March 2015 Update

I have finished Francis Grant's 3rd book.  My instructor has me working out of "Position Pieces for Cello" by Rick Mooney.  Right now I am working on the 4th position exercises and the 3rd movement to Breval's "Sonata in C".

I have the best instructor EVER.  He does a great job of balancing real life with cello.  He knows I am doing this for fun but pushes me just enough to get me to make progress.  He is underpaid.

During my last lesson one of the things we worked on is continuous motion.  I was working on the Bb major scale but pausing between the shifts.  We spent about 15 minutes working through why and how to overcome it. 

One of the exercises in the Mooney book has me shifting from 4th to first.  He showed me that by emphasizing a little on the up bow during a string crossing I can gain the momentum to shift in time.  It blew my mind when it worked.

Right now I am going back to school to finish my B.S. degree.  I am working full time, commuting, running a household, a marriage, and taking 3 classes online simultaneously.  Actually it's just 2 classes but one of them is an 8 week class so it's twice as much work.  Again, my instructor is patient with me when I come in for my bi-weekly lesson I've only practiced 4 times.  Without asking, he detects that I didn't practice much so he pulls out a duet that we sight-read and work through.  Did I mention he is underpaid?

Finally, last night we went to a bar that had live Irish music (St. Patrick's day is celebrated in America on March 17).  The violinist went through both of her bows in the first set.  Someone in the crowd (a friend maybe?) happen to live nearby and happen to have a violin bow.  I saw the lady in the crowd hand the bow over to the violinist.  We happen to be standing next to her a little bit later.  I commented to her that violinist is shredding her bow.  She told me the story.  I asked if she played and it turns out she is a cellist and plays locally.  She also plays violin--which is why she had the bow to lend to the performer that night.  She said the violinist had her bows re-haired last week and then during the first set of performance they both failed.  I told her I played and we chatted a bit.  That was just so freaking cool to be able to talk to someone like that.

Relax Darnit!

I'm struggling now with intonation.  During my lesson last Monday my instructor watched me from several angles while I played through some of the exercises in my Grant book and he diagnosed my problem as not relaxing.  He told me how to relax and I tried to emulate him.  Then he had me play through some more exercises and proceeded to shout "Relax!" when I wasn't relaxing.  He said by not relaxing I'm trying to play with my finger tips and not my whole body.

When I played trumpet back in college I took lessons from Leon Marion.  He wrote a book called Trumpet Isometrics and made me buy it from him before I could take lessons, but that's beside the point.  Basically the premise was that playing the trumpet wasn't just about the embrasure but your whole body.  He made a point about using muscles from your core and even legs while playing.  

Just like my cello instructor was saying you play with your whole body and the fingertips are almost an afterthought.  For me my problem of tensing caused my hand to do most of the work.  This developed a terrible cramp in my left hand after just 15 minutes of playing along with really bad intonation.  My instructor made the point of using gravity and the weight of your arm to pull down the fingers.  Also, using the whole arm to rotate my wrist to do a lot of the work for the fingers.  What troubles me is that I didn't use to do this and I don't understand why I developed this bad habit of tensing.  He also prescribed a glass of wine or beer prior to practice--who am I to argue with a Peabody alum.

I think if I can conquer this problem and get my intonation better I will enjoy playing and want to practice more often.  Sometimes now I struggle through and get discouraged.  If I'm not having fun with it then I'm not going to want to do it.  I just paid off my beginner cello.  Originally was on the 2 year lease to own plan but paid it off a year early.  Hopefully that wasn't a mistake and I can get back to enjoying this new hobby again.

Slow but Steady

Not much use keeping a blog if your not going to update it.  I have to remind myself that this blog is primarily to remind myself where I am growing in this new hobby of cello playing.

I've been taking lessons for almost 9 months now.  I'm almost finished the first year Grant book my instructor lent me.  I am on exercise 138 out of 150.  In addition he gives me beginner's pieces to work on.  The last two: Budapesto and Song of Thanksgiving, are my first pieces to go beyond first position.  I am not sure I understand yet the proper way to shift positions but I am still enjoying learning something new in my adult life.

A few lessons ago my instructor had me work with something called drone music.  He said I had a pretty good ear and after a few tries was able to play the C maj. scale mostly in tune.  So I have really been focusing on playing every note in tune.

In addition to C maj he had me also learn D maj and the first octave of the A maj. scale.  The exercises he has me do: the scale in 2 octaves (except A), in rhythms like quarter-2 eighth-quarter-2 eighth up both octaves,  arpeggios, arpeggios slurred 3, then slurred 4.

I've been doing pretty well keeping up with practicing lately.  Real life is just out of control for me right now so the cello is like an oasis for me where I can just focus on one thing.  Making progress on a new skill as an adult is highly rewarding emotionally for me right now.  When there doesn't seem to be many wins in other areas of my life it is good to be able to do this with music.  Some day I am really looking forward to playing with other people.  A couple weeks ago in church a young gal played the violin during worship.  Our church is pretty contemporary/rock-ish in worship.  She was really getting it, improving and playing over the melodies.  I stopped to thank her after the service and had a chance to talk to her.  Turns out she is early 20's, have been playing since 6.  Since high school decided she didn't like classical stuff anymore and decided to do more pop-improve type music.  Her being there really added to the experience for me.  She also is battling cancer.  Her name is Kelly if your the praying type.

Thanks for letting me share.

More than a hobby

My instructor has been out of the country for most of the summer playing for some orchestra in Austria.  For most of the summer I've sucked at keeping a regular practice schedule.  He didn't leave me with an inordinate amount of work so I feel really guilty about not doing better with it.  But this is real life, and I am a working adult trying to maintain the household, a life, and a marriage.  I know starting to play at age 34 I'll never be a pro cellist or anything but I want this to be more than a hobby.  Some day I would like to play with a small group, maybe some kind of alt. rock, or in an acoustic guitar setting.

This week though has been different.  My last 2 practices have been really productive.  One of the songs my instructor left me with is at 154 bpm, and I can play it at about 10.  So I slowed it down until I got the notes right at the various parts and was able to speed it up to something reasonable.  I've also been working on my tone.  I think mostly when I practice I tolerate sloppiness and have developed a lot of bad habits as a result.

What is frustrating me right now is when I go to play a note sometimes the note doesn't start right away, and takes a fraction of a second for the intonation to get right.  I think what is happening is I'm doing something wrong, my ear hears something is wrong, tells my brain, and I am adjusting for it.  I think it is the bow speed, either I am starting the note too slow or too fast. I'm making this adjustment without even realizing what I am doing to fix it.

I've recently discovered this cellist by the name of Nick Takenobu:  http://www.takenobumusic.com/ .  I think he's from Atlanta.  He's been playing since he was 6 and producing his own music since 19.  He has 2 albums out and working on 2 more.  I really dig his work and have been listening to those 2 albums non-stop for the last week.  Some songs I am beginning to notice the patterns and thinking about how he is playing them.   He plays with at least 1 other violinist and sometimes a percussionist.  He also uses a looping device often recording the base line at the begining of the song, looping it and then playing the melody over the recording throughout the song.  My instructor told me about some of the similar patterns cello music is written for and I am starting to see that in Nick's music and in other's.  I'm looking for other artists like him so if you know of any please let me know.

I'm hoping to maintain this blog, journaling  my own progress through this musical experience.  So far I am still glad I am doing this and want to continue.

It don't mean a thing...

...if it ain't got that swing.  This is how I'm feeling about my cello right now.  I'm able to play the notes (sometimes) but just not feeling the music.

Practice sucked last night.  This one part I played over twenty times and still could not get the whole phrase right. I could play the individual parts but together I kept goobering it up.  Also, Warming up and playing scales tone was sounding good-it sounded like a real cello!  But I cant seem to remember to do those things when it gets busy.

I know my lack of time to practice is contributing to my frustrations as well.   But life as a working adult is demanding sometimes.  It's tough sometimes to find the right balance.  I think I can squeeze in 30 mins tonight.  I know I need to but just not looking forward to the frustration.  With vacations and schedules my next lesson is over two weeks away.  I guess that's par for the summer.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post something more positive.

Less Cello, More Life

As an adult beginner life has stolen some of my passion for cello.  Going home from work tired or mentally drained doesn't leave me much enthusiasm to work on a new hobby that I am struggling with.

My last lesson went well, really well.  I wasn't expecting it to go that well.  Luckily my instructor doesn't read my blog nor follow me on twitter but in the 2 weeks between that lesson and the one before I only practiced 3 times.  So I was expecting the lesson to completely suck, but it didn't.  Everything came together for me.  Maybe it was because I was trying hard to make up for the lack of practice.  It was a redeeming lesson for me.

I've got another week before my next lesson and not much scheduled so hopefully I'll be more motivated to practice more.  I tried last night and was hitting the notes but the tone was awful.  My instructor tells me I'm not letting the bow rest on the string, that I'm actually lifting it off a bit so it's not making good contact.  I've already learned some bad habits like this.  His practice comments in my notebook start looking the same every week:  "relax, bow arm, rawr!"

I'm sad that I can't find anyone to go to see Zoe Keating with on June 7th.  I've asked my instructor and 2 other friends with no takers even though I've offered to buy the tickets.  She is playing in Annapolis starting at 8pm, which is rough for me on a week night but I was willing to do it.  Kinda feel weird going by myself so if your reading this and want to go then send me a message.  I'll even buy your ticket!

Redeeming Practice

Last night I had a redeeming practice.  The kind of practice where at the end I said to myself "maybe I won't chop this cello into small pieces after all".

I shared my struggles with my dad.  His advice was to focus more on the notes and rhythm. He is also a bass player in a blues/rock band out of Denver CO.  Prior to that he studied classical guitar for 15+ years.  So of course his advice is going to be to focus on the rhythm.

I told my instructor during my last practice that I was getting frustrated with the tone and inability to produce solid notes on the attack (is that what we call it in the cello world?  When I played trumpet the attack was the beginning of the note--try to hit it right and stay with it.  Don't hunt for the right tone, hit it right away).  What I heard my instructor tell me was that as I get more comfortable with the other things, like bow hold, bow speed, arm movement, those problems will diminish.

During last night's practice I didn't worry about the tone and just focused on getting the notes and rhythm.  Remembering back to the last lesson, and last weeks practice, I remember being so anxious about getting the right notes to play at the right time that the rest of me tensed up (like my right hand).  Then my right arm started looking like how a robot would play the cello, not smooth, round and leading into the next note as it should.  But last night after an hour of getting more comfortable with the notes (and ignoring the awful tone I was making) I could then start to think about the rest of my playing.  It was kind of a light-bulb moment for me.  I don't know if any of this is the right way to learn or practice but it made sense to me and seems to work.  I know I'm still not practicing as much as I want to but I'm doing the best as I can being a working adult.  After fighting through each exercise last night I forced myself to go through them all again once and it was much easier to then think about things like bow grip, arm movement, etc, now that I had committed the notes to muscle memory.

I met another programmer at church this past Sunday who is also an adult beginner cello player.  He taught himself over the last 1 1/2.  When I asked him why he picked the cello he said because it's highly technical, difficult and he needs a challenge in his life (like marriage and a kid aren't challenging enough?).  Which is funny because those are basically the same reasons why I started on the cello.  I wanted something to focus my extra time and energy on.  Something productive and sometime in the very distant future play with other musicians.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to practice tonight but my wife is already starting a list of things for me to do tonight so not sure how much time I'll have. Next lesson is on Thursday. Looking forward to practicing still!