Learning the Violoncello
Posted in practice on Dec 30th, 2009
A big piece of my martial arts experience was learning how to execute a punch or kick correctly so as not to injure myself. For example, with a roundhouse kick (mawashi geri) you must turn the base foot so that it points to opposite direction as you are aiming the kick. This allows the hips [...]
Posted in practice on Dec 27th, 2009
Many years ago, when I was actively in karate-do, we had a saying that went like this:
Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice make perfect.
It doesn’t take a big stretch to see that the same holds true in the study of music. Most nights when I practice I can see some improvement over [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 26th, 2009
For Christmas I received a copy of the book The Cello Suites: J.S Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece from Sibylle, along with Pablo Casals seminal recording of the pieces. Both are simply outstanding.
The Cello Suites is one-third biography of J. S. Bach, one-third biography of Pablo Casals, and one-third journal [...]
Today’s lesson, my fourth since starting with my teacher, focused on smaller details, primarily those that lead to better tone quality. The art in playing cello, and I would imagine any bowed instrument, is using the right amount of pressure and bow speed to get the desired tone.
Windows
Some passages are more difficult than others and [...]
Posted in musing on Dec 16th, 2009
As infants we all learned our native language through imitation – we heard our parents and older siblings speaking over and over again and we learned to imitate their sounds by ourselves. Word definitions, language semantics, and overall syntax happen after the individual has learned to vocalize on their own.
Suzuki Shin’ichi developed the so-called Suzuki [...]
I’ve got blisters on my fingers!
~ Ringo Starr, 9 September 1968, after 18 five-minute takes recording Helter Skelter for the Beatles White Album.
I’ve been playing my cello everyday since November 9th and finger left finger tips are now finally callused enough that I don’t really notice the strings any more. My practice session are usually [...]
The Suzuki method I am working through in my cello lessons adds new techniques or challenges with each new piece as you progress through the book. Playing the pieces over and over helps to train my right hand and arm proper bowing techniques, and trains my left hand the proper fingering – provided I am [...]
Posted in practice on Dec 8th, 2009
Tomorrow it will be one month since I had my first ever cello lesson, and while my search for a teacher continued for a couple of weeks after that, I’ve played the cello some every day since then. Tonight Sibylle pointed out that my repertoire is increasing, which was a wonderful thing to hear as [...]
Posted in practice on Dec 6th, 2009
In any karate-do dojo worthy of your time and effort, the study of kata will be a prominent part of your training. Kata are choreographed movements performed either solo or in pairs. The movements are made up of offensive or defensive techniques and the practitioner focuses on the imaginary attacker while performing them. Understanding kata [...]
Posted in lesson on Dec 4th, 2009
Today I had my second lesson with my new cello teacher. It was a wonderful 40 minutes that left me excited about playing and eager to have my next practice session.
Tuning
My chromatic tuner arrived this week and I’ve been using it to tune the cello before each practice. It makes the instrument sound the best [...]