Learning the Violoncello
Posted in practice on Apr 2nd, 2010
I’ve spent the last week working on Minuet in C, the second to last piece in volume 1 of the Suzuki book. This is the first piece in the book that makes use of slurs and so much of my focus has been on getting those to sound right. I’m happy to say that all [...]
Posted in practice on Mar 29th, 2010
I spent the majority of practice both Saturday and Sunday on Minuet in C, the second to last piece in volume one of the Suzuki book. I had originally started this piece several weeks ago but had largely set it aside while I worked on Rigadoon and the Etude that precede it in the book. [...]
Posted in practice on Mar 24th, 2010
As a pianist and piano teacher, Sibylle has a wealth of music knowledge and material, all of which has benefitted me and my studies more than once. Recently when she was practicing I could tell she was playing some kind of scale up and down the keyboard and asked her about it. The patten she [...]
Posted in practice on Mar 23rd, 2010
Over the past few weeks I have become aware that there is a cycle to my practice sessions. I practice every day, or at least every day that I am not traveling and have access to my cello. (Some day I’d like to own one of these to have a cello I can take with [...]
Posted in practice on Mar 22nd, 2010
Earlier today, and yesterday, I played Happy Farmer using three individual notes for the dotted quarter notes. It sounded pretty good, but as Sibylle points out, it isn’t teaching me hooked bowing. This evening I tried playing the three-for-one notes as hooked notes but wasn’t having much success with that either. After quite a bit [...]
Posted in practice on Mar 14th, 2010
Or at least more understanding of it than before. I utilized my practice time over the last three days to focus on rhythm, specifically on using the metronome. I played quarter note scales to varying tempi, I played eighth note scales to the same tempi. I intermingled quarter and eighth notes in the same scale, [...]
Posted in practice on Mar 10th, 2010
I devoted almost all of my practice tonight to rhythm work. Since I find it almost impossible to hear my metronome over the sound of the cello I turned it’s volume down and just watched the needle tic-toc its way back and forth. Playing Rigadoon at 80 I was able, after about an hour, to [...]
Posted in practice on Mar 10th, 2010
Last night’s practice session was very frustrating. I’ve played Rigadoon with the incorrect tempo enough times now that playing it with the correct tempo is difficult. I don’t have an innate sense of pulse, I can’t play a piece and then say, “I got the tempo right.” I have to ask to find out it [...]
Posted in practice on Mar 9th, 2010
In watching some of the Cello Talk videos on David Finckel’s site, I coined a new phrase from something he said: intonation triangulation. Intonation is a musician’s realization of pitch accuracy, or the pitch accuracy of a musical instrument. Triangulation is a way of determining something’s location using the locations of other things. Intonation triangulation [...]
Posted in practice on Mar 7th, 2010
Rigadoon This piece is finally starting to come together, although I have to focus on the rhythm and tempo to make sure I play each note long enough. The middle section, measures 9 – 24 are where I spend the most time practicing. At this point the one note that gives me trouble is the [...]