Lesson 35 - Lower bridge, tenor clefs and George

Today my yet unnamed cello is returned to me with a much lowered bridge. This minor adjustment has totally changed the sound of my cello! I no longer recognise it from the very nasal tones it seems to be producing or maybe George has me pampered with his delicious tone, I simply can't tell! One thing is for sure, it is a lot easier to play the fourth position now. There are still plenty to get used to but overall, much less awkward for my left hand.

And onwards we played through the exercises of Chapter 30 of Langin book 3. It seems I have subconsciously devised a method of coping with the extra length of my second finger so that it's not so awkward (much less painful) to play the third and fourth notes consecutively. I have tried the suggested normal method enough times to know that it just isn't feasible for me as an efficient technique. My method involves the second and third fingers shifting together to compensate the lack of independence - ie, when using fourth and third finger to play a passage of harmonic content, the second finger shift forwards together with the third and when using the first and second fingers, the third finger shifts backwards towards the second finger.

I have yet to figure out fingering for when I need to use second and third fingers exclusively but as Deryn says, there are always ways to overcome anything on the cello as the methods are merely guides and suggestions which can be changed to suit any individual for everyone is different!

For the time being, I am still adjusting to finding the right placement for my fingers but in time, the fourth position should be as familiar to me as the first position.

Next, Deryn proceeded to the Tenor Clef on page 38 of Langin book 3. From here, we see that the tenor clef merely transposes the same notes found on the bass clef a fifth up. This means, the notes you play on the fourth position on the D string in the bass clef becomes the same position on the A string when you read it in the tenor clef as the cello is tuned a fifth apart. Amazing!

Deryn has written some really useful articles in her blog which when demonstrated in person, has made the approach to learning the tenor clef a lot easier and not so terrifying. You can see some of them regarding paired positions below in the notes :}

Next, we moved on to a rather challenging exercise which including barred fingering on the fourth position. So far, we have not played any pieces (apart from the few exercises) which demands any barred fingering so my left hand is not at all accustomed to the awkward placement of this position. From this exercise, a pattern was emerging from the music score whenever you needed to use the barred fingering and that is, the notes involved were always a fifth apart. The easiest way to spot notes that are fifths apart is the note that occupies an alternate space from the note relative to it on the stave, ie. if a note occupies the first staff line, the fifth note is the one that occupies the third staff line.

So exercise 30 of Langin Book 3 will be the main focus for practise this incoming week but mostly it's getting acquainted with the fourth position.

Before I left, Deryn said I could swap my unnamable cello with George until I save enough to get my own Pirastro Permanent / Evah Pirazzi Cello strings set! I've been so pampered with George's really resonant and responsive strings that the D'addario Helicore that I have on my cello just sounds inferior. Or rather, it feels a lot less enjoyable to play and this can really affect practise sessions and progress.

Deryn mentions that it's only because I have played for a while that I knew the difference and have come to appreciate the difference of better strings. I most definitely agree. If given the good strings as a pure beginner, I would not have been able to tell they were good strings at all as to my discernible ear, it just sounds like a cello! And I couldn't be more wrong :}