Lesson 66 - Comfort in 4th Position

We started lessons with revisions of 5th Position exercises. Over the past two weeks of practise, I found that my grasp on 4th position, which was previously shaky at best, has improved dramatically now that my focus has shifted to getting comfortable and familiar with the notes and fingerings of the 5th position. Deryn assures me that this seems to be the case for students, just as it were when I was trying to get to grips with the 1st position, learning the 2nd and 3rd position then consolidated the progress.

This was a huge relief as it had taken so many months of trying and it didn't seem like I was getting anywhere close to being comfortable further up the neck so much so that I've taken to blaming my awkwardly lanky middle finger as the source of my progress plateau. But now, with 5th position in tow, I am able to play previous pieces that demanded 4th position shifts with much greater ease; Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No.2 (4) being one the offending piece in question. The numerous times I would play in frustration has done the piece a disservice. It was only in the last week that the attempt was met with success and the notes in the higher registers sounded closer to those played on a cello and not an estranged alley cat with asthma.

When I played the extended 5th position exercises from Langin IV, Deryn noticed that I seemed to be struggling with getting comfortable on the higher registers. Upon closer observation, it seems the action on my fingerboard is too high so it looks like a trip to the luthier is in order! It has been a few months since I've had my bridge lowered when it was clear that the action was too high for the fourth position to be comfortable but since I was still on the lower neck positions, there was no need to lower the action at the higher registers. Now it seems I may have to not only lower the bridge but also the top nut so that comfort is attained.

We ended the lesson with a few duet versions of the new Marcello piece where Deryn performed the cello, bass and piano parts so that I could get a feel of what the entire piece should sound like. This helped tremendously as I was at a total lost previous to this play through and despite thoroughly searching all over the internet archives, there does not seem to be any signs of the Sonata existing anywhere much less a recording of the piece for reference apart from a mild mention of it being played by a quartet somewhere in France and that's where the lead ended.