Movin’ right along here. Took my third lesson, end of the second week of learning to play cello. (It’s gotta be a real pain in the neck for my teacher to listen to my attempts.) Maybe he hears the same kind of scratchy tones from the 6-year-old students. But I’m enjoying moving along and have now built up two full weeks of practice behind me. If this were a meditation practice, we’d hardly expect much of a change at this point. But…
I’m hearing some improvement. Particularly learning where the notes are on the fingerboard. And learning to press all those fingers down and keep them down. Learning legato playing. Able to get the bow positioned better, but not perfect yet.
The most important thing from my third lesson was learning that I really have to press that bow against the strings as if I meant it. This gives a much better tone. (I keep forgetting.) Much better tone. And you’ll see those little silver strips across the fingerboard up near my hand — they’re there to remind me exactly where to put the fingers down to get the right pitches. (And there’s a little felt piece on the back of the cello neck where my thumb has to go.) It’s easy to forget, but when I do remember, I can actually sometimes his the right note the first time.
Ummm, did I say that the reason I’m learning cello is to understand what the string players have to do in order to play my compositions? Gaining empathy for sure.
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