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!

The Shifting Exercise

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heading Home for the Holidays

I'm glad we decided to leave tomorrow morning for, yes, the Bay Area! As if I don't get enough of it for work. Everyone at work laughed at me when I told them that I was coming back down for the holidays. Last week was so hectic for both of us that nothing got done, so this weekend was a frenzy of baking, cleaning, putting together gifts (including the results of the frenzied baking) for our neighbors, and organizing for the trip. What is it about going away for a week that makes me think that I have to clean something that hasn't been cleaned in months?

Our groups didn't meet this weekend. I think everyone is in a similar situation with family and holiday events. I had my last lesson for the year on Friday. The funny thing was that since I was home this week and am on a break from all of my groups, I had about as much time to practice as a normal week, even though my previous lesson was on Monday. This week's lesson was on shifting, so I have added a long set of shifting exercises (same finger, same string; different fingers, same string; different fingers, different strings; same finger, different string) in all sorts of configurations. I have to fight my piano training to keep my fingers in contact with the string.

I brought my cello over to our next-door neighbor's house last night. Her parents are visiting, and I brought my cello over to bring them all some Christmas music. It was so much fun. They started requesting different carols, and it was so much fun to start playing what they wanted to hear. The only one that I had a little trouble with was Silver Bells. Let's see...I played What Child is This?, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Away in a Manger, We Three Kings, Joy to the World, O Holy Night, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, O Tannenbaum, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, ...can't remember what else. I really enjoyed watching them...it is such a pleasure to watch people enjoy listening to music. And it was so much fun to hear them say "can you play ...." and then to just launch into it.
Hmm...should have played Silent Night and O Little Town of Bethlehem! It definitely got us all in a holiday mood!