I've been taking lessons now for about 9 years. Recently people have started calling me an 'advanced student'. The first time I heard that, I thought..."No...I still struggle with getting the intonation right in Pachelbel..I'm definitely not advanced!!". After a few more mentions..I settled with the label.
The label is a strange one to me. In many ways, I still struggle with the same things I struggled with years ago. I still have trouble sightreading difficult passages but I freak out less often when I come across sixteenth notes. I still fake it in orchestra but now I make an attempt to practice the passages that look impossible which helps me not have to fake it as much. I still freak out a little bit when I see 5 flats but I know to remember to make the G flat. My lessons are less about learning the notes..more about phrasing and bowing.
However I think the biggest difference between me as a student now and me as a student 5 years ago is the concept of the magic pill. I used to think that one day, I'll be a "good cellist" or certainly, "advanced". I now know that this is a very very fluid thing. Maybe one day, I am a "good cellist" but the next day I could easily be a terrible one who should quit immediately. The journey is not linear...not in the least bit. There is no magic pill where you wake up one day and become all that you want to be. It really isn't about the destination...it's all about the road to that destination. Sounds cliche but it's so true. And I've also realized that you better enjoy that road...because that destination is a moving target.
Saturday, October 24, 2026
Fear Motivates
Enough of Popper for a bit! For the past 2 concerts, I've had to sit in second chair in orchestra. The first time was because the person who normally sits up there had to go out of town unexpectedly. The dress rehearsal before the concert was when they asked me to move up. Talk about FEAR. The piece was a Sibelius Violin Concerto and the concertmaster from a major orchestra was the soloist. Also, most of the third movement of this piece is played by 2 cellos only so I never had to learn most of the third movement. Not so anymore! I read it at the dress rehearsal and had one night to learn it and played it the next night at the concert.
The two concerts made me realize how much I can accomplish when I have to do it. Amazingly I was able to play most of the passages in the last concert up to speed!
This is a huge step forward for me because I used to think that I could never get it up to speed and that I just needed a few more years under my belt before I could do it. The 'Ah ha!' moment came with a statement my teacher said. I was complaining to him about how fast the passages were and that there was no way I could play it that fast. He said..just start at Point A (a slow speed) and click it up . What was the point if I knew that I couldn't do get it up to speed by the concert, I asked. He paused and said.."I have found that that was always my excuse for not starting at point A".
hmm
So I went home and started practicing the passages I couldn't play at painfully slow speeds. This is not a new method of practice. My teacher has often told me that I was practicing things at too fast of a tempo. Emily has written many times about practicing slowly. Passage after passage, I practiced it at a third of the speed. If I found that I could play it repeatedly at the slow speed, I clicked up the speed on the metronome. It was only a day later that I found that I could play it at half the speed. It was only a week later that I found that I could play it at a few clicks shy of tempo. It wasn't consistent and when it broke down, I would wind back down to a slow tempo and started again.
The method works. A couple of weeks later at the concert, I was playing most of the stuff at speed. It's pretty amazing! Being in the hot seat for the past two concerts made me resort to practicing the way my teachers have told me to practice. I can't tell you how much my practice has changed in the past 2 concerts.
The two concerts made me realize how much I can accomplish when I have to do it. Amazingly I was able to play most of the passages in the last concert up to speed!
This is a huge step forward for me because I used to think that I could never get it up to speed and that I just needed a few more years under my belt before I could do it. The 'Ah ha!' moment came with a statement my teacher said. I was complaining to him about how fast the passages were and that there was no way I could play it that fast. He said..just start at Point A (a slow speed) and click it up . What was the point if I knew that I couldn't do get it up to speed by the concert, I asked. He paused and said.."I have found that that was always my excuse for not starting at point A".
hmm
So I went home and started practicing the passages I couldn't play at painfully slow speeds. This is not a new method of practice. My teacher has often told me that I was practicing things at too fast of a tempo. Emily has written many times about practicing slowly. Passage after passage, I practiced it at a third of the speed. If I found that I could play it repeatedly at the slow speed, I clicked up the speed on the metronome. It was only a day later that I found that I could play it at half the speed. It was only a week later that I found that I could play it at a few clicks shy of tempo. It wasn't consistent and when it broke down, I would wind back down to a slow tempo and started again.
The method works. A couple of weeks later at the concert, I was playing most of the stuff at speed. It's pretty amazing! Being in the hot seat for the past two concerts made me resort to practicing the way my teachers have told me to practice. I can't tell you how much my practice has changed in the past 2 concerts.
Monday, April 5, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, March 12, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
2.5 weeks
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Popper #19, continued
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.
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.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Popper #19
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.
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.
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