Simple things...

My teacher suggested that I try slurring the scales while I was playing them, two notes at a time. It took me a little bit to get the hang of it, but it is surprisingly fun!

I just did an hour of practise, and a good half of it was spent on scales. Then I started being silly and playing the entire scale up and down on one bow as fast as I could. Fun game, but probably not the point of the exercise...

Painful fingers!

I got downstairs this morning to discover the D and G strings of my cello had become almost completely slack.. Hmmmm. I tightened them back up, which was surprisingly difficult. I got them a bit more taut in the end but it sounded horrible!

I was worried about overtightening the strings without knowing what I was doing so I just played the cello as it was that day. It sounded pretty grim, but I managed to get up to page 12 in the book, and now know how (theoretically) to play the notes D, E, F sharp, G, A, B, C sharp and D! My fingers were still sore so I was only able to play for about 15 minutes at a time. However, my teacher suggested "little and often" was the best way so I am not too worried.

I can now play Au Clair de la Lune and Hot Cross Buns - wowweee! I can also play the D Major scale. I had to stop this evening as my fingers hurt, but the next page is a whole page of new songs, including Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Incredible!