Lesson 52 - Effective practise, again with feeling!

Lethargic isn't even close to the mood I was experiencing for today's lesson. With yesterday being so hot, my energy levels were much more enthusiatic than today's sombre start. Still, I get to enjoy the resonance of my cello for she does prefer the more humid and hot weather.

We started with Bunting's shifting exercises from Book 2 - The Left Hand. In theory, all the concepts seem straightforward enough; not so much in practical which I found out instantly when applying them. The larger note intervals had smaller shifts than the shorter ones especially when shifting to different fingers. Like a puzzle, the solution to the destination was not at all immediate as I tried to get my head around shifting from the third finger to the first finger but a mere semitone away.

This exercise should be approached from a perspective of perfecting intonation by decreasing the margin of error by small adjustments with each stroke rather than playing the phrase a thousand times and hoping for the best each time until you 'get' it. Hence, there should be no reason to find them tedious if you know what the objectives of those exercises are.

Naturally, I find this approach so much more manageable with Deryn around as focus levels meander when I am on my own.

Truthfully speaking, when I do get to practising, my routine starts with a mere 5 minute warmup proceeded with all the pieces I have memorised (marcello two movements, popper, solveig's song, concert piece 4 movements, grieg) and sometimes rounding those of with technical pieces that I also have memorised; all without the need to sort music scores clumsily on the stand so that I may move freely to enjoy the session.

And this adds up to about 2 hours or sometimes 2 and a half if I wasn't paying attention to the sore joints. As you can see, I have yet to discipline myself for effective practising. I know this because the phrases that were giving me grieve have all been spoken for with just one lesson of focused repetition with Deryn in class. I wish I could pocket her home and plonk her as my practise helper. This way, I can definitely improve at a much faster rate. Alas, this is not to be! Thus, one has to be more diligent in her quest for progress :}

Overall, I will say I lack the insight to see that all the hard work being done right now is so that one can achieve ease and control of the cello in the long run; it will all pay off. I just need to be patient and keep going at it, unrelentingly.

And finally, a piece that I'm listening to right now by one of my favourite cellist, Han Na Chang.



Just by listening to her own rendition of baroque, I hope to better my approach for the Marcello sonata especially in terms of phrasing, trills, vibrato and dynamics.