Sevcik.... my nemesis. It makes me crazy just to look at it. Every time I pull it out, I cringe. I try... I really do. But ten minutes into it, my hands are painfully tense, my shoulders are up to my ears, and I find myself incredibly frustrated. It's not that it's difficult. I'm sure that, for some people, the Sevcik variations come easily, and they have no trouble... but I'm decidedly NOT one of those "some people." Without a doubt, I am not one of those people. Fifteen minutes after I try it, you will typically find my cello in his stand, and me (after carefully placing him there) stomping off and slamming a door. I hate it that much.
After a month of trying (that felt like a year), I attended my Scor! string camp. I seriously considered taking the Sevcik into my private lesson with Alana. I even packed it and took it to Atlanta with me. No, really! I did! At the end of the day on Friday, as camp began to wind down, I took it into my lesson and dug into my folder for everything I wanted to work on during the precious hour. Camp had been incredibly upbeat and positive, and I needed to continue that trend. As I held it in my hand and stared at it for a moment, I could feel the disgust rising up inside me. It was palpable. I knew right then, I didn't want to sour the vibe I had going for the weekend. I told Alana that I didn't want to take up my whole lesson on Sevcik, and that I wasn't making any progress on it, and tucked it back into my folder. She said it was fine, and asked me what else I had. We proceeded to work on Dotzauer and Elgar. She helped me work through some bowing issues and then we moved onto the Elgar for shifting work and smoothness.
So, without souring camp, I resolved to find something that I could work on. I knew I'd be working on shifting, and I knew that I needed to learn more scales, but I wanted something more creative, too. I began looking through the seemingly endless piles of books available for purchase. After thumbing through pages of etude books, scale books, short compositions... I finally settled on Cassia Harvey's The Two Octaves Book for Cello: Scales, Arpeggios, and Broken Thirds. I thumbed through it.... fingerings, shifting, and basic string indications, all set up like my daughter's band method, but without goofy cartoon drawings, and laid out easily to "wean" you off the dependency of looking at the fingerings. PERFECT! I paid for the book, and resolved to talk to my teacher at my next lesson.
**Fast forward to the next week...** Friday morning, my teacher shows up for a rare lesson at my house. I'm always more relaxed, and my lessons tend to go better, and more productively. He confirmed that he'd received my message, and I let him look at the book. I told him that I'd really been struggling with the Sevcik, but that I just couldn't seem to wrap my head around it. I confided that I really didn't feel secure enough in shifting yet, and that I felt my fingers just got too tangled up in trying to work through the Sevcik. "Okay. I can understand that. Just hold onto the Sevcik, and we can come back to it later. I was getting ready to move you onto something else anyway." He smiled, and I instantly relaxed, and the lesson moved on.
So many students are afraid to show any self-direction in a lesson, because we feel the teacher always knows what we need, and where we're headed, but that isn't always the case. Every student is different, every musician carries a different set of emotions, urges, and sensitivities. If you're dealing with a piece, etude, or concept that you just can't get your head around, that's okay!!! Be honest with your teacher, and let them know that you're struggling. If it continues, keep communicating! Never, ever forget that your teacher is there to help you and ensure that you make progress. Not everything will work for every student. A good teacher is flexible, and able to keep you moving in whatever way works best for you. That might mean you need a different style, a different book, or sometimes in the most difficult cases, a different teacher. Do what works, and your teacher should always do what's in your best interests. But never forget that it's always best to be honest with them, and with yourself!
Until next time...
Happy Cello'ing! #celloislife