Lesson 50 - Balance, Creepy shoulder

I will begin this post by declaring that I cannot, for the life of me, remember how we came about the subject of string crossings as the starter course of the menu that is today's cello lesson and blame it all on the ebook reader, that I received just yesterday, which captivated all of my attention thus disallowing me to jot down my notes as per usual during the train ride home.

You can see why I need to do this to remind myself!

I believe it was probably from discussing the Marcello Sonata that Deryn expressed her concerns about a section that demanded string crossing through different positions; in this case, a 3rd position on the A string to 4th position on the D string. Deryn says the best basic exercises from Langin book 1 will consolidate my grasp of the technique. From here, we did whole bows of semibreves on the C string and then the same on the A string, both on open strings. We then progressed to crotchets and then a series of notes (2 crotchets and a minim) and so forth but only on these two strings.

During this, two things that stood to be problematic - my shoulder was doing its usual creepfest and I was not turned at the hips to naturally 'attack' the A string; both of which were interdependent to each other but more importantly, it addressed the root of the cause - balance.

I am well aware of this problem. Have been since the beginning of the lessons. I'm still trying to find my balance point, how to sit with the cello, where to place her and how to hug her. It's been almost a year and I've yet to find the right formula but I am close; I can feel it. Sometimes, when I plan it, I am at one with the cello. My left fingers light but forceful with each strike and my bowing arm effortless and free. And then I lose focus and when I realise it, all the magick disappear. I want that magick to stay and it's getting there - the formula of my own muscle memory.

So then we tried standing up, squatting midway, balancing on one leg, all whilst playing the same 2 strings - up bow, down bow, down, up bow, up bow. My bowing arm was not shy at producing the raspy, scratchy, whisper of notes it seem to enjoy producing mostly on the C string. Deryn tells me this was due to, you guessed it, balancing issues. So we did more of the same again and again, each time I adjusted myself to be more focused on what my entire body was feeling until even I could hear it - no more whispers! I was on top of the cello, attacking the strings from above with balance and full on contact with the bow, my shoulder was not creepy and I turned at the hips naturally to find my balance on the A string instead of just turning towards the A string for the sake of it. And there it was again, that wonderful whole tone. And again, and again.

And hopefully, I remember this when I practise at home.

I played the first movement and the first half of the second movement of the Marcello Sonata before lesson ended. Overall, I was not at all pleased with my performance. I find it rather distressing when I play far better at home and then failing to do the same during class. My other half tells me I need to perform for other people more so it becomes not as scary when I have to do it for Deryn and a solution to overcome this is to record myself performing. This definitely fills me with dread so I can feel it working already!