Temporary Insanity: Be a cellist

Popper #26

2010-04-05T22:24:00.004-04:00

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

2010-03-12T15:07:00.002-05:00

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.

2.5 weeks

2009-12-26T03:33:00.003-05:00

Two and a half weeks without a cello. I love traveling but I need to find a way to have it with me. I'm gone for over 3 weeks this month and could go for longer if I had my baby with me.

I miss my cello!!! And I even miss struggling with Popper #19. The agony of Popper would really balance out all the fun I'm having.

Popper #19, continued

2009-12-15T05:16:00.003-05:00

This is meant to be the post from last week but in a scramble to get out of town for vacation, I didn't get it out.

Two weeks into Popper and I'm still struggling with it. Memory issues but I think most of it has to do with the bow. The spiccato is really starting to mess up my memory which sounds really odd so I have to reevaluate whether I really know it. In a push to finish it, I think I have glazed over the whole thing a bit too quickly. Lesson learned that the so-called 'short cut' is really a waste of time. I should just spend more focused practice on smaller sections and get it really solid in my mind as well as fingers.

And then I had to leave for a vacation so the whole thing needs to go on hold. I'm currently on vacation and was catching up on my blogs when I saw that I got a mention on The Cello Etudes blog. Thanks to you for the inspiration. I am not an undergrad at Georgia though although I wish I was. Just an amateur cellist who has a cello obsession. My pace will be much slower than the cello etudes blog so I hope it won't be too boring.

More on the Popper when I get back from a 3 week vacation. Basically means I need to start over. It's just as well because my last attempt at #19 before I left for vacation left me feeling like I need a do-over on this one.

Popper #19

2009-11-27T22:06:00.003-05:00

Still trudging through Popper #19. I've been working on this etude for a couple of weeks now. Spiccato definitely adds to the difficulty. I started learning this etude the same way I've been attacking the other Popper etudes - learning the notes slowly and then incrementally building up the speed. After a week, I started reading a blog of a cellist's study with the Popper etude (http://celloetudes.tumblr.com) and decided to change my approach a little bit. Mainly, I decided that I was going to memorize the etude. It's been very enlightening to add memorization to my etude study. Here are the things I noticed:

1) Firstly, I memorize music pretty easily. I've been working on the Brahms E minor sonata and I pretty much have all three movements memorized. Not intentionally but it just gets in my ear and not before long, it is memorized. However, the Popper etude has been a pain! I'm about 3/4 of the way through the etude and I have it in my memory but it's pretty shaky.

2) Making myself memorize it changed my approach to learning the etude. I was forced to learn the 'road map' of the etude rather than just read the notes. The surprising thing is that this is a quicker way to really learn it. Having the pattern in my memory took away the extra step of reading the notes and then getting my hand in the position to play them. This makes the speed of this etude a lot more doable.

3) I made a lot more marks on these two pages than any of the other etudes. This was because I was making notes to myself of the patterns so that I could remember them. With the other etudes, I just read it. This time, I circled the patterns to give myself variously landmarks so that it helped me know what came next.

I'm almost done learning the whole thing. I've been playing it at a slower tempo- about 72 for the quarter note. By the end of this weekend, I hope to have the whole thing memorized and playing it at 84 or so.

Shaky and nervous

2009-11-25T07:41:00.003-05:00

I've always known that my vibrato is shaky and nervous but I had very few ideas on how to correct it. I'm ok with a few slow notes but it starts to get very jerky when the tempo goes up and it involves shifts. This video by Alan Harris is the best I have found on Youtube. I'm pretty excited about incorporating some of this.

The Etude Project

2009-11-24T18:02:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, Mike posted a link to the blog of cellist who is documenting his practicing on etudes for the next few months. Check it out: http://celloetudes.tumblr.com/

Very interesting stuff and I wish more cellists would do this. This guy (can't seem to find a profile on him) is far beyond my current playing level but I was able to get some very useful ideas from his experience with his practice of the first etude, Popper #8.

This Etude Project has him performing an etude every 2 weeks with practice every day limited to 45 min. on each etude. By the 4th day, he had memorized Popper #8. I was pretty shocked by that. I've worked through about 6 or 7 of the Poppers now but the thought of memorizing any of them was never a possibility in my head. It was always hard enough for me to play them well much less try to memorize it. So as an experiment, I started the task of memorizing the current etude I was working on, Popper #19- the Lohengrin.

I'll document the practice I've done in the past 2 weeks on this etude as well as the results of the memorization effort in the next post.

The broken record playing in my lessons

2009-11-03T16:36:00.003-05:00

My lessons as of late focuses on a few select things:

1) Keep bow *in* the string. Sounds logical enough but so hard to do. When I sound bad, I can almost always pick it out to be this particular problem. I used to think that keeping the bow in the string should be an easy enough task but I think it's actually harder than it sounds. It takes a certain amount to strength to keep the bow in the string...strength that is built over years.

2) Related to #1 - don't pick up the bow when crosing strings. Sounds obvious enough but I cheat on this in the most subtle ways. Just the tiniest of lifts when crossing strings will throw the sound off. arrrrrggghh

3) Slow down the bow changes. If your left hand needs to move fast, it doesn't mean that your bow changes need to be fast as well.

There you have it! The three things on the broken record playing in my lessons. I'm happy that I can pick out three things to correct whenever I sound bad. What about you? What's on your broken record? Do share!

My poor neglected blog..

2009-10-11T20:31:00.002-04:00

So much has happened! Italy was a great trip for musical growth. My playing has changed a lot since coming back. I'm not the only one who has made this observation...my teacher as well as friends around me has commented on how much better I am playing.

I'm still trying to figure out what it is about the trip that changed me. I think it was being in the company of student musicians and working with them for a week towards a concert that made me realized that everyone has their struggles (with intonation, with rhythm, etc). As an adult amateur, we rarely get that group environment. Being in this environment gave me so much inspiration to really practice. My goals didn't seem so lofty anymore...almost attainable.

Since then, the way I practiced changed. I learned to do a lot of the things that I've been reading about..slowing down to really learn the notes, practicing with a metronome, patient repetition. If you throw these three things into anything you want to learn, it's impossible not to reach your goal one day.

Yesterday - I got to perform the first movement of the brahms e minor with a pianist. I was pretty relaxed on stage (a first for me!) and it turned out to be one of my best performances. After studying this piece for what seems like forever...I finally see some improvements.

Anyway- these are some thoughts that I wanted to write in my neglected blog before they get too far away from the present.

Sextets Are Fun

2009-06-26T12:33:00.002-04:00

I am meeting this weekend with a sextet ensemble formed because I love Brahms sextet #1 so much that bought the music. It is mostly members from the quartet I play in plus 2 or 3 other players. We met a few months ago to read Brahms #1 and it was a lot of fun. I like this sextet configuration (2vln, 2vla, 2cello) - everyone has different parts but you're not alone. A sextet is practically a chamber orchestra so you create a lot of sound...hiding any mistakes I might make in sight reading. :)

This time, I ordered more sextet music from Shar - Brahms Sextet #2 and Dvorak Sextet in A major. It was shipped in a Priority Mail box with a picture of a cello on it. Now how did they know I was a cellist???

Suspect Drain

2009-05-26T15:53:00.004-04:00

Taken from http://life-coach-thea.blogspot.com/2009/05/life-power-tip-501.html

Plug the holes where your life energy is escaping.

If you are at all feeling overwhelmed or becoming more fatigued, then it might be time to take a look around for your energy drains. It could be the people with who you associate often, that bill you haven't yet paid, a project you haven't touched for a while, or a shirt button that still needs sewing. Anything incomplete that's hanging around in your life, are potential energy drainers. Either decide to be 100% OK with the way they are and let them go, or attend to them.

A few weeks ago, my car battery died after only a couple of years. AAA came to the rescue with a new battery. After performing some diagnostic tests, they told me that there was a "suspect drain" on my car battery that needed to be checked out. I got it checked and it turns out the suspect was the trunk light which never turned off, draining my battery over time.

What a great term - "Suspect Drain". I have many little things in my life that I put off and it is a drain on my daily energy level whether I realize it or not. I think I put them off because I don't want to take the time to find a solution. Putting it off today takes less energy than doing it today so I decide to put it off. Not before long, I've spent more energy procrastinating than I would have spent dealing with the task at hand. And worst yet, I'm still standing in the same position.

So..goal this summer is to procrastinate less and eliminate suspect drains on my life.

Now that I'm on Twitter...

2009-05-19T23:04:00.003-04:00

no time to post!

For those of you in the southeast, you may want to consider going to Chamber Music Weekend in Chattanooga, www.chambermusicweekend.org. I went last year and had a great time. Four days of playing in various ensemble groups - duos, trios, etc. It's heavenly to have access to all kinds of music and the people to play them.

I'm going again this year. Email me if you if you want more information.

Play like your ax is made of gold

2009-05-08T01:54:00.005-04:00

A while ago, I read a book called the Violin Maker by John Marchese. This is a story of a luthier named Sam Zygmuntowicz who was commissioned to build a violin for Eugene Drucker of the Emmerson String Quartet. The book follows the building of the violin right from the selection of the wood to the end product. Gene Drucker owns a Stradivarius but wanted a modern instrument that would hold up better in his travels. Zygmuntowicz has to build Gene's rival violin.

I won't ruin the end of the book in case any one wants to read it but there was a point made in the story that I thought was great. No one knows why a Strad sounds better than a modern instrument. There are lots of theories - aged of the wood, kind of wood available when Stradivarius was alive, etc. This book addresses an interesting point though. Part of the reason why a Strad sounds better could be because of the musician's connection with a historical instrument. It's hard not to romanticize owning and playing an instrument with so much history. When a musician plays on a Strad, they are playing with all that history in mind. I have heard of musicians feeling like they need to "live up" to the instrument they own. This HAS to affect how they play which in turn affects how an instrument sounds. They have done tests with audiences listening to a strad vs. a modern instrument - and most times, the audience cannot hear the difference. So..the deciding factor is how the musician is playing, not so much the instrument itself. And how a musician is playing is dependent on so much.

The reason I thought of all this is because I recently had a sound post adjustment on my cello. Since then, my cello has not sounded as good. It sounded good in the shop but I'm know what it used to sound like in my house and it is not close to being as good. I need to go back and get it redone but I've been too busy. I can't tell you how much this change in sound has affected my playing. Notes that used to ring don't ring the same way. Other notes sound nasally at best. It's awful - I had to give it to my teacher at the last lesson to play so that I could hear it away from the instrument. Strangely, it sounded fine. Very frustrating! All this made me think of the point that was made in The Violin Maker - that our connection to the instrument plays a big part in how we sound. I felt like my cello was inferior in setup when I got home. Once that gets in your head, it's tough to work your way out of it and make yourself think it's ok no matter how good it sounds when someone else plays it.

Wow - is it all in our heads? This relationship with the instrument?

Hynotic cellists

2009-04-23T02:08:00.006-04:00

Some cellists do not look good when they play. They could play beautifully but something about the way they play is not enjoyable to watch. I remember seeing a cellist perform the 6th Bach suite and although she played it beautifully (she was a student of Starker's so she's obviously GOOD) I was nervous the entire time I watched her. I kept feeling like she was going to miss notes. Every shift looked like an effort. I remember another cellist a couple of months ago who was so rough on the cello that I felt sorry for it! Enjoyable to hear but a little nerve racking to watch.

Then there are the cellists who hypnotize you when they play. There's no worry in their playing. Every note is as if their hand was built to reach it and every phrase looks as if it was built for their bow. I remember watching Matt Haimovitz play a few years ago and it was such a lovely experience. It looked easy! So easy that I felt I could go home and do it too, at which point I am reminded of how NOT easy it is. Today I saw a recording of David Starkweather, professor at UGA, performing a Schumann piece. Very hypnotic because it looked like he was meditating on the music. I could stare at him play all day.

One day, I hope to make it look easy.

Back at it again!

2009-04-23T01:30:00.004-04:00

It's been a few weeks but I am officially out of 'I hate cello week'. I guess it wasn't a week...it was almost a month.

I've had some good lessons during this time though. Here's some notes on the breakthroughs:

1) I picked up Popper #2 again a few weeks ago to see if I made any progress since working on it 2 years ago. Not a hard piece but the etude has long bows. During the lesson, D noticed that I was pushing and pulling throughout the entire draw of the bow creating excess junk in the sound. He told me that once the bow is drawn, I need to let go and not keep drawing throughout the phrase. The action is at the beginning of the down bow or up bow but after I start the initial draw..I need to let the bow move without forcing it. This worked wonders for me! (I'm not sure that I'm explaining it very well)

2) Still working on Bach 3 Prelude and had a major breakthrough here too. This month...I focused on not clunking down on the string when I changed bows..to get as even of a legato sound as I could. At the last lesson, I played the whole thing for him and he said that I was torqued the entire time I was playing it. I needed to find places to release tension. I am still having bow issues and working too hard at it. D had me pick out certain spots in various phrases where there was an increase of tension with the bow and then we picked out where I would release that tension in the phrase. This increase/decrease in tension sets up my phrase. He used the visualization of a top spinning. I would draw the bow (similar to pulling a string to get a top spinning) and once the bow moved, let it spin on its own (decrease of tension) for the rest of the phrase. I tried it with a few phrases and the change was astonishing. It's funny how visualizing something like this can help. Not only was my tone better, I felt so FREE. I haven't been able to get that feeling back this week in practice but I feel like I'm really close. I understand it much better now. I see how the breathing plays into it. The breath in is really the increase in tension and the breath out is the release of that tension.

Geez...I hope one day I don't have to think about it so much. The visualization helped a lot! I asked D if he had think about it like this all this time. He said he used to but he doesn't have to anymore..it's second nature now. So..there's hope for me yet! I hope some of this is helping somebody else out there. I felt so good when I nailed it in the lesson that I threw my arms up in the air and exclaimed, "Yay!!!!"

Down on practice

2009-04-08T21:06:00.001-04:00

The last few weeks have been low on practice for me. Teacher says that if you practice through those times when you don't feel like practicing, those are usually the times when you will grow the most musically.

Ok...I'm ready for that growth now...and for me to want to practice again.

Last week

2009-03-30T17:44:00.006-04:00

Had my lesson this past weekend. I told D that I was having an "I hate cello" week. He said he doesn't ever have those. I corrected myself and said that I was having an "I hate ME on the cello" week. I think this bug must be going around - I seem to remember reading a few "down in the dumps" posts last week. To those who had that kind of week - you'll be happy to hear that my teacher (cello player extraordinaire) said that he has had plenty of those weeks. Nice to know that it happens to accomplished cellists as well.

I'm still kind of in it actually. Rising pollen level is making me sick and allergy pills make me a bit nauseous. I opened up an old etude, Popper #2, to procrastinate on practice. I discovered that this is not a good piece to play when you are feeling nauseous.

I hope "I hate me on the cello" week ends soon. I really need to get the Bach Prelude ready for public consumption. Right now..it is not even ready for self consumption.

Happy Friday

2009-03-27T10:32:00.000-04:00

Another performance

2009-03-24T00:23:00.003-04:00

In an effort to not fall into a lull after spending months preparing the Haydn for a master class, I volunteered to play solo for a church service sometime in April or May. The people were really laid back and let me decide what I wanted to play. So I reached into my bag of "pieces I've been working on forever but still haven't gotten right" and decided on the Prelude to the Bach Cello Suite 3.

I remember when I first started it over 2 years ago. Learning the notes to the piece was never hard for me...in fact, I think I had it memorized within a month. The hard part for me was getting through the piece without pain. Yes, pain was what I had to overcome and here's some things I did to get the pain out of my playing.

First, my bow grip was seriously flawed. I was gripping the life out of the bow with my thumb. To keep the bow even and balanced while doing this, I had to engage my pinky to help keep the bow balanced. These two things made my right hand really sore halfway through the piece. Until recently, the bow has never been comfortable in my hand. One etude that has really helped with this is Popper etude #1. It's really a wrist etude but you can't really pull it off without having a good bow hold. My bow grip is not perfect but it's come a long way in the past two years. The proof? No more hand pain! So..if you're struggling with getting a comfortable bow grip, Popper #1 helped me a lot.

My body was tense. I was using muscles that really shouldn't be used when playing. Like - the jaw muscle? I clenched my jaw and my shoulders were tense while I played so I had to use other muscles to force the sound out. No wonder I was tired halfway through the Prelude! I realized that playing with tension is something a lot of cellists struggle with. I've had many teachers in the past but my current teacher is the only person to make this my primary focus when playing. This is such an important part of cello playing that I'm baffled that it took 6 years before someone mentioned tension to me. This is not to say that I now play with no tension. Unfortunately, 2 years of correction doesn't quite purge out 6 years of playing with tension but I'm much more aware of it now and can try to stop it when it happens. I've come a long way with it. The proof? I can play through the Prelude many times in practice with no pain. Feels nice!

Of course...being able to get through the entire piece without pain is only a baby step forward. The things I now have to overcome are much more elusive...phrasing, evenness and giving each note the full value of importance. Oh...the Bach Cello Suites...it's such a mountain to climb! You know a piece of music is complex when you can work on it for a few years and still be engaged.

Happy happy happy

2009-03-20T16:32:00.003-04:00

I'm so insanely happy today. I feel so grateful for so many things. Since this is a cello blog - I'd like to give a shout out to my cello. How lucky am I to have found something that can instantly shut out the noise of emails, text messages, TV, internet, Facebook, blogs, news, etc.

A few hours on the cello makes my world peaceful again.

It's beautiful but I can't enjoy it

2009-03-18T11:45:00.004-04:00

I've been working on the Prelude to the Bach Suite 3 on and off for a couple of years now. The Bach suites are so beautiful but when I start to really work on them...the beauty of the pieces become secondary. What I mean by that is that while I am playing it, I am so focused on playing it beautifully that my enjoyment of the piece gets put on the shelf.

I used to dream about the day when I can really play something beautiful and how great that would feel to create such beautiful music. I guess I envisioned an emotional enjoyment very much like being a listener in the audience but that it would be even better because I would be the one creating that beauty. As I think about this further...it isn't like that at all. My teacher has talked a lot about not becoming emotionally tied to the music...that the enjoyment of the music belongs to the audience. As a player, you have to be somewhat detached from the piece so that you can deliver it with the correct intention.

As a listener, I used to enjoy the major change in the color halfway through the prelude of the 3rd suite. As a player, that same enjoyment isn't there anymore. I told D during the last lesson..."...this part this soooo beautiful but I can't enjoy it because I'm too focused on trying to keep it all even. Arghhh!" He said...."It'll be a few years before you enjoy that section..."

What I've realized is that my consumption of the music I play is different than being a listener...It isn't satisfying in the way I thought it would be. The enjoyment has shifted to an enjoyment that comes from being able to play the way I want it to sound....rather than enjoying the music produced by me. Maybe it'll change as I get better but it's so much less romantic this way!

The Master Class

2009-03-10T22:31:00.004-04:00

I've had so many thoughts I'd like to post about my experience in a master class but have been too busy to sit down and write. I'm forcing myself to throw down the points I do remember before it all becomes a distant memory!

First of all, Emily was great! She braved crazy weather across the country to give us all such a great experience. Her master class was the inaugural meeting of the Atlanta Cello Project, started by my friend Ann. It is a group of cello enthusiasts in Atlanta..currently at 30+ members. The master class drew 15+ people even though we had a snow storm that day!

Without a lot of thought (and hopefully not too redundant), here are some observations from my experience in preparing for the master class:

1. I played the Haydn C, first mvt. I thought I had been working on this (on and off) for a year but in looking back at my blog..it's actually been 1.5 years! ha! It did get exponentially better in the weeks leading up to the class though. I'd say I really really worked on it in preparation for the master class for about 2 months.

2. Having this goal changed my practices. It forced me to work on the parts of this piece that were hard for me. I didn't have the luxury of ignoring them anymore. Runs that I thought were impossible had to become a possibility so I focused my practices on making the impossible possible. The other downside of brushing over problem areas for so long is that you actually train your ear to ignore the problem areas. My teacher pointed that out in many places. As if I didn't have enough to work on, I also had to re-train my ear to the hear the right thing.

3. The impossible did start becoming possible! It was interesting. Before, I couldn't fathom how I could ever play the harder parts with any consistency. If you work on it enough...it will come.

4. Positions that seemed physically impossible became possible as well. There were a few thumb position double stops that I just accepted as positions that my hand just does not do. Guess what? If you practice the position enough times...it does become 'not uncomfortable'. I learned to accept that uncomfortable positions can be comfortable with enough practice.

5. I have to start practicing with a metronome all the time. I did this in the month leading up to the master class but I still clipped my rhythms when I performed. If I started practicing with a metronome from the start - I wouldn't have had to un-practice the rhythm problems. Sounds easy enough but so hard to do. Why did I think that a month of practice with the metronome would undo the 1+ year of practicing it without?

6. Fix problem areas from the start instead of practicing the wrong way only to un-practice it later and repractice it the right way. I am doing this more in my practices. Un-practicing is SO boring so it is a pretty good motivator.

7. The best part? My lessons became more productive too. I had a goal...and because of that, my teacher had a goal. Lessons became focused as well.

I learned a lot from the experience and look forward to more opportunities like this! I also enjoyed meeting Emily...after years of chatting with her via blog comments...it was nice to chat live.

Happy practicing!

When things work out (in my favor)

2009-01-13T15:31:00.004-05:00

A friend called me up and asked me if I was going to the Yo-Yo Ma concert in May. Oh no...I had completely forgotten about it!! With very little hope, I went on the website to see if there were any tickets left. I clicked to purchase and up came a large seating map with all the seats grayed out (indicating occupied) except for one little tiny seat in the 7th row. ONE seat left! Needless to say, I quickly bought it.

The next day, my friend emailed me saying that the concert was sold out. Why can't things work out like this all the time?

My friend ended up finding a seat for him and his girlfriend towards the back so...we are all good.

So...Hooray!!! I finally get to see him perform.

The Bow Rehair - it's a crapshoot

2008-12-17T11:06:00.006-05:00

I have to admit that I don't know too much about rehairing a bow. I know that I rarely plan for it...it usually gets to the point when I will be begging all shops in town to rehair my bow on short notice - unsuccessfully of course.

My last bow rehair was done on short notice. When it came back, I found the hair quite short. Gone was the little nudge between the frog and the thumb leather where my thumb rests when I play. The person who did my rehair was a well known luthier in town so I figured it was 'done right' and that it would probably stretch over time. It never stretched. Instead, my thumb kept pushing up on the thumb leather and eventually tore it....but I dealt with it.

Fast forward to last week...another rehair needed. I took it to another luthier..one who had rehaired 2 bows for me in the past. They were able to fit me in. When I saw them, I told them that the last rehair left the hair a bit too short for my tastes which was why the thumb leather was wearing out. I kinda made a big deal about it because I didn't want it to happen again. So...I paid for a rehair as well as money for the thumb leather to be replaced. I picked it up a couple of days later. Same thing! I sat down with them and asked them if that was the way it was supposed to be...and they said yes. I took it to my teacher...and he immediately said, too short. So I took it back and they corrected it.

How can they not know it's too short? Don't all these shops rehair bows all the time? I talked to a friend of mine and she has had bad experience with another shop in town. So basically, we have had bad rehairs from 3 shops now. Is it that difficult? I still consider myself a 'beginner' cellist so it's tough for me to tell the shops what I want with conviction because I'm not all that sure myself. I depend on them to tell me the 'right' way because I feel like they would know having done so many of them. However if my teacher can look at my bow and say, "Too short" but the shop is telling me it's fine...uhh...doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about who is working on my bow.

Any thoughts?

Chamber Music Weekend

2008-06-30T14:05:00.002-04:00

I just got back from a chamber music 'workshop'. 100 or so people attend (1/3 of them are kids, 1/3 high school, 1/3 are adults) and we sightread in various chamber ensembles all weekend. Each day, there is about 9 hrs of playing time. The coordinators put you in different groups in 1.5 hr rotations as well as 2 hrs of orchestra rehearsal. When you sign up for the weekend, you are pretty much committed to the entire thing because if you skip a session, you mess up the intended chamber group for that time slot (piano quartet, string quartet, quintet, etc.) It all ends with a participant concert on Saturday night.

Here are some things I learned this weekend:

1) I have progressed in my cello playing and sight reading. This is big! Sometimes I get frustrated practicing day in and day out with seemingly very little improvement. Since I started going to these kinds of events a couple of years ago, I am able to view my progression in terms of years instead of days or weeks. It's a good feeling. I was even considered 'advanced' in some of the groups...An adult beginner cellist came up to me after a session and told me how she enjoyed having me play next to her because it kept her on track. This compliment was quite amusing to me as I have spent years getting lost sight reading 2 measures into a piece!!

2) The constant nagging by my teacher on relaxation of my shoulders and bow arm is starting to set in. I notice when I am tense and can correct it when it happens. The benefit? I can play for 9 hours without muscle pain. Wow!! Didn't think that was possible. Well...it wasn't possible with the way I was trying to play before.

3) I have learned to deal with my intonation mistakes in playing. I think the main reason for this is that I have seen so many GOOD cellists make mistakes when they are playing (on stage or in practice). It just goes with the territory of playing a string instrument. You just have to not let it get to you and move on to the next note. If you obsess over it like I used to, you ruin everything beyond the mistake that you can probably play quite well.

4) The ability to laugh at mistakes. In the rehearsal room prior to performance, I saw three 10 year old violinists standing together to practice the piece they were going to perform. One of the players completely botched her solo in one section...the other violinist laughed out loud and soon all three were laughing. While all of this was happening...they kept playing and all was well. I wished I could have recorded this. This should be required viewing for all adult beginners.

5) Somehow in the past couple of years, I have learned to control my nerves during a performance. It used to be that my hand would shake uncontrollably which made playing with a bow practically impossible. This time, however, I was almost detached from my performance which allowed me to focus on keeping relaxed and projecting the sound I desired. Interesting...not sure what I did to keep the nerves in check. Probably has a lot to do with #4.

6) My adult brain works slower than a high school kid's brain. I'm not as quick as I used to be...nor do I retain as much as I used to. I just have to accept it.

I stand at a the base of a huge mountain. I look up at the top of the mountain and start to climb. As I climb, the top of the mountain gets further and further away. This is what learning the cello feels like to me. However, it's hard to feel progress if you're looking up all the time. The biggest thing I learned this weekend is that sometimes you need to look down to see how far you've climbed....I noticed that I've actually climbed quite a ways. I spent the weekend picnicking on a spot up that mountain and the view....was quite nice!

My four month break from lessons

2008-06-07T15:52:00.002-04:00

Due to a lot of things going on in the first half of the year (mainly business/career) and the fact that I had felt like I had hit a wall in my lesons, I decided to suspend my lessons for a couple of months. The couple of months turned into four months and I just started back up again a month ago.

Although I took a break from lessons, I didn't take a break from playing. I still practiced from time to time and still played in a string quartet. With no lesson to work towards, my practice sessions became focused on relaxing my bow arm and bow hold, basically all the things that used to be stressed my lessons, and improving my tone. When I went back to my lessons, I was much more relaxed as it had been the primary focus during my time off.

This was such a nice thing and I would suggest it for anyone who feels like they've hit a wall in their lessons. I've taken many breaks during the seven years I've been studying the cello....some longer than others. I need mental breaks...and this break really helped me from feeling burnt out. After a month of lessons, I feel as I have made a dramatic improvement in my tone. I don't think I would have had this kind of improvement had I not taken the break. I'd still be obsessively trying to bust down that wall I was up against.

It's amazing what can happen when you take a moment to breathe before trying again.

I can relate...

2008-02-11T23:35:00.000-05:00

From the Far Side...

Happy New Year

2008-01-09T16:32:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe it's been almost 2 months since my last post but I've had a bit of a cello vacation as of late. It was nice and I needed it but I'm ready for another year on the cello. This is now year 7. Wow.

Time and time again, I've had teachers tell me the way to practice difficult passages is to slow the tempo down to a tempo you can actually play it. For people who lack patience (me), this is really hard to do...I frequently keep doing the runs I have trouble playing at frantic speeds thinking that one day, it'll fall into place. Guess what? It never does! All those frantic tries are just helping me practice how to do those passages the wrong way. I've had teachers go through passages slowly with me in many lessons. Almost every time, it has helped. Nevertheless, my first few tries at impossible passages will always be earnest attempts to do it "a tempo". It's probably not hard to guess that I run my life the same way. I am often disappointed at myself when I don't do things perfectly on the first try. I'm slowly learning to undo that thinking with the results I've seen in cello practice.

So...here's to a year of slowing things down, in cello practice and in life. Happy 2008!

Tag - Seven Things

2007-11-15T17:05:00.000-05:00

CelloDonna tagged me for 7 things. I'm such a slacker - just getting to it now. Here it is...

1. I was born in Malaysia, moved to Canada when I was 8. On my first day of school in Canada, the teacher could not pronounce my Chinese name. It wasn't that hard but every time she said my name, she got it wrong in a different way. After weeks of this, my parents came up with an English name for her to use. I still remember the look of relief on her face. I have used that name ever since that day! Very few people know that it is not my real name. Because of this, I often feel that I was born at the age of 8 - new family, new culture, new language, new name.

2. I once got a 68% in high school biology. I was so scared of my Dad's reaction that I forged a new report card with a 78% in biology. He looked at the forged report card and commented that I should have done better than '78%' in biology.

3. My grandmother has passed away now, but I still feel good every time I think about her. Here is a story about her: She came to live with us in Canada a couple of years after I moved there. When she got to Canada, she decided that she wanted to be a Canadian. She was illiterate in Chinese, having grown no education because her family was very poor. This did not seem to faze her as she tackled the challenge of learning a new language well enough to pass the citizenship interview. She went to classes every week and spent nights and weekends studying with me. Years later, she passed the test on her first try. She never did learn to speak English. She learned enough to answer the hundreds of possible questions she could be asked in the interview. It was a decade later before I appreciated what a feat she had accomplished!

4. A palm reader once told me that I have 2 guardian angels, probably some ancestors, watching over me. Maybe this is why I have always felt very lucky.

5. I secretly love reading Hollywood gossip.

6. I love to cook, at least that's what I tell everyone. The truth is that I love to eat!

7. I just got an iPhone. Please pray that I don't become an Apple evangelist lurking around the Apple Store Church! It's pretty hard though...I'm ooohing and aaahhhhing every time I use it!

I think most of the people I want to know more about have been tagged.....Has CelloMuser been tagged yet? I really like his blog. If not, consider yourself tagged! Do tell!

Orchestra Rehearsals #3 and #4

2007-10-23T13:57:00.000-04:00

Concert this weekend - boy that was quick. I really need more time to work on this stuff! Our guest performer this concert is a trio who will be playing the Beethoven Triple Concerto in C with us. They came to rehearse with us last night. The cello part is both beautiful and maniacal. I hope one day I can get to a level where not only can I play something like that...but to hold it together well enough to play it for an audience. Watching the cellist yesterday made me realize that I will never get "tired" of studying this instrument. I have so far to go and there's enough learning here to last through the rest of my life.

I am feeling a bit more comfortable at rehearsals now....I decided to hold off on the wine for now and instead, started practicing for the rehearsals :) Still not as relaxed as I need to be..but hopefully that will get better with time.

One thing I never understood though...why do the weakest players sit in the back of a section? When you sit towards the back,

It's harder to see the conductor
You can't hear your section
Bowings and fingerings travel back to you last so you constantly have one eye on the front of the section to ensure correct bowing...

Don't the weaker players just get weaker?

Little white lie

2007-10-05T10:50:00.000-04:00

I called my teacher this morning...

Me: "Hi D, I forgot I had to work tomorrow morning...so I need to cancel our lesson tomorrow. Probably best to cancel for the week..is it alright if I just see you next week?"

D: {pause}..."ok...you need some time to practice so you have something to show me next week?"

Me: {hahahahaa} "Yah, that too"

Doh! Busted.

Orchestra Rehearsal #2

2007-10-02T17:29:00.000-04:00

Last night, there were some more new members to the orchestra. I now have a stand partner who is a sophomore in high school. The string section is a bit small so I suppose there must have been some heavy recruiting efforts last week to fill it up.

Stand partner, C, is really nice and seemingly quiet...until she pulled out her cello and exploded with some runs from Saint-Saens A minor concerto to warm up. WOW. I recognized what she played because I gave that movement a go for a couple of weeks before deciding that I was not ready for it. This girl is GOOD. She'd only been playing for 5 years. In fact, it later came out that some of the students who joined the orchestra last night were students who did not make the big youth orchestra in town. I can only imagine what kind of nuts are in this youth orchestra if she didn't make it. Scary!

Now the cello section is really good...2 high school students (both really good!), 2 veterans from the orchestra and.....me. Unfortunately, I can barely keep up. My teacher says that I am really lucky to play with people far better than I am but I feel really uncomfortable with this group right now. We all know what lack of relaxation does for cello tone........ :(

Maybe I need to have a glass of wine before each rehearsal ;)

New member

2007-09-27T10:43:00.000-04:00

I made the local orchestra I auditioned for on Monday. Honestly, I think they would have accepted any cellist brave enough to audition but....whatever. I opened up one of the pieces we're playing for the first concert (Barber's Adagio for Strings) and saw treble clefs. hmmm Hopefully I survive the year.

When they gave me the audition details, they told me that the audition was just before the first rehearsal of the year. They were having a potluck dinner and they said that I should plan on joining them for the potluck after the audition. My first thought was..."What if I don't make it?" It would be a bit awkward to sit through a potluck with them if they rejected me! However I didn't want to sound unsure of a good audition so I asked if I could bring something to the potluck. I did have a funny thought of me having a bad audition, not making the orchestra and having to walk back to my car dejected with cello and plate of food in hand. Good thing it all worked out and I didn't have to eat by myself :)

Lesson Notes 9/22/07

2007-09-24T09:41:00.000-04:00

Great lesson! When crossing to an upper string, arm should 'push forward' and bow will pivot. I think Emily Wright talked about this in one of her Podcasts. I have been lifting the bow and placing it on the new string. Instead keep weight down and push forward - kind of like shifting in a car. Mentally, this is really hard to do but the times I did get my arm to do it, it instantly sounded better. I need to work on this more.

Also, I've been hearing breaks in tone. This is caused from me pushing into the string. My cello does not like to be pushed. The very first time I played on this cello, it complained when I started getting tense. Seriously! If I relaxed, the cello relaxed and rewarded me with beautiful tone. As soon as I started getting nervous and tense, it started whining. Pushing is bad habit anyway so cello wins this time.

Audition!

2007-09-24T09:10:00.000-04:00

I have an audition for a local orchestra tonight! I will play:

1) Popper Etude #11
2) Vocalise, Rachmaninov

The Popper is not feeling so great at the moment so I will hope for the best for that one. Vocalise feels pretty good. I'm really proud of getting Vocalise up to performance level. Last year, I went to see a cello performance student's grad recital at Emory. As I listened to her play Vocalise (beautifully!), I remembered thinking that I should add to this to my lesson repertoire. It sounded out of reach at the time but I wanted to play it badly.

I have studied that piece on and off for over a year! The notes in this piece aren't particularly hard but creating the smooth lines was really difficult for me. I had to dissect this piece up and practice minute sections at a time concentrating on constant bow arm movement that is fluid. This was also the piece I started thinking about breathing while playing. At places where I had faltering intonation, I had to practice those areas a few thousand times. Note to all: When you practice something a few thousand times, you actually do get to a point where you can do it right consistently! I never thought I would have the patience to slug through a piece like this for so long. Even if Vocalise doesn't turn out well tonight...I feel pretty good at the learnings I got from it. I hope this is an inspiration to those who are currently on a plateau with something they are working on.

Expectations

2007-09-16T21:01:00.000-04:00

Coming from an Asian background, a lot of was expected of me. Asian parents tend to push their kids to 'succeed' with a lot of force. This is both a good and bad thing but sometimes more bad than good.

I've always had a huge drive to "do well" - a drive that was well nurtured by my workaholic parents. As I got older, this sometimes became a bit of a problem. My definition of "doing well" gets further and further out of my reach the more I "do well". Love what you have, friends have told me, but how do I do that when I don't have enough?

At my lesson one week, I finished playing an etude and commented to my teacher that I hear more bow noise when crossing strings. He told me that I am not creating more bow noise than before...it's just that my ear is getting better and I have become more sensitive to the way I sound. My expectations are growing....and that I should keep those in tact. I should not let the noise of expectation come into my practice.

I realized how true that is for everything in life. I once read a little piece on how to meditate. The first point made in this article was to let go of all expectations of the practice of meditation and what it will do for you. What a great perspective! When you are not bound by your expectations, you have......freedom.

Lesson Notes 9/01/07

2007-09-04T11:57:00.000-04:00

I'm still recovering from this lesson. Total frustration! The more I get deeper into this, the more I realize how impossible this instrument is. However, I know it's not impossible because I've seen plenty of people of YouTube doing it!!!!

This lesson was Haydn C major concerto. All thumb position...thumb all over the finger board.

Things to remember:
1) Thumb must be locked..especially in positions.
2) Wrist should be below the knuckles.
3) Weight from thumb should come of the shoulder...not originate from the hand.
4) Fingers should be curled.

I welcome any suggestions for practicing these runs!

Lesson Notes 8/25/07

2007-08-26T10:38:00.000-04:00

Lesson today - things to remember:

1. E minor scale 4 octaves - again, 3rd and 4th octave need fine tuning as intonation is off.
2. Popper #11 - Should stay in the upper middle part of bow keeping weight down at that part of bow. Keep bow down when crossing strings to cut down on unnecessary noise when crossing strings. Don't lift the bow up which creates noise.
3. Popper #3 again - boy is it hard to go from #11 and then play #3. Completely different kind of etude. If I'm tapping with my left hand to get the note, don't tap with the bow as well. Keep bow running smoothly across the notes...draw the sound out with constant smooth bow. Sixteenth notes shorter

Side note - the Popper etudes are called the "high school" of cello playing. Are they serious? If this is what high schoolers are mastering...I'm in trouble!

4. Brahms again - start playing with metronome again. My tempo is all over the place, especially speeding up when adding intensity.

Posture note: shoulders back and shoulder blades closer together. Initiate power from the lower back..slightly forward. Right shoulder should provide a heavy dead weight down the arm. Weight should redistribute through arms to bow. When playing..that weight would be on all parts of the bow - even the tip.

Finally - keep expectations in tact. Don't expect too much of myself at the moment and just keep up the practice. Wait for the posture changes to settle into a habit.

Lost Love - A take-home trial gone wrong

2007-08-24T16:04:00.000-04:00

This is a story about a cello I fell in love with.

I had been mildly shopping around for a new cello for almost 2 years. There was nothing wrong with my Chinese made student model but I just wanted a great cello....I figured, I play on it almost everyday..why not? My close relationships to a few violin shops in town only threw more fuel to this fire.

One day, a shop showed me a restored early-1900s American cello by a not-so-well-known American maker. When they brought out the cello for me, I fell instantly in love with it. I was always a sucker for looks I suppose. This instrument was beautiful. The back and sides were made of bird's eye maple and it was one striking-looking instrument. I HAD to have it. Of course, it was kinda above my price range...details...details...

I took it home for a trial just before Christmas. My teacher played on it and loved it....as did the cello quartet. The sound was gorgeous...with a deep and mellow tone that comes with age. One night, after playing duets with a friend, I set the American down on my stand. The house was quiet and I was sitting at my computer. All of the sudden, I heard a loud squeal that lasted a couple of seconds. It came from my dining room where both cellos were. It had been a dry winter and I figured the pegs must have slipped. I looked at the Chinese...pegs in tact. I looked at the American...pegs in tact. Hmmm. I was pretty sure the sound came from one of the two cellos so I started looking around. And then I saw what it was...

It was the American. The wood on the front of the cello had split. There was a crack about almost foot long from the bridge area down to the bottom. I was in shock. What happens when an instrument is damaged in my possession during a trial??? hmmm I put the instrument back in the case. It was too late to do anything at this point...I would have to wait until the morning.

I called the shop in the morning and told them and I would bring the cello in (figured I would save the detail about the crack when I got there hahaha). I got to the shop and the owner (whom I hadn't met) greeted me. I told him that I had the American out on loan but.....it cracked last night. I got a funny look from him before he opened up the case to take a look.

Turns out that the wood had not cracked. The front seam came apart. They never did anything to the front when they restored the cello and I guess it was old glue. Apparently, the glue is intentionally not super strong so that the instrument has some wiggle room to expand and contract. With the low humidity as of late....the seam just broke.

He said that it could be repaired by middle of next week and asked me what I wanted to do...The shop had called me earlier in the week saying that someone wanted to try it out. I said that I liked the cello and go ahead and repair it. When I got home, I guess I was distressed from what had occurred and wasn't ready to do such a big purchase a few days before I left town for the Christmas holidays...so I called him back and said that I wasn't ready to move on it and that he should let the other person have a go at it. I would call him when I got back from vacation in a couple of weeks and if it was still available..I would give it another try.

When I came back from Christmas, the American had been sold.

On loneliness and music

2007-08-23T09:49:00.000-04:00

After my cello lesson one day, I pulled into a gas station to fill up my car. I drive a two door convertible so the only place I can put my cello is in the front seat. This puts the cello in plain view which tends to draw a lot of questions or comments about the instrument when I am out. This one day, a guy (with an unkempt, starving artist look) got out of his car at the pump next to mine and the conversation went like this:

"Is that your cello?", He asked.
"Yes", I answered.
He stared at me in a playful way..."Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Yes", I answered

Then he started on a rant...barely intelligible, but here is what I got out of it...
"I know how it feels...you want to get fully into music and play and play...but let me tell you something...you play music hard because you're lonely...that's why you get so good...it feeds you when you're lonely. Then you get a boyfriend and you're not lonely anymore and your drive for music is not as strong. You'll always be chasing it...why you play. You have someone in your life and you feed your music less and less....I know how it is..I was there. Loneliness creates that music..."

I dismissed his rant as mindless banter at first but as I thought more about it I think he had a point. I fully immersed myself in my cello studies because I was lonely. At the time, I had just gotten out of a relationship and the cello filled the empty space created by that loss. I made huge progress because of it. Five years I was single...and I feel like it shows in my music. I am now in a relationship with a wonderful man. Still trying to figure out that balance between the two loves. I still want to feed my love for music, but I don't get that same high as when I was lonely and playing. I wonder whether this is what having kids is like. How do you balance it?

Lesson notes - 8/16/07

2007-08-17T10:19:00.000-04:00

Today’s lesson was a short one. I was late and flustered. I backed out of the garage this morning and rolled into the boyfriend’s car parked in the driveway. Both cars are fine but it got me all flustered for the lesson…not the best of starts.

I started with the harmonic A minor scale, 4 octaves. First two octaves were fine…third was passable but the fourth octave was sharp and flat all over the place. I think I need to focus more on the 4th octave during practice so that it can be consistent. To top it all off, the last few notes of the A minor scale are beyond the finger board which throws any hope of control out the window.

Next was Popper #3 again. It was better this time, but I still need to work on keeping the bow smooth and in constant motion to avoid choppiness. We had a long conversation about this Popper etude and how it teaches many things. First is to master getting the chromatics in consistent half steps. After you can do this, there is another layer of learning how the notes fit in the music line. Depending where the notes lie in the series of notes in the music line, you may want to play a certain note slightly flat or slightly sharp. I’ve heard this concept a few times from a few people but I still get a bit lost regarding this concept.. I’m very much still trying to “get the note” much less fool with the note so that it is on the sharper or flatter side, depending on the music. However, something tells me that this very concept is why I love the string instrument sound so much. There is an infinite range of color for each note that the possibilities are endless. It is a close mimic of the human voice. Absolutely beautiful.

Learning as a kid

2007-08-12T10:40:00.000-04:00

I just got back from Sandestin with my boyfriend and his 2 daughters. One of his 2 daughters is 7 and has just started taking violin lessons (I tried pushing her towards cello, but in the end- violin won out). She has had 3 lessons. I've been able to watch her progress and noticed some things that are worth sharing.

First observation - 7 year olds treat the instrument and bow as a toy!! I cringe as I watch her point and twirl her bow around like a baton! The instrument gets bashed around too. She's pretty good about putting the violin back in the case, loosening the bow etc. but I realize how young a 7 year old really is!!

Her first lesson was about how to hold the violin and bow and to draw sound from each string. Second lesson was a simple scale up the A string...then the same thing up the E string. Third lesson had her "reading" Twinkle Twinkle Little Star from Suzuki 1.

I saw a lot of her throughout the first few lessons and here are the things I saw:

1. Practice sessions are about 10 - 15mins long at best. The attention span of a 7 year old is pretty short.

2. She held the violin and bow almost perfectly right from the start...and was able to remember how to hold it. For me, when I first held a bow, I remembered how uncomfortable it was. It was really the only thing on my mind as I tried to play some notes. For her, I saw that she was actually uncomfortable as well but her main focus was playing the notes. I don't think comfort level comes into the picture at all.

3. The fact that she was out of tune didn't really faze her. She was happy if she got through what she intended to do, regardless of how it sounded. Why couldn't I be so satisfied with that when I started cello lessons? Can you imagine how fast we would progress if we didn't judge ourselves all along the way?

4. She was anxious to display what she could do...even after the first lesson. Now here is the main thing that separates us adults from kids. I never had a performance urge when I started. I was very self conscious about how I sounded. For her, she ran into the room after the first lesson and said "Showtime!"...indicating she was going to play for us.

5. And finally - kids don't remember to practice. The parent has to remind them and then at the same time, sit with them through the practice to keep their attention on it. Even though she loves her violin and wants to practice, it doesn't come to her mind.

Anyway...just some observations. It hasn't been that long since I started the cello so it gave me a chance to compare her start with mine.

Lesson notes

2007-08-04T16:44:00.000-04:00

I just got back from my cello lesson today. I had practiced Schroeder #29 all week with a metronome set to subdivided 16ths. Finally got it at the lesson today (I had tried it last week and it was pathetic!). I played my first Popper etude (#3). Surprisingly went a lot better than I thought it would. It's such a pretty etude...a bit of a tongue twister for the ear though. I think there are more accidentals in this piece than non-accidentals.

Moved on to the Brahms E Minor Sonata. Although I've played through this whole piece...and even tried it with a pianist friend of mine...we barely get through 8 measures. Focused a lot on tone and color, big big shifts crossing strings without lifting bow off the string, fingers off the string quicker to avoid unnecessary noise, breathe breathe breathe. I got home from the lesson and got a call an hour later from my teacher. He wanted to tell me that he felt that the sonata was coming along, to keep at it and that it will sound really great soon.

That felt good!

A cello rock band - how sexy!

2007-08-02T10:20:00.000-04:00

Last night, I went to see a New York band called Rasputina. I've had them on my radar to check out for a while...but missed them when they were in town 2 years ago. The band consists of 2 female cellists (both on vocals) and a drummer. They came out in Victorian costumes...feathers and all. How cool is that?? The music was great (think Dead Can Dance, Portishead, PJ Harvey mix) and both cellists impressed me with the range of sounds they could create for that kind of music. LOTS of spiccato bowings and endless double stops...resulting in a need for a rehair the next day I'm sure!! I was also pretty impressed with them doing all this and singing at the same time. I'm just not that coordinated!!

I've been playing in a string quartet now for 3 years. It's my favorite kind of ensemble. Sometimes I feel so lucky to have met 3 other people who can put up with me (as well as my technical limitations) on a regular basis. My personal playing improved greatly after joining this group but the big high for me was when we started some coaching sessions and improved as a group. What an experience! I also discovered a huge love for string quartet literature.

That said, I've also experimented with playing pop music. The tough part for me is to "jam". Pop musicians get together and they just start playing...whereas I'm still looking around for some music to read. It's a leap that I haven't quite made but would like to do more of in the future. Has anyone done this? I think I'm a classical stiff - how do I loosen up and jam? I've gotten many invitations from band people to come and "play" with them. Like me, I think bands LOVE the idea of a cellist in the group. Unfortunately I've turned a lot of them down. My confidence is not too high when it comes to improvising and it makes the whole experience very uncomfortable for me. I guess if I just tried it more often, it would become easier.

New blog, new learnings

2007-08-01T15:53:00.000-04:00

I was procrastinating at work one day when I came across a few blogs by people who started learning the cello as an adult. It got me thinking that I could create my own. I never thought I would do a blog because I don't usually have much of a "voice" to document but I realized that this could be a good way to track my "journey". Also - maybe I could attract some people who are "in the know" who can add some input as well. How cool would that be??

I started cello lessons at 29 (I'm 35 now)...It's been quite an experience - not all of it cello related! Anyone who has read the book - "Never Too Late" by John Holt will know what I mean. If you haven't read it - you should pick up a copy. The book is by a man who started learning the cello at 40, detailing his learning process. Learning an instrument as an adult is an interesting topic in itself, but the book covers so much more than that! I found this book at a time when I was very frustrated with my cello "education". The ideas in the book changed my life, giving me some much needed relief to the frustration I felt in learning this instrument I loved so much. Sorry to get so deep - but as we get older, there are fewer and fewer life-changing things. I was very excited to have one dropped in my lap when I needed it most!