Lesson 45 - Picking on calluses, ignoring wrists

A couple of days ago, I did a most silly thing and picked on my calluses before realising that I was undoing months of work on the cello. This was a very sore lesson to learn except I fear it might happen again due to it being one of the things I do subconsciously as a very bad habit but mostly due to idle hands.

Deryn tells me that vaseline application might be the remedy for such a situation as that deterred her from picking at her own calluses.

Today we started on some feuillard daily exercises which I will looking at closely for the coming week's practise. I was having much issues with shifting between the new positions; especially anything that included the second position. Dilligent practise of Chapters 3 to 5 should sort those kinks. Even if I am unable to go through all the exercises, as long as I picked a few from each example and focused on them, my approach on them would be improved miles beyond.

Looking at all the exercises, I wondered aloud how long it took Feuillard to compile such a compendium. There isn't much information about it in the book itself or even a menu or list of chapters which is a shame, really.

I have been struggling with Solveig's song with the new fingering and position changes. For some reason, the first week or so of playing the piece seemed so much easier than it feels now. Perhaps, I am taking more things into consideration when I play or rather, I am more aware of them. My other half tells me its because I have been so preoccupied with the theory side of things, the natural musicality of it is being suppressed albeit subconsciously.

This was new to me. I didn't think the technical side of things could get in the way of expression even if the concept wasn't new. One of those things that suddenly hit you in the face when it happens to you no matter how many times you've prepared yourself in the theoretical sense.

So I practised Solveig's Song with my eyes closed - suddenly, I was in tune, my shifts were perfect, my stretches were spot on and my vibratos felt more alive than they have ever been. It also felt natural to play on the cello and my bow wrist wasn't the stiff thing it defaults to when I start playing.

I thought to myself that it was probably just plain fluke and the stars were aligned in my favour so I played it again, eyes closed and again and again and again. Then I came back to the piece a few hours later and did it again. I even played through an old piece that my stiff bow wrist wasn't partial to and again, with my eyes closed, my wrist was now just going with the flow of the bow strokes and not a stiff in sight. Well, how strange.

It seems the act of looking at my wrist when playing makes the wrist go stiff even when my brain tells it not to! I made a point of watching many cellists on youtube and study their posture, arm positions, hand and finger placements and their legs and feet during performances. It's a lot to take in as every single one has her own method and technique but I have learnt a lot just by studying their movements. I try not too imitate but rather try to understand how they came to doing what they do from all the lessons I've learnt from Deryn. It is an immense flow of information to apply into practical but hopefully it will all make sense to me in time!