Lesson 73 - Lup-x, Lana, Allemande

We spent a good half hour trying to sort out why my cello suddenly had a bout of nasal flu. There are so many variables to consider, you can't really pin point on one aspect, an off-kilter bridge for example, without keeping the other things in mind; like a wolf eliminator for example.

Deryn fortunately had a new wolf eliminator, the Lup-x, that just came through the post earlier and so replaced my old one to see if it made any changes to the sound. There wasn't really a difference until Deryn started retuning the cello by releasing the fine tuners. It was cured! My cello (I've named it Lana due to this overly dramatic incident) has got her groove back on!

Happily, we took out the Lup-x, as it was ordered by another student, and placed the old wolf eliminator back on. No dice; the nasal flu returneth. The feet of the bridge is ever so slight lifted, probably from one too many fine tunings, and the action on the finger is now high again so these could all contribute to the cause of Lana's influenza. Only a trip to Jan the luthier can sort this out so I guess I should make a trip of it since the pad of my bow has gotten loose and needs gluing.

After sufficient fiddling to a playable state, we finally tucked into some actual cello playing. I relayed to Deryn that the Feuillard exercises has improved my left hand dexterity vastly which made playing the Bach suites not as daunting as before. We both agreed that plenty of patience was needed to even approach a technical practise session; none of that forced practising that I've been doing recently but deliberate, switch-off-the-world, focused practise, no matter how short the period of practise is.

10 minutes of that is far better than 3 hours of rigorous, mindless 'training' and if I find myself not feeling the zen-like state technical sessions should induce, I shouldn't do it at all!

The last 15 minutes was spent on the Allemande where Deryn held a no holds barred approach to critiquing my performance. I do look forward to her comments and advise even if they do sometimes create the most awkward flushing of the face.

For the Allemande, I should be utilising the metronome (ideal 63 per crotchet but for now, a lot slower and then speed it up to the ideal tempo). Chapter 33 and 34 (pages 39) of Feuillard should be ideal for smooth string crosses and less disjointed notes. Then comes phrasing. Eeps.