I added up my practice hours in 2010 and it totaled 561 hours. It is almost the same number of hours as last year! I was pretty happy because I traveled so much more this year - nearly 120 days - taking out nearly 4 months of practice time. Each year I've set a goal of averaging an hour a day for the year. Maybe this year I could try to break 600 hours, which would be a worthy stretch goal.
I looked back at the year and am happy with my progress and am looking forward to next year. Some of skills I'd like to improve this year:
--better vibrato. My teacher called the current state of my vibrato "acceptable for ensemble playing" but I'd like to get more of a "solo vibrato" and be able to keep it going.
--a singing line more often. One of the biggest improvements I made this year was that sometimes I can actually hear phrasing and a musical line. I'd like to turn that "sometimes" into "most of the time"
--control the volume. Would love to control those crescendos and decrescendos!
My Dungey cello is starting to develop a wonderful tone as it goes through its terrible twos - in February it will be 2 years old. In early December I was able to see Christopher and have him do some overdue work on the cello. I met him at the house of Ken Finch, a member of the Portland Symphony and owner of an older Dungey cello. I asked for and got a lesson from Ken! It was very exciting to play for him and get his encouragement and tips on what I could do better. I also got to hear him play my cello. He was loathe to give up both my cello and my bow :-) He's agreed to give me additional lessons if I make it down to Portland again!
So here's to 2011 and happy new year to all!
Showing posts with label practice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label practice. Show all posts
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Sunday, November 21, 2010
It's been ages since I posted
....but I've been busy, playing, traveling, working. I had to go to Singapore for work a few weeks ago and was able to fly my husband over to meet me. We went to Bali for a few days before returning home. That was wonderfully relaxing but coming home has been hard. Going from 12 hours of daylight to around 8 or less has been difficult. My travel for work has picked up again, so it's been hard to get consistent practice time.
This summer I hit a lull in my cello playing but the travel break seems to have done me a lot of good. My cello teacher commented at my lesson that my tone has improved and that I am starting to play lyrically. That felt good!!! I noticed the improvement after my trip...think I'm more relaxed. After expending so much effort to learn I forgot that I didn't have to work so hard as my skills improved. Last night we worked on vibrato and the basic message was to not work so hard at it. When I relaxed my left hand it immediately sounded better. I'm also working relaxing my right hand while keeping pressure down on the string; working on a smooth change of bow direction. Occasionally it's hard to tell when I'm switching bow directions (wish that could be any time I wanted it!).
My cello teacher started a group practice log where many of his students post practice times. It's pretty amazing what competition will do. I find myself playing a little longer because everyone sees my time. The good news is that when I'm home I'm getting in at least 1 hour a day, which is my goal. I've also started playing the piano more frequently. I finished reading through all of the Beethoven sonatas and am now reading Schumann's piano works. So now what, it's time to go play ...hmm.. piano!
This summer I hit a lull in my cello playing but the travel break seems to have done me a lot of good. My cello teacher commented at my lesson that my tone has improved and that I am starting to play lyrically. That felt good!!! I noticed the improvement after my trip...think I'm more relaxed. After expending so much effort to learn I forgot that I didn't have to work so hard as my skills improved. Last night we worked on vibrato and the basic message was to not work so hard at it. When I relaxed my left hand it immediately sounded better. I'm also working relaxing my right hand while keeping pressure down on the string; working on a smooth change of bow direction. Occasionally it's hard to tell when I'm switching bow directions (wish that could be any time I wanted it!).
My cello teacher started a group practice log where many of his students post practice times. It's pretty amazing what competition will do. I find myself playing a little longer because everyone sees my time. The good news is that when I'm home I'm getting in at least 1 hour a day, which is my goal. I've also started playing the piano more frequently. I finished reading through all of the Beethoven sonatas and am now reading Schumann's piano works. So now what, it's time to go play ...hmm.. piano!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
it's been a while!
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.
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.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
570 hours
Last year I started logging my practice time with a goal of averaging 1 hour a day for the year. I added up the time for 2009, and voila! I had reached 570 hours! This includes piano and cello time, rehearsals, and basically any playing time. I figure that even performances are 'practice' of some kind - just the kind where there are no 'do-overs'.
I'm happy with the results, and have begun logging my time for this year. I still have the same goal - averaging 1 hour a day. This year I expect to travel more than last year, which really impacts my playing time. Last year I traveled 50% less than the previous year, and didn't travel at all for the first 5 months of 2009.
I didn't set specific playing goals last year because I'm not sure how to quantify 'playing better'. I am happy that my playing has improved, and the longer I play the more amazed I am at how much there is still to learn.
Some of the things I'm working on now -
--arm weight, all the time!
--vibrato, getting more control over speed and width
--crossing strings, making the sound more even and reducing the gap in sound
--an even sound..working towards being able to really control dynamics
--getting rid of all of the pain in my right thumb
and a random one, just because
--reading through all of Beethoven's piano sonatas
Why? I've played many of them but not all 32...so I started from sonata number 1 a few weeks ago and have been working my way through. I played sonata number 8 yesterday. I hope to make it through by the end of the year...am now starting to hear him enter into his middle period and losing the heavy Hadyn influence of the early works. I'm also hearing how much playing chamber music has helped me steady out my rhythm. I'm finding that playing the slower movements is much easier because of all of the practice counting.
So here's to 2010! Happy New Year to all!
I'm happy with the results, and have begun logging my time for this year. I still have the same goal - averaging 1 hour a day. This year I expect to travel more than last year, which really impacts my playing time. Last year I traveled 50% less than the previous year, and didn't travel at all for the first 5 months of 2009.
I didn't set specific playing goals last year because I'm not sure how to quantify 'playing better'. I am happy that my playing has improved, and the longer I play the more amazed I am at how much there is still to learn.
Some of the things I'm working on now -
--arm weight, all the time!
--vibrato, getting more control over speed and width
--crossing strings, making the sound more even and reducing the gap in sound
--an even sound..working towards being able to really control dynamics
--getting rid of all of the pain in my right thumb
and a random one, just because
--reading through all of Beethoven's piano sonatas
Why? I've played many of them but not all 32...so I started from sonata number 1 a few weeks ago and have been working my way through. I played sonata number 8 yesterday. I hope to make it through by the end of the year...am now starting to hear him enter into his middle period and losing the heavy Hadyn influence of the early works. I'm also hearing how much playing chamber music has helped me steady out my rhythm. I'm finding that playing the slower movements is much easier because of all of the practice counting.
So here's to 2010! Happy New Year to all!
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!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Slowing Down
I've been plagued by a number of injuries over the past month, which has required me to slow down. First is the herniated disk which is causing pain and tingling in my left hand, arm, shoulder, and neck. That hasn't really affected my cello playing but waking up with tingling in my fingers is not very much fun.
The second injury is a very sore right thumb. I think I was straining it with my bow hand, so over the past few weeks I've been playing much more lightly and I've modified my bow grip to relax my whole hand more, use my arm more for weight, and just played more lightly. I've also decreased my practice time (which drives me nuts), and have been icing my thumb after playing. It is slowly getting better, and has been a good reason to spend time working on vibrato.
The third injury is a pulled shoulder muscle from swimming. My husband the former swim coach tells me it's because I don't rotate enough. So the past week I've backed off from swimming very hard, focused on rotating, and have basically driven myself nuts taking it easy in the pool. I've forced myself to swim behind people I normally swim in front of, and to stay back and swim slowly behind people who I know are slower than me. Although I've had my share of amusement making them work really hard while I've been cruising at a slower speed than normal (they all know that I'm not working hard while they're busting their guts to stay with me) it's not been very much fun to swim slowly.
It's been really hard to pull back and take it easy, on my neck/arm/fingers, thumb, and shoulder. I want to accelerate the healing and the irony is that I need to change what I'm doing and rest each injury in order to let it heal.
My vibrato practice has been mostly practicing controlling the wobble to a metronome, very slowly. 2 wobbles per beat. 3 wobbles per beat. 4 wobbles per beat. It's very hard to keep consistent. I've also added trying to keep the wobbles steady while changing bow speed, and while shifting. It's been instructive to see where my vibrato falls apart, and to slow down to get it consistent and right. And, it's been driving me nuts go to slow. Unfortunately I've learned that in order to master a skill it's necessary to slow down before speeding up. So a few more weeks of 2 wobbles per beat, then 3 wobbles per beat,....
The second injury is a very sore right thumb. I think I was straining it with my bow hand, so over the past few weeks I've been playing much more lightly and I've modified my bow grip to relax my whole hand more, use my arm more for weight, and just played more lightly. I've also decreased my practice time (which drives me nuts), and have been icing my thumb after playing. It is slowly getting better, and has been a good reason to spend time working on vibrato.
The third injury is a pulled shoulder muscle from swimming. My husband the former swim coach tells me it's because I don't rotate enough. So the past week I've backed off from swimming very hard, focused on rotating, and have basically driven myself nuts taking it easy in the pool. I've forced myself to swim behind people I normally swim in front of, and to stay back and swim slowly behind people who I know are slower than me. Although I've had my share of amusement making them work really hard while I've been cruising at a slower speed than normal (they all know that I'm not working hard while they're busting their guts to stay with me) it's not been very much fun to swim slowly.
It's been really hard to pull back and take it easy, on my neck/arm/fingers, thumb, and shoulder. I want to accelerate the healing and the irony is that I need to change what I'm doing and rest each injury in order to let it heal.
My vibrato practice has been mostly practicing controlling the wobble to a metronome, very slowly. 2 wobbles per beat. 3 wobbles per beat. 4 wobbles per beat. It's very hard to keep consistent. I've also added trying to keep the wobbles steady while changing bow speed, and while shifting. It's been instructive to see where my vibrato falls apart, and to slow down to get it consistent and right. And, it's been driving me nuts go to slow. Unfortunately I've learned that in order to master a skill it's necessary to slow down before speeding up. So a few more weeks of 2 wobbles per beat, then 3 wobbles per beat,....
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Sight Reading day
During our chamber group today, we had an unusual configuration of players. We had 1 violinist, 1 violinist or pianist, 1 cellist, and me (cello or piano). So I volunteered to play the viola part on my cello, so that we could play piano quartets or string quartets. I suppose we could have doubled parts and played piano trios, but I like having my own part for chamber music.
Everyone was gracious enough to play easier pieces than we normally play, at slower speeds than normal. We played through Mendelssohn's first piano quartet (op.1 - wonder how old he was when he wrote it..but it already sounds like Mendelssohn), and 2 early Schubert string quartets, D87 and D74. I still had trouble sight reading the viola clef, managing to play maybe 50% of the notes correctly (repetition was a good thing; gave me time to figure out the notes!). I would get settled in and be able to read (sort of), and then something would flip in my mind and I would start thinking in another clef, tenor or treble and totally screw up. I tried to fake it by matching the harmonies or at least playing something on the downbeat or tried to sing my part. It was a workout! Tomorrow I will be able to play a cello part, and be a cello (thank goodness!)
My lesson yesterday was good; I showed my teacher the exercise I made up to try to learn how to change bow speeds when I change bow direction while keeping the tone consistent. He really liked it and I'm sure he'll use it or something similar with his other students. Inconsistency of tone and poor bow control when switching directions is something that he's pointed out in my playing, so I've been playing scales and making up exercises to try to produce a nice sounding tone and consistent volume when I vary the speed and pressure of the bow. Next up is really learning how to control the volume and tone so I can really do a good job of crescendos and decrescendos.
He's started me working on the Lee op31 exercises, and had me work on a relaxed legato bow and making eighth notes really even. It felt like moments of panic interspersed with calm. It amazes me that producing an even sound requires such uneven effort. Then I played the 3rd piece from the Hindemith Drei Liechte Stucke. I really like them. He has programmed the piano part into his computer, so I've had the challenge of playing well with the accompaniment. On these pieces it is not easy because the rhythms are offset and it's easy to screw up.
Everyone was gracious enough to play easier pieces than we normally play, at slower speeds than normal. We played through Mendelssohn's first piano quartet (op.1 - wonder how old he was when he wrote it..but it already sounds like Mendelssohn), and 2 early Schubert string quartets, D87 and D74. I still had trouble sight reading the viola clef, managing to play maybe 50% of the notes correctly (repetition was a good thing; gave me time to figure out the notes!). I would get settled in and be able to read (sort of), and then something would flip in my mind and I would start thinking in another clef, tenor or treble and totally screw up. I tried to fake it by matching the harmonies or at least playing something on the downbeat or tried to sing my part. It was a workout! Tomorrow I will be able to play a cello part, and be a cello (thank goodness!)
My lesson yesterday was good; I showed my teacher the exercise I made up to try to learn how to change bow speeds when I change bow direction while keeping the tone consistent. He really liked it and I'm sure he'll use it or something similar with his other students. Inconsistency of tone and poor bow control when switching directions is something that he's pointed out in my playing, so I've been playing scales and making up exercises to try to produce a nice sounding tone and consistent volume when I vary the speed and pressure of the bow. Next up is really learning how to control the volume and tone so I can really do a good job of crescendos and decrescendos.
He's started me working on the Lee op31 exercises, and had me work on a relaxed legato bow and making eighth notes really even. It felt like moments of panic interspersed with calm. It amazes me that producing an even sound requires such uneven effort. Then I played the 3rd piece from the Hindemith Drei Liechte Stucke. I really like them. He has programmed the piano part into his computer, so I've had the challenge of playing well with the accompaniment. On these pieces it is not easy because the rhythms are offset and it's easy to screw up.
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!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Gap
Recently I read a book by Glenn Kurtz, Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music. It is about his return to playing classical guitar after a long hiatus.
One thing he wrote struck me,
"I have to hear the sounds before I make them, and I have to let the sounds be as they are. Then I have to hear the difference between what I have in mind and what comes from the strings."
That really rang true to me. At my last lesson, my teacher and I talked about thoughtful and purposeful practicing, that is, changing what I am doing in order to improve my playing. Listening and hearing the gap between what I hear in my head and what I play, figuring out what is causing the gap, and changing something to bridge the gap is the essence of playing.
One thing he wrote struck me,
"I have to hear the sounds before I make them, and I have to let the sounds be as they are. Then I have to hear the difference between what I have in mind and what comes from the strings."
That really rang true to me. At my last lesson, my teacher and I talked about thoughtful and purposeful practicing, that is, changing what I am doing in order to improve my playing. Listening and hearing the gap between what I hear in my head and what I play, figuring out what is causing the gap, and changing something to bridge the gap is the essence of playing.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Exhausted
It has been a really busy week, and not good for cello playing.
Our group is getting ready to perform on May 17th, and we had dress rehearsal scheduled for Friday night. One of the pieces we're performing is the Mendelssohn Octet. Given everyone's schedules, we've rarely had all 8 of us together at the same time. We've practiced with parts of the group, but every person plays am important part.
I was really tired after traveling this week. I left Sunday and came home on Friday. It was for work, and was pretty stressful, with long hours every day. My playing last night suffered from lack of practice and exhaustion. At least I have a week to practice the parts that have been giving me trouble all along.
I was also bummed yesterday to find out that I have to start commuting to headquarters again. It's been so nice this year to be home for longer periods of time. The silver lining to budget cuts was that my work travel had been severely curtailed. Yesterday I found out that I have to start commuting again; we negotiated every other week, 3 or 4 days a week. Previously I was commuting every week, 2 to 3 days a week. Now I know I shouldn't be whining so much about this; I love my job and am thankful that I have one. But still, traveling for work is not at all like traveling for fun, and the frequency was exhausting. Plus it impacts cello practice time.
When I was commuting regularly I had rented a cello ( I am fortunate to be able to stay with my brother when I'm in the Bay Area). One of the reasons why I accelerated getting my new cello was so that I could have a decent cello in the Bay Area. Then I stopped traveling as much and the urgency to have 2 cellos disappeared. But I still only have one cello. My other cello is in Pocatello with Chris..he is doing some work on it. The plan is take my new one to him in September for a check up and another coat of varnish. He will return my former cello to me then, so I have a cello while he works on the new one. Now I'll have to decide whether to rent a cello in the Bay Area again or just not practice while I'm there.
Our group is getting ready to perform on May 17th, and we had dress rehearsal scheduled for Friday night. One of the pieces we're performing is the Mendelssohn Octet. Given everyone's schedules, we've rarely had all 8 of us together at the same time. We've practiced with parts of the group, but every person plays am important part.
I was really tired after traveling this week. I left Sunday and came home on Friday. It was for work, and was pretty stressful, with long hours every day. My playing last night suffered from lack of practice and exhaustion. At least I have a week to practice the parts that have been giving me trouble all along.
I was also bummed yesterday to find out that I have to start commuting to headquarters again. It's been so nice this year to be home for longer periods of time. The silver lining to budget cuts was that my work travel had been severely curtailed. Yesterday I found out that I have to start commuting again; we negotiated every other week, 3 or 4 days a week. Previously I was commuting every week, 2 to 3 days a week. Now I know I shouldn't be whining so much about this; I love my job and am thankful that I have one. But still, traveling for work is not at all like traveling for fun, and the frequency was exhausting. Plus it impacts cello practice time.
When I was commuting regularly I had rented a cello ( I am fortunate to be able to stay with my brother when I'm in the Bay Area). One of the reasons why I accelerated getting my new cello was so that I could have a decent cello in the Bay Area. Then I stopped traveling as much and the urgency to have 2 cellos disappeared. But I still only have one cello. My other cello is in Pocatello with Chris..he is doing some work on it. The plan is take my new one to him in September for a check up and another coat of varnish. He will return my former cello to me then, so I have a cello while he works on the new one. Now I'll have to decide whether to rent a cello in the Bay Area again or just not practice while I'm there.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Exhaling
For the past few weeks during my swim workout I have been concentrating on exhaling completely. It sounds rather silly to think about breathing, but it is amazing how much it has helped me feel strong during some hard swims. Yesterday one of our sets was 6 100 IM's. In the past I would have cheated on the butterfly, maybe swimming half of the length fly and finish with freestyle, but with my new mantra of breathing out (if I exhale loudly when my face is in the water no one can hear it!) I was able to do all 6 IM's with the 25 fly and even felt reasonably good going into the backstroke. wow.
So that got me thinking about what simple-sounding thing I could do during cello practice. How could I change a practice approach? The 'aha!' moment I had was thinking about feeling the bow against the string. I've been worrying about the flexibility of my bow hand, drawing the bow straight, and a whole host of other things. During the past couple of days I've been concentrating on feeling the bow - feeling my bow catch and move the string when I change bow direction, feeling and controlling string pressure against the bow during long slow bows, feeling the string when I change bow speed. The other issues are probably still there, but I've already noticed that my tone is much steadier and consistent. another wow! why didn't I think of that before?
Today we had piano trios and I got to be on the cello instead of the piano. Yay! We played the Mendelssohn D minor trio, the Schubert Eb major trio (love the cello solo in the slow movement!), Beethoven Piano Trio #5 (the 'Ghost'), and Fanny Mendelssohn's Piano trio. I am really happy with my cello. It is beginning to open up in sound. It was really fun to crank it up! after we were all done, I even got to try to play the Arpeggione sonata. There are sections that I can play now that I've never been able to play, and it is so nice to have a cello that can handle the high notes...really easy to play over the piano. it was so much fun today!
So that got me thinking about what simple-sounding thing I could do during cello practice. How could I change a practice approach? The 'aha!' moment I had was thinking about feeling the bow against the string. I've been worrying about the flexibility of my bow hand, drawing the bow straight, and a whole host of other things. During the past couple of days I've been concentrating on feeling the bow - feeling my bow catch and move the string when I change bow direction, feeling and controlling string pressure against the bow during long slow bows, feeling the string when I change bow speed. The other issues are probably still there, but I've already noticed that my tone is much steadier and consistent. another wow! why didn't I think of that before?
Today we had piano trios and I got to be on the cello instead of the piano. Yay! We played the Mendelssohn D minor trio, the Schubert Eb major trio (love the cello solo in the slow movement!), Beethoven Piano Trio #5 (the 'Ghost'), and Fanny Mendelssohn's Piano trio. I am really happy with my cello. It is beginning to open up in sound. It was really fun to crank it up! after we were all done, I even got to try to play the Arpeggione sonata. There are sections that I can play now that I've never been able to play, and it is so nice to have a cello that can handle the high notes...really easy to play over the piano. it was so much fun today!
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...!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Logging My Practice Time
Recently I decided to throw away my concerns about privacy and joined Facebook. One of my friends is my cello teacher. Last year he logged an average of almost 4 hours a day of practice time, a really impressive number, which I found out about in one of his wall posts. I say almost 4 hours because he was so close...but missed it by 20 seconds a day....he was bummed. What got me thinking about tracking how much I practice was listening to him talk about how he logs his practice time, what counts as practice time, and how he finds the time to practice.
For nearly 20 years I've kept a training log of my workouts, which now that I'm not training for any sort of competition, seems rather useless. But then again, I can see when I miss a day, or 2, and the log screams at me when there is an empty spot or an notation of "rest day - no time" (hopefully because it was a travel day...really no way to make the time).
So I've started tracking my cello practice time, noting the time in my training log. My goal is to average an hour a day over the year. That seems to be a realistic amount of time that I can spend, balancing work, family, exercise, and other life demands.
I've read other cello-related blogs and seen that many of you also log what you're doing as well as how long. I can't figure out why I have that discipline for my exercise log but don't really want to track what I'm doing during my practice time. I guess that I feel that the proof of how well I'm spending my practice time is measured by what my playing sounds like. How do you measure "producing a better quality sound"? So while I figure that out I'll just track how much time I spend practicing...all the while wishing that I could figure out how to allocate more time to playing the cello.
For nearly 20 years I've kept a training log of my workouts, which now that I'm not training for any sort of competition, seems rather useless. But then again, I can see when I miss a day, or 2, and the log screams at me when there is an empty spot or an notation of "rest day - no time" (hopefully because it was a travel day...really no way to make the time).
So I've started tracking my cello practice time, noting the time in my training log. My goal is to average an hour a day over the year. That seems to be a realistic amount of time that I can spend, balancing work, family, exercise, and other life demands.
I've read other cello-related blogs and seen that many of you also log what you're doing as well as how long. I can't figure out why I have that discipline for my exercise log but don't really want to track what I'm doing during my practice time. I guess that I feel that the proof of how well I'm spending my practice time is measured by what my playing sounds like. How do you measure "producing a better quality sound"? So while I figure that out I'll just track how much time I spend practicing...all the while wishing that I could figure out how to allocate more time to playing the cello.
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...
Friday, September 26, 2008
Out-of-Body Cello Playing
It's almost time for me to go to bed. I got up in Singapore 32 hours ago. I got some sleep on the way home; but sleeping in the economy class section in a contorted sitting position just isn't the same as lying down in a bed. The problem with arriving home early in the morning is forcing the adjustment back to the local time - I've stayed up all day so that I can go to bed at a somewhat early but still normal bed time.
I tried playing the cello this afternoon and it was quite the out-of-body experience. I didn't sound as bad as I thought I would after not playing for a week and being exhausted, but maybe this was because my expectations were very low (or that my brain is so tired that I wasn't listening very well). I did get some amazing head rushes while trying to remember and then play what my teacher wanted me to practice before my next lesson (and then gave up). I missed my cello while I was traveling and am happy to be home with time this weekend to play it!
I tried playing the cello this afternoon and it was quite the out-of-body experience. I didn't sound as bad as I thought I would after not playing for a week and being exhausted, but maybe this was because my expectations were very low (or that my brain is so tired that I wasn't listening very well). I did get some amazing head rushes while trying to remember and then play what my teacher wanted me to practice before my next lesson (and then gave up). I missed my cello while I was traveling and am happy to be home with time this weekend to play it!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Hope is Not a Strategy
This is the title of a book by Rick Page, one of so many about sales strategy. It also describes what I was doing about intonation.
My teacher pointed out that I was opening and closing my hands, and that I was sliding my fingers to get the correct intonation. What I have been doing is just putting my fingers down and hoping that they landed in the right spot, and if not, then trying to correct it later. I also have a problem with my second finger not staying put; I have a weakness with how much my second and third fingers stretch so a lot of times my second finger slides down towards my third finger. So, this week I've been thinking about that title while I work on some of the exercises I'm doing to fix the problem.
My left hand is tired. The exercises are tedious. What I am doing is placing all of my fingers down, then checking the notes (plucking or bowing) then I move 2 fingers (or 1 or 3) to a new string while holding the other fingers down. I check the intonation, and then move my fingers back. I've been doing this with every finger combo (1-2 move, 3-4 stay, 1-3 move, 2-4 stay, etc.), putting my fingers down on every string and practicing putting my fingers down on the correct spot on the other 3 strings. My teacher also is having me keep my fingers down where they land and only moving them when necessary. This latest thing is about placing my fingers down accurately, and 'hovering' over the strings to improve the speed in which I get my fingers down into the right spot. Oh, and keep my thumb relaxed too...
Yesterday at my lesson, when I looked in the mirror, my hand position actually looked pretty good, in fact, it looked the best that it ever has! I can't say the I've completely fixed the problem, but in a short amount of time those tedious exercises are paying off. So, onwards!
My teacher pointed out that I was opening and closing my hands, and that I was sliding my fingers to get the correct intonation. What I have been doing is just putting my fingers down and hoping that they landed in the right spot, and if not, then trying to correct it later. I also have a problem with my second finger not staying put; I have a weakness with how much my second and third fingers stretch so a lot of times my second finger slides down towards my third finger. So, this week I've been thinking about that title while I work on some of the exercises I'm doing to fix the problem.
My left hand is tired. The exercises are tedious. What I am doing is placing all of my fingers down, then checking the notes (plucking or bowing) then I move 2 fingers (or 1 or 3) to a new string while holding the other fingers down. I check the intonation, and then move my fingers back. I've been doing this with every finger combo (1-2 move, 3-4 stay, 1-3 move, 2-4 stay, etc.), putting my fingers down on every string and practicing putting my fingers down on the correct spot on the other 3 strings. My teacher also is having me keep my fingers down where they land and only moving them when necessary. This latest thing is about placing my fingers down accurately, and 'hovering' over the strings to improve the speed in which I get my fingers down into the right spot. Oh, and keep my thumb relaxed too...
Yesterday at my lesson, when I looked in the mirror, my hand position actually looked pretty good, in fact, it looked the best that it ever has! I can't say the I've completely fixed the problem, but in a short amount of time those tedious exercises are paying off. So, onwards!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Sneaking off to Play the Cello....
It's been a very busy week - my days have started at 5am and finished at 10pm, with the exception of Sunday, which started at 1pm and ended at 10pm. I am really tired - one more 1/2 day to go and then I can fly home.
It was a delight to play the cello with my friend! We both brought music, and of course didn't get to play through much of it, so we have a lot to look forward to if we ever get to play together again (and fantasize about playing together with better cellos!).
On Sunday her flight was late, so she hadn't arrived during the time we were going to play; but we managed to sneak away for a 1/2 hour and play! We played some of the de Fesch sonatas for 2 cellos, while she got used to her rental cello.
On Monday we snuck away for another 1/2 hour at lunch time and then again before dinner - playing through some of the Bartok duets (the ones originally written for 2 violins but of course arranged for 2 cellos), more de Fesch
Yesterday we played 2 movements from the Vivaldi double cello concerto, some Popper duets, and then tried to play a Haydn duet but were too exhausted to play any more. There never was enough time to play....
Today we were going to play, but work interfered for both of us and we were never free at the same time. I'm afraid that the little time we had to play was it for this trip; tomorrow we are both leaving as soon as the program is over. I need to rush back to my brother's house to drop off the rental cello plus other assorted stuff and get back to the office for one last meeting before I leave for the airport.
I brought orchestra music and the Popper Requiem to practice since our concert is now less than 2 weeks away. I managed to get some practice time in late at night, since it is now panic practice time to get ready for the concert.
Good thing I will have part of next week to recover and get back on my cello! And it will be nice to be able to sleep in this weekend...
It was a delight to play the cello with my friend! We both brought music, and of course didn't get to play through much of it, so we have a lot to look forward to if we ever get to play together again (and fantasize about playing together with better cellos!).
On Sunday her flight was late, so she hadn't arrived during the time we were going to play; but we managed to sneak away for a 1/2 hour and play! We played some of the de Fesch sonatas for 2 cellos, while she got used to her rental cello.
On Monday we snuck away for another 1/2 hour at lunch time and then again before dinner - playing through some of the Bartok duets (the ones originally written for 2 violins but of course arranged for 2 cellos), more de Fesch
Yesterday we played 2 movements from the Vivaldi double cello concerto, some Popper duets, and then tried to play a Haydn duet but were too exhausted to play any more. There never was enough time to play....
Today we were going to play, but work interfered for both of us and we were never free at the same time. I'm afraid that the little time we had to play was it for this trip; tomorrow we are both leaving as soon as the program is over. I need to rush back to my brother's house to drop off the rental cello plus other assorted stuff and get back to the office for one last meeting before I leave for the airport.
I brought orchestra music and the Popper Requiem to practice since our concert is now less than 2 weeks away. I managed to get some practice time in late at night, since it is now panic practice time to get ready for the concert.
Good thing I will have part of next week to recover and get back on my cello! And it will be nice to be able to sleep in this weekend...
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Playing Nice with Each Other: Not!
Popper rehearsal today: we are starting to sound pretty good when we're on our own; only 2 more rehearsals left with the orchestra before our concert. Playing with the orchestra is so different than playing with just the 3 of us. The first concert is in 3 weeks but I will be in the Bay Area all of that middle week, and will have to practice with the rental cello. I'm glad I have a week back on my cello prior to performing. It takes me a day to switch back to my cello.
I'm still trying to figure out why Cello1's advice rubs both me and Cello2 the wrong way. Her playing is incredible technically; she sounds great. I've learned a lot from her. Her advice is right - what she recommends does improve how we're playing the piece. We are definitely playing and sounding good because of her passion and insistence on how we should play. But there is something about the way she delivers the advice that sets me on edge (and from Cello2's comments after last week and this week's rehearsals, him too).
Today's advice to me was about vibrato. She kept showing me how my vibrato was wrong and then demonstrating how it "should" work. She also wanted me to time my vibrato so that I did 4 vibrations per 32nd note. Now, those of you who have been reading my previous posts may have read about my trials and tribulations with vibrato - I can barely keep my vibrato steady and keep it going through a long note, much less control how many I am doing per beat! We went through some of my bits a few times, with her correcting me every time (showing me what I was doing wrong and then demonstrating how to do it 'right' saying each time, see, it sings better this way or see, it sounds better when you do it this way). I was definitely trying, but...I really need some time on my own to practice. Cello2 got even more of a lesson, on bowing - she kept telling him that he wasn't bowing sections of his solos correctly, and she showed him how she thought they should be bowed (saying, see, this is how to make a beautiful sound) and then kept making him play it over and over again, even after he said, I'll practice it this way this week...
I know we're playing the piece better because of Cello1, but it has been so darn unpleasant. Neither he nor I have any desire to play an ensemble piece with Cello1 again. Ever.
I'm still trying to figure out why Cello1's advice rubs both me and Cello2 the wrong way. Her playing is incredible technically; she sounds great. I've learned a lot from her. Her advice is right - what she recommends does improve how we're playing the piece. We are definitely playing and sounding good because of her passion and insistence on how we should play. But there is something about the way she delivers the advice that sets me on edge (and from Cello2's comments after last week and this week's rehearsals, him too).
Today's advice to me was about vibrato. She kept showing me how my vibrato was wrong and then demonstrating how it "should" work. She also wanted me to time my vibrato so that I did 4 vibrations per 32nd note. Now, those of you who have been reading my previous posts may have read about my trials and tribulations with vibrato - I can barely keep my vibrato steady and keep it going through a long note, much less control how many I am doing per beat! We went through some of my bits a few times, with her correcting me every time (showing me what I was doing wrong and then demonstrating how to do it 'right' saying each time, see, it sings better this way or see, it sounds better when you do it this way). I was definitely trying, but...I really need some time on my own to practice. Cello2 got even more of a lesson, on bowing - she kept telling him that he wasn't bowing sections of his solos correctly, and she showed him how she thought they should be bowed (saying, see, this is how to make a beautiful sound) and then kept making him play it over and over again, even after he said, I'll practice it this way this week...
I know we're playing the piece better because of Cello1, but it has been so darn unpleasant. Neither he nor I have any desire to play an ensemble piece with Cello1 again. Ever.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Dances with Cello
Today we rehearsed the Popper Requiem, and the tip of the day was about moving with our cello. I tend to be rather stiff when I play, not freely moving around and dancing with my cello.
My attempts to dance with my cello are much like my attempts to dance in general: stiff, awkward, and rather uncomfortable. But when I loosened up a bit I could hear my tone singing in ways that it hasn't before.
So do you waltz, foxtrot, tango, rhumba, or just plain get down with your cello? This week I'm going to try to become a better dance partner with my cello!
My attempts to dance with my cello are much like my attempts to dance in general: stiff, awkward, and rather uncomfortable. But when I loosened up a bit I could hear my tone singing in ways that it hasn't before.
So do you waltz, foxtrot, tango, rhumba, or just plain get down with your cello? This week I'm going to try to become a better dance partner with my cello!
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