Lesson 152 - Yampolsky, Apres Un Reve

"Whilst the right hand draws the bow, the left hand carves out the notes," - Deryn's words expressed what it's like to play the cello so succinctly. Just wish it was as straightforward as it seems :}

The Yampolsky uneven bowing exercises were great for bow work and would easily complement the uneven bowing exercises in Langin book 1. It's a solid book with plenty of stuff but straight away, I knew this was for more advanced cellists as I could only apply the first page to my practise regime. Even so, these were much different in terms of techniques achieved when compared to say, the Langin, Feuillard or Bunting exercises. All different in their own ways but complementary with each other.

We looked closely at Faure's Apres un Reve today. A new piece from last week that Deryn thought would be a nice piece to play whilst I do the Yampolsky exercises.

The thing about familiar pieces that you've heard before - knowing the tune isn't actually learning the tune. Plop the score in front of you and quite easily, usually, you'll soon see it's not at all what you thought you heard; a performer's interpretation most likely. It's like misheard lyrics, I suppose.

For this piece, I found the bowing most challenging mostly due to the logical dividing of bow per note in the suggested time signature.

Sure, we started this whole journey by doing those tedious bow dividing exercises with consistent crotchets beats but now, Deryn says, we should be able to use that foundation to figure out and apply the best use of the bow in different situations, ie. whole bows on one note so the next set of notes can be played under a slur on the up bow.

And the stamina. My goodness - the stamina to play this piece. It's all sustained, slurred bowings playing out this really drawned out melody that keeps going and going until it folds back into itself. The worst thing you can do to this piece is playing it without breathing, or phrasing.

Oh and I found out that Sul A means on the A string.