'ello, cello

Being the clumsy sort of person that I am, it was inevitable that my limbs were subject to much wear and tear. Last month was probably the worst it had been for a while and I ended up in the xray theatre. On the plus side, I am finally registered on the NHS; a mere 14 years since I first set foot on this country. Even then I was hesitant but the other half was adamant and so was my sister, both insisting precautions to be taken due to the bone disease thing that I had so I plucked up my courage, took to the phone and made an appointment. Long story short - nothing was broken, I probably strained more than a few tendons and nerves in my right hand.

I'm still recuperating. It's taking quite a while and despite Deryn's advice, I totally forgot to mention to the doctor that I played the cello and so forfeited my chance at physiotherapy.

So I missed a few lessons and there were weeks where I did not pick up the cello at all. Progress halted and suddenly it feels as if I've never played the damn thing at all - but I persevered - slowly at first with only the left hand. The Bunting regime and exercises were incredibly helpful by alleviating the boredom and helplessness felt throughout the period. It forced the patience to focus as I had little else to gnaw on. The following is a painful rendition of the first (of hopefully many) quick study that I have been given to work on. Deryn tells me that they did plenty of these in music school - intense studying of challenging pieces to be performed at a high standard in a short amount of time - the process is great at exposing your strengths and weaknesses to a certain degree.