Some Updates

String Ensemble is finished for the fall.  Meetings were rather sporadic (our coach was away and then ill) and we never worked up a full program for a concert.  The group was very small this fall, actually too small for two cellos and a bass (only three violins and 1 viola), so I’m going to drop out for the winter.  Doesn’t make sense to have the director always saying to the cellos, please play more softly, you are too loud, when we are barely touching the strings!

We did do a partial program at the Christmas Concert at the conservatory, so at least we did work up a few pieces for performance, which was good.

The cello choir finally got organized toward the end of the fall session. Several people have dropped out already, so I’m not at all sure that it will continue.  The selected pieces are way easy and I’ve been playing 4th cello; this is awful on my 7/8 cello, which has terrible wolfs on the C string where most of the playing happens for those parts.  And the parts are so easy, that it’s hard to take them seriously and practice!!!  So I guess I’m back to no ensemble playing for the foreseeable future!

I have started working again on the Bach Suites.  I’m also back to working on some Popper etudes and want to go back and work again on pieces that I’ve learned previously.  I’ve spent far too much of my time this fall on ensemble pieces that I’ve just not enjoyed.

Cello Choir is a ‘Go’

I found out last night at String Ensemble that we have enough cellists for the new Conservatory Cello Choir to start.  We have six people, everyone is a fairly experienced cellist so that should mean that we will have great fun together.  First practice is on November 6th.  Looking forward to it!

I also note that the Boston Cello Quartet is now offering a cello choir course at the Boston Conservatory!  Cello Choirs must be the new ‘in thing’.  🙂

 

Cello Choir?

The conductor of our string ensemble (who is a cellist) is thinking of starting a cello choir at the Conservatory.  A fantastic idea,  I think, because the Cape seems to have an abundance of cellists who enjoy playing and like playing in groups.

So far there are at least 5 cellists interested, maybe more.  If this works out, I will be playing in two string groups this fall (the string ensemble and the cello choir).  I’m looking forward to that; my biggest enjoyment from playing the cello is playing in groups with others.  I love the sound of the harmonies, particularly when we get the tuning right! I have my fingers crossed that this works out.

The string ensemble music this fall is much easier than previous years; our conductor wants to focus on intonation and musicality and has picked pieces that we can learn well quickly so that we can really work on intonation and performance.  So far, it’s been good.

Teaching adults

Do read this article by Robert Battey, posted on the Internet Cello Society board.  He talks about teaching adult cello students and the differences he sees between teaching adult beginners and very young students.

I liked what he had to say about the limitations of the Suzuki approach for adults (how the approach used for young students may not serve adults nearly as well). He feels traditional lessons often do not prepare adult students for ensemble or community orchestra playing, a goal many adult students have.  He talks also about teaching students whose adult muscles and physiology require alternate approaches.

http://cellofun.yuku.com/topic/18961/Soso-article-for-cello-teachers-in-April-MdASTA-magazine#.VXSfqOtpeyM

 

Memorizing and Practice

I admit it, I have been resisting memorizing everything I work on.  The pressure is on from my teacher to work everything from memory (well, not everything: the Popper etudes I’m still working from the music); increasingly we are not using the music during lessons, just working on a piece without it.  Preparing for this takes an incredible amount of time and effort, and I do see that I am developing a more thorough understanding of the pieces.  However….

I, so far, with most pieces, have not gotten to the point where the memory is so solidly there that I can play with freedom and emotion.  With most of the pieces my brain is still focusing on the memory of what comes next: often the dynamics and emotion fall by the wayside.  I’ve created some tracks with piano accompaniments (using Finale), and trying to play along with these is a great test of how far I’ve come in my memory work and in playing with proper tempo and rhythm.  The Paradis “Sicilienne” at the end of Suzuki book 7 is a piece that I have been able to play comfortably from memory.  (And also, although not quite as competently, the Eccles and Popper pieces from the same book.)  Those have come more easily, I think, because they have very melodious singable phrases, and repeats of material (this makes the memorizing easier).

I’m learning the Faure “Elegy” from book 8 right now; I have most of the first page from memory and can play pretty comfortably along with a slow accompaniment.  The tricky rhythms and fast runs of the second half are much, much harder; here, I think, memorizing will help me to be able to play the piece well, but the memory is harder because the syncopated sections and the fast runs have so much more detail (and the piano part is so different!).  But the memory work is helpful.

Memory work on the pieces from the Bach Suites is much trickier and much more difficult to accomplish.  It is dense, complicated music with so much detail that it is hard to keep everything in memory well enough to play with musicality.  The Third Suite Bourees are okay; they are pretty melodic and have some helpful (!) repeating sections.  The Allemande has taken an incredible amount of time and I’m still not there in terms of playing it well.  I’ve just started learning the Sarabande; the double stops and complicated fingering will make this one another difficult one to learn and be able to play from memory.  I read somewhere this week that the longer it takes to memorize something, the longer it will stay in memory.  Hope that applies to the Bach Suites!!

Duets with a recorder… an old friend becomes an adult learner

We had a long time friend (from high school days) stay with us last weekend on his way to visit his grandchildren.  He arrived with his newest hobby: a recorder.  He remembers his mother playing the recorder in church years ago, and he decided that he wanted to add some music to his life.  He bought a recorder and a “how to” book and started learning how to play.

Now, this is beyond my experience.  I’ve learned three different instruments (piano, pipe organ and cello) and always worked with a teacher.  Years ago, when my daughter played the flute, I bought a lovely pear wood alto recorder and tried to learn it on my own, but was not satisfied with my progress.  I could play some basic tunes, but then the tunes got more difficult and I didn’t really have the skills to keep going.  I finally gave it away. (Too bad… I could have used it last weekend!)

A few weeks ago I sent our friend a couple of easy violin/cello duets, but he found them intimidating and not easy to play (the timing wasn’t all that easy and one had faster notes than he is used to).  We tried one of them together and did finally manage to play it passably. Then he got out his recorder book and insisted we play some of the duets in that which he had been learning.

Well, those duets were in the G clef of course.  And I had to oblige (he was so enthusiastic), but WOW what a stretch to sight read up there in thumb position (and my cello, which is very much a student cello, doesn’t sound all that great way up on the A string).  I tried transposing in my head an octave down, but doing that on the fly wasn’t easy at all.  Playing the violin part in thumb was what I ended up doing.  Didn’t sound all that great, but it was fun to see our friend get joy out of an instrument he has started playing as an adult.

Music provides so many pleasures, and playing music yourself adds another layer of pleasure and understanding.  Well, and pain, too, as you struggle to do things that are incredibly difficult.

I was a little envious of our friend being able to blow into that recorder and hit the right note every time! I’m reminded again of the time and effort playing a fretless stringed instrument requires.  Well, my husband has a wonderful saying that is very appropriate to this discussion: “It’s never easy!”