Lesson 44 - Score vandals, fingering notations

Yesterday's class was focused mostly on familiarity on the positions. I think it's safe to say, I will be spending a considerably large amount of time on this as I personally will not be satisfied until I am able to plonk a finger down on any part of the fingerboard and recognise the note, the different positions that can be used to play that note and the key signatures that may include that note or begin with that note. Possibly, it may be a little obssessive but it has been bugging me a lot recently especially when I'm playing a piece and realise I'm depending on the fingering notations that are printed on said piece.

I try very hard not to 'vandalize' my beautiful music scores with amateur finger notations in pencil in order for the brain to kick in overtime when it comes to sight reading or just basic note reading. I have no problems with reading on the staves but I am still learning the notes in relation to its geography on the fingerboard and which positions to use. There is a tonne of music theory to get reacquainted with before I can comfortably progress on the cello.

We took a look at Chapter 35 of Langin Book 3 where Deryn pop quizzed me on basic understanding of note intervals. It's one of her many ways to keep the lessons exciting and unpredictable! We went through a Marcello Sonata excerpt where I was expected to tell if I was playing a major or a minor third between notes and its relation to the fingers used on each position. More pattern recognition revealed itself through this exercise which seems to be the case for all aspects of music theory. This was when Deryn suggested that it may be time for me to play the Marcello Cello Sonata as part of my reportoire. Hopefully, I'll be starting on that next lesson :}

We ended the lesson on a very shakily performed Solveig's Song. I definitely need better bow control as is evident from the piece when played very slowly. I fear I may have spent too much time on the left hand techniques and not as much as I could have on the right!