Lesson 147 - 5 minutes a day

Recently with the shortened practice time due to deadlines, I'd be lucky to squeeze in 5 minutes a day on the cello, instead of an hour or two per practice session.

Deryn says that sneaking in 5 minutes every now and then is still better than not practising at all but the trick was to make sure the 5 minutes is well spent and with the right frame of mind, if possible.



Later we shared piano horror stories mostly around past teachers. My experience with the piano was that it has always felt impersonal and lessons were not exploratory of the instrument at all, totally unlike the piano that you embrace when playing. So I asked if we could try not doing that with the cello and instead forge a relationship, exploring mine and Gracie's limits as an instrument for life.

Last week was all about the jazz and Egyptian scales. I found that the blues scales were easier to sink into as they sounded more familiar. I found that this new approach to scales also resulted in something unexpected during sessions - it really pushed my focus on intonation from all that dissonance.

Deryn said I could bring books I was interested in so we could look at it together during lessons and jazz was something she hasn't really looked at so it will be a learning experience for the both of us. Classical is not the end all of musical learning, but neither is rock or pop.

Today we looked at some sight reading; a few abrsm grade 6, 7 & 8 pieces.



Soon, Deryn will start on sight singing ewww