lesson 4: for free!

i had my fourth lesson yesterday. My teacher phoned me earlier int he day and warned me tthat he was ing to be busy, but I can't go any other days (essay due friday) so i went along anyway. He was very busy, so i only saw him for a few minutes, and he said he wouldn't charge me which was nice of him.

i had a chance to ask 4 questions, play a small amount and get some new music. it was definitely worth the walk up the hill because there were a few things i had been doing wrong!

my 4 questions (my teacher's answers)

1. if there are no markings telling you which direction the bow should be going in, how do you know if it is an up bow or a down bow? alternate, unless it says otherwise. which makes a lot of sense, but for some reason that didn't occur to me! It seems so obvious now i know!
2. Why would you play an A on the D string, instead of just playing the A string? you wouldn't. it's a totally pointless exercise at this stage, so unless it is easier to do it that way, just play the A string.
3. Should you move your left hand when playing flats? those are extensions, and we will talk about those another time.
4. My bow grip is horrible, what should I do about it? Play open strings and scales and when you do, really think about how you should be holding the bow. if you do that often enough you will start adopting it in your normal playing.

So those were my questions. Bear in mind that i am NOT offering this as advice to anyone, it is just what my teacher told me at the time, and in my case this is what he suggested.

I also got 3 new pieces of music. 2 Bach pieces, and a Handel piece called Gavotte which is the easiest one. It's really fun to play, I am going to try to get it presentable for my lesson next week. We are also going to play Pachelbel's Canon as a duet. I can't wait for my first proper lesson in weeks!

New music?

Finally I am beginning to enjoy the bow! Although my shoulder and arm is aching from playing for a long time yesterday evening. Maybe I need to start warming up before I play.

It is difficult learning to find the new position on the strings, I feel like I am not confident enough to go as far as I need to to get the note right, because I find it difficult to move my hand back up to the first position. Although I imagine that over time it will become easier as I learn how it feels. It does amaze me how far you need to move though, it seems like a much bigger distance than closer to the top of the neck. And now I think about it, aren't guitars like that? I wonder why that would be?? I will ask my engineering husband!

I love how relaxing I find it when I play now with the bow. It is hard work, but really doesn't feel like it. I am writing essay at the moment for my masters course, but at the end of a day writing essays it is so enjoyable to sit down and play for an hour.

It's my birthday in a month, I am going to get myself some new music to play just for fun while I work on the stuff for my lessons. I need something really easy, but with slightly more difficult parts that I can work towards. I wonder if Phantom of the Opera is easy enough?

Moving on: C natural and other adventures!

I have built up my bowing stamina, I can now play for a full hour!

Yesterday I moved on to the next section of the book which requires shifting the left hand instead of changing strings (have no idea what the technical term for that is, I will just call it shifting!). The book is good as it guides you really slowly into moving your hand, and you can go back through the book from the beginning playing it while shifting your hand instead of moving up a string. My plan for today's practise is to go back through the book, so I can slowly learn where the notes are. Then I will move onto the next section of the book and then there are only a few pages left!

Finally towards the end of the practise I learnt C natural, as up until now I have been playing C sharp. For some reason, playing with my second finger seems very strange after always playing with the 3rd. My second finger hasn't built up any thick skin either so I am back to square one on that front!

It was a lot to learn in one day, so today I am going to consolidate by going over what I did yesterday before playing anything new. The final song in the book is Pachelbel's Canon in D which I am really looking forward to playing. Only a few more pages in the book until I get there!

Uh Oh...

One of the fine tuners on my cello has snapped off! Don't hve any clue how this happened, but engineer husband reckons that it was low quality metal and so had some fatigue. I was turning it and it felt quite stiff, and suddenly snapped off in my hands. It's the g string tuner, which is one of the easier strings to tune so at least i can keep playing until my next lesson. Going to have to give the cello back to my teacher I think. He is not going to be impressed..

All in all, this cello has been a total nightmare. I do feel bad for her, as she is really suffering with such a clumsy first owner, but she is not exactly very robust and I am not doing anything any other beginner wouldn't be doing, I don't think!

Seriously, when it comes to thinking about getting my own cello I think I would rather rent for ages and get a really good quality cello when I can afford one rather than buy one as soon as I can afford it, and get a lower quality instrument. I rent from my teacher, and he said any money I pay on rental I can have off the final price of the cello I rent, but I am not sure about this cello.. I feel worried it's going to fall apart all the time! But on the other hand I have absolutely no spare moeny to save up for any cello, let alone a good one! Well, I have ages to think about that so I'll wait and see.

With respect to practise, things are going a-okay. well, definitely okay anyway. My thumb hurts less and I am able to concentrate on what my left hand is doing as well as my right hand. Up until now I had been totally ignoring my left hand while bowing! I need to get a better seat for playing though, as I don't have any that are really the right height at the moment and I feel all scrunched up.

Speaking of which, I have a spare half hour so I am off the practise!