Popper #26

I've been on this one for a while..making very very tiny improvements. This etude has been forcing me to be honest with the thumb and what note it is on. I've always been told that when you're in thumb position, the most important thing is what note the thumb is on even when it isn't playing. The etude proves that to be a true statement!! If it's in the wrong place...everything is off. Still haven't finished it because most of what I have done sounds dreadful. I'm resisting the temptation to move on to another one. I haven't started memorizing it but reading on my previous posts on memorization helping with the Poppers, I think I will start memorizing small sections in an effort to improve muscle memory.

Not much to report other than the fact that I've been slugging through this one on and off for 2 months now. A couple of upcoming gigs and intense orchestra concert schedule slowed the progress. It's hard to get into the mode of working on Popper when your mind is in a million other places. I think this is a good one to make a deadline for myself. I say 2 more weeks to work it up to a reasonable shape.

Popper #27

I started this at the beginning of January. It was a pretty quick study. Not overly difficult and although the number of notes in this one was intimidating at first, I even memorized it within a week. I impressed myself! (rare event)

Not much to report on this one. It's an etude on half steps all over the cello but once I got going, it just went.