, it got better (not quickly, though!). I can now hear the string still ringing when I stop the bow. I still stop and have a 'do-over' if the bow wobbles at the change of direction. One of these days I'll get past lesson 1!
Also, my teacher had me go back and play grade 1, then grade 2, and now grade 3 repetoire again. This time he demanded that I control the tone, the volume, my bowing, and to play even the 'easy' stuff musically. It's quite hard to do, but my husband has noticed a change in my playing...guess returning to the beginning is useful in its own way...
My infinite loop is going back to the beginning days of playing cello. My teacher told me in one of my lessons that he could still see a scoop in my bowing when I changed directions. So I went back and isolated the problem. It was that I couldn't stop my bow on an upbow. I noticed that I couldn't stop the bow movement at the frog without the bow wiggling around a little. Now doesn't that sound basic? Starting and stopping the bow?
So, I started the very tedious process of fixing the problem. For a while every time my bow went near the frog, I stopped the bow. If it wobbled, I played whatever it was I was playing again and stopped it. I even did Emily's scale challenge stopping the bow at the frog every single dang time the bow went near the frog. And guess what, it got better (not quickly, though!). I can now hear the string still ringing when I stop the bow. I still stop and have a 'do-over' if the bow wobbles at the change of direction. One of these days I'll get past lesson 1!
Also, my teacher had me go back and play grade 1, then grade 2, and now grade 3 repetoire again. This time he demanded that I control the tone, the volume, my bowing, and to play even the 'easy' stuff musically. It's quite hard to do, but my husband has noticed a change in my playing...guess returning to the beginning is useful in its own way...
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Back to Lesson #1: How to Bow
I had my lesson today, to make up for the lesson I missed last Friday while I was traveling. This month is a disaster when it comes to lessons and schedule; I think I only have one lesson this month during its usual time on Fridays. Thank goodness my teacher has been flexible in rescheduling my lessons!
I joked with my teacher that today's lesson was a lot like my very first lesson, when it was the first time I had ever played a cello. Today we spent time working on bowing. At last week's lesson he commented that my eighth notes weren't very even - my up bows were shorter than my down bows, making the baroque piece (Marcello) I'm playing sound more like it was swinging (not a good style for baroque music!). Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but it reminded me that for far too long I've just settled for not playing even notes very evenly.
So, this week I set out to do something about it. I followed Ms. Emily's very timely advice and tried to figure out what was causing the problem. Actually it wasn't hard to figure out; I knew it already but have not spent any time to fix the problem: my hand and fingers aren't flexible enough on the up bow. The diagnosis was easy but fixing it - well, let's just say that all week I have felt like I can't play the cello.
I told my teacher how awful it's felt to play all week, and we started working on my bowing. He had all sorts of fun analogies. The one that worked best for me was thinking about my index finger like a windshield wiper - back and forth, back and forth. We spent a lot of time during today's lesson with me just bowing on an open string. Playing the open G string was the easiest one for me to feel some semblance of bowing with a flexible hand, wrist, and fingers. I have other problems like the twisting of the bow (teacher's advice: try to grip a little harder, but not too much harder...) and keeping my pinky from locking up too much...
Anyway, I feel like I just started playing again.
I joked with my teacher that today's lesson was a lot like my very first lesson, when it was the first time I had ever played a cello. Today we spent time working on bowing. At last week's lesson he commented that my eighth notes weren't very even - my up bows were shorter than my down bows, making the baroque piece (Marcello) I'm playing sound more like it was swinging (not a good style for baroque music!). Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but it reminded me that for far too long I've just settled for not playing even notes very evenly.
So, this week I set out to do something about it. I followed Ms. Emily's very timely advice and tried to figure out what was causing the problem. Actually it wasn't hard to figure out; I knew it already but have not spent any time to fix the problem: my hand and fingers aren't flexible enough on the up bow. The diagnosis was easy but fixing it - well, let's just say that all week I have felt like I can't play the cello.
I told my teacher how awful it's felt to play all week, and we started working on my bowing. He had all sorts of fun analogies. The one that worked best for me was thinking about my index finger like a windshield wiper - back and forth, back and forth. We spent a lot of time during today's lesson with me just bowing on an open string. Playing the open G string was the easiest one for me to feel some semblance of bowing with a flexible hand, wrist, and fingers. I have other problems like the twisting of the bow (teacher's advice: try to grip a little harder, but not too much harder...) and keeping my pinky from locking up too much...
Anyway, I feel like I just started playing again.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Shake Shake Shake!
Last night I told my teacher about the 2nd rehearsal we had playing the Popper Requiem with the orchestra. We were all louder, and hopefully can get even louder. I felt like my volume compromised my tone, and my vibrato pretty much disappeared. For a long time I've had a problem with vibrato that I've known about - that I'll start a long note with vibrato, but then I'll stop doing vibrato before the note ends. Plus I haven't been happy with my vibrato anyway--it's always sounded a little tight and felt very uncomfortable. It's that pat your head and rub your tummy thing, I think. Now seemed like the perfect time to start fixing my vibrato problems!
So, we went back to something he had told me a while ago but finally clicked. Funny how many times this has happened during my cello journey (like we joke...everything we need to know about playing the cello is in Suzuki Book 1). He told me to concentrate on doing the vibrato from my arm, not my fingers, and to remember to keep my bow arm relaxed (as I've been working on for the last few weeks to get my volume up). Shake shake shake from the arm! And it worked...I could hear my tone warming up, and for the first time my vibrato looked, sounded, and felt pretty good.
I played the Popper during my lesson concentrating on vibrato...my vibrato got better but my bowing and timing went haywire...so I'm going to spend time this week trying to pull things back together and concentrate on shaking....from the arm.
meaning... practicing my F# minor scale with lots of vibrato. Today I started doing a shortened version of my shifting exercise but practicing doing a lot of vibrato as soon as I land the shifts...and everything I'm playing this week gets a lot of vibrato whether it requires it or not. I need to burn that shaking feeling in all sorts of positions on the fingerboard into my brain....the next thing that I want to become automatic!
So, we went back to something he had told me a while ago but finally clicked. Funny how many times this has happened during my cello journey (like we joke...everything we need to know about playing the cello is in Suzuki Book 1). He told me to concentrate on doing the vibrato from my arm, not my fingers, and to remember to keep my bow arm relaxed (as I've been working on for the last few weeks to get my volume up). Shake shake shake from the arm! And it worked...I could hear my tone warming up, and for the first time my vibrato looked, sounded, and felt pretty good.
I played the Popper during my lesson concentrating on vibrato...my vibrato got better but my bowing and timing went haywire...so I'm going to spend time this week trying to pull things back together and concentrate on shaking....from the arm.
meaning... practicing my F# minor scale with lots of vibrato. Today I started doing a shortened version of my shifting exercise but practicing doing a lot of vibrato as soon as I land the shifts...and everything I'm playing this week gets a lot of vibrato whether it requires it or not. I need to burn that shaking feeling in all sorts of positions on the fingerboard into my brain....the next thing that I want to become automatic!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Random Practice Notes
These past few weeks I've heard some random (or maybe not so random) comments about my playing that have given me new things to think about and work on during my practice time...
...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 told her that I've been practicing round bows and she was really happy.
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!
...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!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
My Bow Hold Post
January is Bow Month at Emily Wright's blog.
I got a very helpful and detailed response from her about my bow quandary, which are 2 things - keeping my thumb curved and keeping my hand from sliding towards the tip when playing.
I've been trying to keep my thumb curved. What I've noticed is that there are times when I play when I'm not thinking at all about my bow hand, but it is relaxed and I can tell it's ok. But, there are times when I don't notice that my thumb has straightened out. A lot of this battle seems to be the figuring out how to have a heightened sense of awareness of what my hand is doing but not really be thinking about it. When I start obsessing over my bow hand (or anything else) I tend to tense up, and then I make the problem worse.
In fact, that's another dilemma. During a practice session I can stop, shake my hand out, reposition my hand, try to relax, and begin again. I can't do that during a reading session or during a performance. I think that's a skill I don't have yet - being able to figure out that I need to make an adjustment and then be able to make the fix on the fly, especially when my hand has migrated.
Yesterday, my first practice session after getting the tips, I tried hard to think about an opposite and equal reaction with my hand, and about having it follow my arm, to try to fix the sliding hand problem. Like all of the changes and adjustments I've been making to my-bow-hand-that-is-a-work-in-progress, I think it's going to take a few weeks before I will be able to tell how much this approach helps - and if it doesn't I will be knocking again on Ms. Emily's door (metaphorically speaking!)
I really liked what Emily said about spending time on basic technique. I've tried to do that with one thing every week since I started playing. Even though I will be working on multiple things, every week I pick one thing that I will spend a lot of concentrated time on making better...like the shifting exercise I wrote about in a previous post. During my lesson yesterday my teacher remarked on the improvement I've made on the Popper Requiem from the concentrated work I've done on shifting since the last lesson I had before Christmas. My goal with spending that concentrated time is to burn the correct technique into my brain so that I don't have to think very much about it when I'm playing. I spend quite a bit of time sight-reading music with my various groups and my philosophy is that the more skills I have that are 'automatic', the better I play pieces where I don't have the luxury of practice time.
I've found that by spending a week or a few weeks on that one thing, other parts of my playing improve too. What do all of you do? What's your practice philosophy?
I got a very helpful and detailed response from her about my bow quandary, which are 2 things - keeping my thumb curved and keeping my hand from sliding towards the tip when playing.
I've been trying to keep my thumb curved. What I've noticed is that there are times when I play when I'm not thinking at all about my bow hand, but it is relaxed and I can tell it's ok. But, there are times when I don't notice that my thumb has straightened out. A lot of this battle seems to be the figuring out how to have a heightened sense of awareness of what my hand is doing but not really be thinking about it. When I start obsessing over my bow hand (or anything else) I tend to tense up, and then I make the problem worse.
In fact, that's another dilemma. During a practice session I can stop, shake my hand out, reposition my hand, try to relax, and begin again. I can't do that during a reading session or during a performance. I think that's a skill I don't have yet - being able to figure out that I need to make an adjustment and then be able to make the fix on the fly, especially when my hand has migrated.
Yesterday, my first practice session after getting the tips, I tried hard to think about an opposite and equal reaction with my hand, and about having it follow my arm, to try to fix the sliding hand problem. Like all of the changes and adjustments I've been making to my-bow-hand-that-is-a-work-in-progress, I think it's going to take a few weeks before I will be able to tell how much this approach helps - and if it doesn't I will be knocking again on Ms. Emily's door (metaphorically speaking!)
I really liked what Emily said about spending time on basic technique. I've tried to do that with one thing every week since I started playing. Even though I will be working on multiple things, every week I pick one thing that I will spend a lot of concentrated time on making better...like the shifting exercise I wrote about in a previous post. During my lesson yesterday my teacher remarked on the improvement I've made on the Popper Requiem from the concentrated work I've done on shifting since the last lesson I had before Christmas. My goal with spending that concentrated time is to burn the correct technique into my brain so that I don't have to think very much about it when I'm playing. I spend quite a bit of time sight-reading music with my various groups and my philosophy is that the more skills I have that are 'automatic', the better I play pieces where I don't have the luxury of practice time.
I've found that by spending a week or a few weeks on that one thing, other parts of my playing improve too. What do all of you do? What's your practice philosophy?
Monday, August 20, 2007
Lesson and Chamber Group Notes
I had a good lesson on Friday. My teacher put the video camera on me to let me take a good look at my bowing, and it has definitely straightened out. It isn't good enough yet; I could see that my up bows were at a slightly different angle than my down bows, but at least they were straight going in one direction and within a fairly narrow range on the string. I can hear the difference in sound. I played "The Swan" at the end so that I could see and hear what I sounded like playing something other than scales or exercises. After pointing out some other things I need to work on, my teacher said that my playing was the most consistent it's ever been! So, progress! Yay! And so much more to work on! He has been reading Daniel Levitan's This is Your Brain on Music which I read a few months ago, so we had a good time joking about how many hours I had left to go on my 10,000 hours to become an expert.
I got to play cello this weekend with my Saturday chamber group. With people still out we were still only a piano trio. We played through a Raff trio (can't remember which opus) and the Clara Schumann trio (so that our other pianist could play/hear it). I think it was the first time I got to play the cello part for her trio - all of the other times we've played it I've been on the piano. We finished up with a Spohr trio. Hope next week one of our violas can come - and our other violinist - so we can get back to piano quintets (or some configuration other than piano trios, which are nice, but we were getting quite a bit of variety for a while).
My Sunday group was a hoot. Our other cellist, who has been playing the cello for over 60 years (I kid you not) was there after an absence of 3 weeks. I love playing with her. We played the Vivaldi G minor double cello concerto and had a blast. We're trying to get it gig-ready, which means that I probably ought to spend some time practicing it on my own...I only seem to play it when I'm with this group. We played through the first 3 movements of Dvorak's "American" quartet, which really gives the 1st violin a workout! The 2nd movement gives the cello some lovely parts to play, but pretty high - hate that false treble - and even playing an octave down it was getting way up the fingerboard. We finished by reading through Mendelssohn's 3rd string quartet (Op. 44, No. 1) - lots of fun - and not quite as tricky on rhythm as the Dvorak. What was encouraging (to me, at least!) was that I could hear that the bowing exercises are paying off - I could hold the volume of long notes much more consistently (not dying off when close to the tip of the bow!!!).
We got a note from our conductor! Orchestra rehearsal starts September 10th!
I got to play cello this weekend with my Saturday chamber group. With people still out we were still only a piano trio. We played through a Raff trio (can't remember which opus) and the Clara Schumann trio (so that our other pianist could play/hear it). I think it was the first time I got to play the cello part for her trio - all of the other times we've played it I've been on the piano. We finished up with a Spohr trio. Hope next week one of our violas can come - and our other violinist - so we can get back to piano quintets (or some configuration other than piano trios, which are nice, but we were getting quite a bit of variety for a while).
My Sunday group was a hoot. Our other cellist, who has been playing the cello for over 60 years (I kid you not) was there after an absence of 3 weeks. I love playing with her. We played the Vivaldi G minor double cello concerto and had a blast. We're trying to get it gig-ready, which means that I probably ought to spend some time practicing it on my own...I only seem to play it when I'm with this group. We played through the first 3 movements of Dvorak's "American" quartet, which really gives the 1st violin a workout! The 2nd movement gives the cello some lovely parts to play, but pretty high - hate that false treble - and even playing an octave down it was getting way up the fingerboard. We finished by reading through Mendelssohn's 3rd string quartet (Op. 44, No. 1) - lots of fun - and not quite as tricky on rhythm as the Dvorak. What was encouraging (to me, at least!) was that I could hear that the bowing exercises are paying off - I could hold the volume of long notes much more consistently (not dying off when close to the tip of the bow!!!).
We got a note from our conductor! Orchestra rehearsal starts September 10th!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Getting a Little Bit Smarter, Perhaps?
Last night I was inspired by Cellodonna's comment on my previous post that she warms up with Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca (last movement of sonata no. 11 in A major kv331). I stopped midway through playing the Mozart sonata I warm up with to switch to the Rondo. I had to drag out the music for the Rondo because I only have bits and pieces of it memorized. Since I had my collection of Mozart piano sonatas out, I decided to play the next sonata KV332, No. 12 in F major, all of KV333 (my warmup sonata, No. 13 in B flat major), and KV283, No. 5 in G major. It's been a long time since I've played any Mozart sonata other than the one I warm up with and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I could feel the effect of the rhythm practice too, I was having a much easier time with the ornaments, and I even added extra ones and improvised for fun. My last piano teacher was really big on improvising within the context of the music - a common practice of the period - but I digress.
I figure that since I played Mozart last night I must be a teeny bit smarter! I've always wondered if listening to Mozart really does make a difference in kids' performance in other school subjects.
It's been so nice to be home and play the cello every day. I've continued to work on bowing straight - mixing in exercises to try to burn the feeling of the changes I've made in wrist position and bow angle into muscle memory. I've spent time playing through pieces, making them progressively harder, trying to concentrate on bowing straight, to see at what point I start losing it. Once I notice that I've lost control I step back and try to bow straight again with just simple rhythms and bowing patterns.
I figure that since I played Mozart last night I must be a teeny bit smarter! I've always wondered if listening to Mozart really does make a difference in kids' performance in other school subjects.
It's been so nice to be home and play the cello every day. I've continued to work on bowing straight - mixing in exercises to try to burn the feeling of the changes I've made in wrist position and bow angle into muscle memory. I've spent time playing through pieces, making them progressively harder, trying to concentrate on bowing straight, to see at what point I start losing it. Once I notice that I've lost control I step back and try to bow straight again with just simple rhythms and bowing patterns.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Cat-atouille and Cat-atonic
We went to see Ratatouille today and I really enjoyed it. Animated movies seem to be the only films we go to see these days (with an exception for Lord of the Rings). When we got home our cats were being their usual selves - we decided that Marley (our crazy black cat) was really Cat-atouille and Ziggy (the Queen of Comfy) was really Cat-atonic (she does spend most of her day in bed).
My lesson yesterday went well. It really helped to have a mirror so I could see whether I was bowing straight. I may have to break down and buy one. I could hear a marked improvement in tone (yay!); I've spent most of the week concentrating on keeping my wrist in a neutral position and it is starting to pay off. Hopefully within a few weeks I won't have to think about it so much--after practice makes something permanent (thanks Cellodonna for that insight!), I can focus on some other aspect of my playing. Using the mirror I could see how much my bow wandered up and down over the string, and by the end of the lesson I could see it traversing the same spot much more tightly. So that's this week's task - practicing bowing in a straight line!
My chamber group was small today, just a piano trio. I was on piano today, and boy did I get a workout. I haven't really played the piano much in the past few weeks - too much travel, work, and focusing practice time on cello - so when I started warming up this morning I could feel how stiff my fingers were. Actually I'm not really playing the piano much now other than playing for groups. We started out with Clara Schumann's piano trio. I've also been reading through some of her solo piano music (thank you Dover!) as well as music from Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. Both composers have been sadly neglected - women weren't really 'allowed' to be composers in their day, a major loss to music. I am looking for Fanny Mendelssohn's Piano Trio which I have heard is really wonderful. Clara Schumann's trio was a good warmup for the rest of the morning.
We then moved on to Robert Schumann's piano trios, playing the first 2 trios (No. 1 Op 63 and No.2 Op 80). The first movement of No.1 is a killer rhythm-wise (but all of the rhythm work I've been doing is helping immensely!). The last movement of No. 1 was the most playable, and No. 2, while not easy, was easier to play than No. 1. I like No. 1 better but, wow, I nearly died trying to play the first movement - like always, wish I had more time to practice.... After those 2 trios we were Schumann-ed out and switched to Lalo's third piano trio (op. 26). We've played this one a few times before, and we did the first movement pretty close to tempo, and managed to hang together while killing me on the piano. The 3rd movement is beautiful. We all nearly died on the 4th movement, which we again took close to tempo (why, I don't know...maybe it was because we were running out of time.) I have to admit that it is sounding better; the first time we played it months ago, especially the 2nd movement, it didn't sound much like music. I was ready to toss in the towel after the Schumann; after the Lalo we were done and I was definitely Cat-atonic.....
My lesson yesterday went well. It really helped to have a mirror so I could see whether I was bowing straight. I may have to break down and buy one. I could hear a marked improvement in tone (yay!); I've spent most of the week concentrating on keeping my wrist in a neutral position and it is starting to pay off. Hopefully within a few weeks I won't have to think about it so much--after practice makes something permanent (thanks Cellodonna for that insight!), I can focus on some other aspect of my playing. Using the mirror I could see how much my bow wandered up and down over the string, and by the end of the lesson I could see it traversing the same spot much more tightly. So that's this week's task - practicing bowing in a straight line!
My chamber group was small today, just a piano trio. I was on piano today, and boy did I get a workout. I haven't really played the piano much in the past few weeks - too much travel, work, and focusing practice time on cello - so when I started warming up this morning I could feel how stiff my fingers were. Actually I'm not really playing the piano much now other than playing for groups. We started out with Clara Schumann's piano trio. I've also been reading through some of her solo piano music (thank you Dover!) as well as music from Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. Both composers have been sadly neglected - women weren't really 'allowed' to be composers in their day, a major loss to music. I am looking for Fanny Mendelssohn's Piano Trio which I have heard is really wonderful. Clara Schumann's trio was a good warmup for the rest of the morning.
We then moved on to Robert Schumann's piano trios, playing the first 2 trios (No. 1 Op 63 and No.2 Op 80). The first movement of No.1 is a killer rhythm-wise (but all of the rhythm work I've been doing is helping immensely!). The last movement of No. 1 was the most playable, and No. 2, while not easy, was easier to play than No. 1. I like No. 1 better but, wow, I nearly died trying to play the first movement - like always, wish I had more time to practice.... After those 2 trios we were Schumann-ed out and switched to Lalo's third piano trio (op. 26). We've played this one a few times before, and we did the first movement pretty close to tempo, and managed to hang together while killing me on the piano. The 3rd movement is beautiful. We all nearly died on the 4th movement, which we again took close to tempo (why, I don't know...maybe it was because we were running out of time.) I have to admit that it is sounding better; the first time we played it months ago, especially the 2nd movement, it didn't sound much like music. I was ready to toss in the towel after the Schumann; after the Lalo we were done and I was definitely Cat-atonic.....
Friday, August 10, 2007
Home for a Week!!!
I am so excited that I don't have to travel next week!!! I just looked through my calendar for the year, and there have been only 3 weeks this year when I haven't been on a plane, and 2 of those weeks were on vacation trips, where I wasn't home. And I think that the 3rd week at home was supposed to be a travel week, but I stayed home because I was sick.
I will need to take a picture from our deck.
And what joy, I will have more time to practice since I'll be home! Unfortunately I'm doing the 2 steps back, 1 step forward thing and am on the 2 steps back. At my last lesson we started tackling something that I've been doing - when changing bow direction at the frog I do a little downward hook that throws the bow off of its straight line. I think part of the problem is caused by too much wrist rotation up and down rather than side to side.
I think it was Guanaco who wrote about unlearning things and relearning - this is where I am right now. I'm having a real hard time figuring out if what I'm trying to do to fix the problem is really doing anything, because it's hard to see where my bow goes out of the straight line. I am looking forward to today's lesson so that my teacher can look at what I've been trying this week to see if it's made any difference.
And I wish it weren't so hard to unlearn and relearn - the "if only" always kicks in: "If only I could have not started doing what was wrong in the first place!" I have to keep reminding myself that practicing the same wrong thing over and over again doesn't make me a better cellist, it is being willing to change what I'm doing to make a better sound...
I will need to take a picture from our deck.
And what joy, I will have more time to practice since I'll be home! Unfortunately I'm doing the 2 steps back, 1 step forward thing and am on the 2 steps back. At my last lesson we started tackling something that I've been doing - when changing bow direction at the frog I do a little downward hook that throws the bow off of its straight line. I think part of the problem is caused by too much wrist rotation up and down rather than side to side.
I think it was Guanaco who wrote about unlearning things and relearning - this is where I am right now. I'm having a real hard time figuring out if what I'm trying to do to fix the problem is really doing anything, because it's hard to see where my bow goes out of the straight line. I am looking forward to today's lesson so that my teacher can look at what I've been trying this week to see if it's made any difference.
And I wish it weren't so hard to unlearn and relearn - the "if only" always kicks in: "If only I could have not started doing what was wrong in the first place!" I have to keep reminding myself that practicing the same wrong thing over and over again doesn't make me a better cellist, it is being willing to change what I'm doing to make a better sound...
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Figure Eights, Not Fish
Continuing on a break from all of the rhythm practice, I decided to spend some time smoothing out my bowing. One thing that has bothered me ever since I started playing is the gap in sound that I hear when I switch strings and bow direction.
I went back to an exercise that I had worked on previously. There were quite a few weeks worth of lessons where we'd attach a laser pointer to my bow. The laser pointer was perpendicular to the bow so that I could track my bow motion by looking at the laser light. What a revelation! For one, just playing on an open string, I could see how uneven my bowing was - I could see the laser light bouncing along, instead of being a straight line.
The real test was a simple string crossing pattern -- alternating between 2 strings, for instance the D and G string, playing (D G) (D G) (D G) etc with the (D G) on one bow stroke. When done well the pattern looks like a figure eight. Not mine. It looked like a fish. This week I went back to thinking and practicing figure eights, not fish.
Fish is one of my favorite foods. In fact it's a family joke about ordering a fish (whole fish, steamed! Yum!) every time we go out for Chinese food. I had one waiter trained at one of my favorite restaurants to go find the nicest fish for me as soon as we showed up.
Too bad that fish don't have any place in cello playing!
I went back to an exercise that I had worked on previously. There were quite a few weeks worth of lessons where we'd attach a laser pointer to my bow. The laser pointer was perpendicular to the bow so that I could track my bow motion by looking at the laser light. What a revelation! For one, just playing on an open string, I could see how uneven my bowing was - I could see the laser light bouncing along, instead of being a straight line.
The real test was a simple string crossing pattern -- alternating between 2 strings, for instance the D and G string, playing (D G) (D G) (D G) etc with the (D G) on one bow stroke. When done well the pattern looks like a figure eight. Not mine. It looked like a fish. This week I went back to thinking and practicing figure eights, not fish.
Fish is one of my favorite foods. In fact it's a family joke about ordering a fish (whole fish, steamed! Yum!) every time we go out for Chinese food. I had one waiter trained at one of my favorite restaurants to go find the nicest fish for me as soon as we showed up.
Too bad that fish don't have any place in cello playing!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Rhythm Blues
A couple of weeks ago I pulled out my metronome (ok, I finally replaced the battery) and started using it again. I've been doing bowing exercises from the Sevcik School of Bowing Technique (adapted for cello) and have started on No. 6. It is basically straight eighth notes with more bowing variations than any human could possibly get through.
I decided to run the metronome to make sure that I was on the recommended tempo (104). I discovered something that really pissed me off. My eighth notes were just a shade short on my up bows. It wasn't enough to be noticeable without the metronome, and I'm sure I had been compensating for it by playing slightly too long on the down bows.
Anyway, at my last lesson I told my teacher what I had discovered and we spent a good deal of this lesson on this topic. He gave me an awesome tool to help fix the problem. Most of us can adjust to the metronome beating steadily, so it doesn't help fix the underlying problem which is a rock solid sense of the underlying pulse of the beat. So, he gave me something that he had put together with a drummer friend. The drummer beats the tempo, but he only beats the drum for all of the beats in the measure during the first measure. On the next measure he doesn't play the last beat, then on the 3rd measure he drops the last 2 beats, and on and on until the only time he hits the drum is the first beat of the measure. It was a humbling experience to see how far off I was when the first beat of the next measure played - and this was playing straight notes!
It's not like my sense of timing and rhythm is bad - but it clearly is something that can get much more solid. I've also been practicing playing on the off beat (on the 'and'). The other humbling experience was having my teacher point out to me that I wasn't as relaxed playing on the off beat and what I needed to do physically was no different than playing on the beat. Another thing to work on!
Post note, though - these exercises have really helped how solidly I play with others. My reading chamber group decided to play the Mendelssohn D Minor piano trio (which we've read through a few times) while waiting for some of the other members to show up. I was on piano (this is one where I think the piano part is the hardest of the 3 parts - think Mendelssohn writing for himself! - gives me many moments of panic while playing), but our 1st violinist said after the 1st movement that my tempo was the steadiest that she'd heard me play. So definitely progress!
Slow, but steady. Part of the journey...
I decided to run the metronome to make sure that I was on the recommended tempo (104). I discovered something that really pissed me off. My eighth notes were just a shade short on my up bows. It wasn't enough to be noticeable without the metronome, and I'm sure I had been compensating for it by playing slightly too long on the down bows.
Anyway, at my last lesson I told my teacher what I had discovered and we spent a good deal of this lesson on this topic. He gave me an awesome tool to help fix the problem. Most of us can adjust to the metronome beating steadily, so it doesn't help fix the underlying problem which is a rock solid sense of the underlying pulse of the beat. So, he gave me something that he had put together with a drummer friend. The drummer beats the tempo, but he only beats the drum for all of the beats in the measure during the first measure. On the next measure he doesn't play the last beat, then on the 3rd measure he drops the last 2 beats, and on and on until the only time he hits the drum is the first beat of the measure. It was a humbling experience to see how far off I was when the first beat of the next measure played - and this was playing straight notes!
It's not like my sense of timing and rhythm is bad - but it clearly is something that can get much more solid. I've also been practicing playing on the off beat (on the 'and'). The other humbling experience was having my teacher point out to me that I wasn't as relaxed playing on the off beat and what I needed to do physically was no different than playing on the beat. Another thing to work on!
Post note, though - these exercises have really helped how solidly I play with others. My reading chamber group decided to play the Mendelssohn D Minor piano trio (which we've read through a few times) while waiting for some of the other members to show up. I was on piano (this is one where I think the piano part is the hardest of the 3 parts - think Mendelssohn writing for himself! - gives me many moments of panic while playing), but our 1st violinist said after the 1st movement that my tempo was the steadiest that she'd heard me play. So definitely progress!
Slow, but steady. Part of the journey...
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