Lesson 23 - Half Position, New piece Couperin

Today we started on Chapter 28 of Langin with Half Position. Eventhough this chapter is further ahead than the previous chapter, Deryn thought it made sense to proceed with Half Position from Upper First Position which we learnt last week.

It was awkward, as with everything on the cello, to be playing closer to the nut as muscle memory have yet to venture there so there was the usual struggle to be relaxed and focused on the new position, whilst maintaining intonation. My finger kept wanting to do backward stretches due to muscle memory of previous lessons but after a while, all is well. I find the notes more discernable than Upper First Position so it felt more natural when it came to intonation.

The first few exercises were straightforward enough until it came to the unfingered phrase and Deryn sprang a pop quiz. Well, it was less of a quiz but more of a quick poke to see if I understood the exercise so far and if I had been paying attention. I panicked, naturally, and totally missed the point of the phrase which was to assure the student that Half Position was exactly like First Position in terms of fingering and we should not panic when it came to playing the notes. Obviously, I reacted the way the author planned :)

There is a lovely short study in the chapter for me to practise for next week which reminded me of Brahm's Cello Sonata so I mentioned it. This made Deryn play the beginning phrase of the first movement. It's always awe inspiring when she does that with such ease and finesse. It was one of the favourite pieces, as is mine and Deryn casually mentions that perhaps I should strive to play it as a piece to aim for. Oh, to play it as she did would be something to aim for indeed!

Next we played through Sammartini's Mouvement d'une Serenade and she seemed ok with my performance and appreciated my paying attention to the fingering though dynamics is still sorely missing from my playing. There are slight dynamics but they are too subtle. I know perfectly well why the dynamics aren't as prominent as they should be; I am still green with full bowing control and I am definitely way too timid to really express myself. This, I gather will change in time.
Finally, Deryn mentions that she wanted to do a video recording of a duet with me (!) And she has picked a piece ~ Concert by Francois Couperin from the Violoncello Duets for Beginners Book 1. There appears to be many movements within it (and plenty of page turns) so we will be working closely together to learn the piece. As she started playing, the first thing I noticed were the trills.