Lesson 98 - Seam crack and Dominant 7ths

During the usual tuning of cellos before lesson, Deryn noticed an audible buzz accompanying the lower strings on Gracie. I just assumed it was my bad playing but upon much closer attention, Deryn found a possible crack in the seam near the neck and base. A little upsetting but things happen to old wood and this is all part and parcel of owning something vintage, I suppose! It's also time for a luthier visit anyways since I've yet to introduce Gracie to Jan.

Today's lesson was mostly focused on thumb positions. I've been having a considerably miserable time acquainting myself with this technique, and no matter what I do, the thumb just hurts. So it was very helpful to be up close and to the side of Deryn, just to see the angle and placement of where her arm and thumb is on the fingerboard. It looks like I've been using the wrong bits of the thumb to fall on the strings so a tiny adjustment should go a long way. The other thing to do is daily sulphuric acid baths, and a good moisturiser afterwards.

Running through Popper, Deryn gave me some diminished and dominant 7th arpeggios to accompany the piece before touching on sight singing - which I misheard as sight seeing, for some reason. I do a little of sight singing when I sight read, more like a hum and a "doo-doo-dooooo" actually but it does the job it should do and doing it in my head does prepare me a little for what the piece should sound like. Must be leftover from those piano lessons, oh so long ago.

And of course, with everything cello, it's all a series of patterns and universal fingering so that makes it easier to digest. Now, to remember them!



The video has nothing to do with the arpeggios I'm playing but I do find it fascinating :}