It's been almost a week since my lesson, and I know I'm late in writing this, but there are reasons. Last week was absolutely NUTS in my life, and I didn't even get a chance to practice until Monday evening, and my lesson is on Tuesdays. The only reason I didn't chicken out completely is because my daughter's bassoon lesson is on the very same night, and in the same location anyway. I was going to be in the same place at the same time, so I figured why not just go ahead and do my lesson? My cello teacher is really good at improvising when I haven't been able to do much on my own, because he knows I'm a busy mom. So, I went, but kept my expectations low.
Let's just say I walked out with my head in the clouds at the end.
1. He found out that fat people can NOT keep their cello against a wall to learn how not to move the cello during vibrato, which gave me a good laugh when he found out my endpin ain't that long!
2. Most people have two different kinds of staccato. One where the bow bounces nicely off the strings, OR one where the bow sticks to the strings on both ends, but has a nice, crisp ring in the middle. Lucky me, mine is a cross of the two. Yay.
3. I still hate Sevcik.
4. Dotzauer exercise 2 is a really good way to teach staccato, which I seem to be good at learning quickly.
There's the nuts and bolts of my lesson for the most part. Admit it, you laughed at number 3.
So, finally at the end, we get to vibrato and the Elgar. He started to teach me the old-Hollywood vibrato. Obnoxiously fast and wide, for extra dramatic effect during romantic love scenes, and death scenes. This style, right here... the one that will have you sobbing thirty seconds into the piece if there's someone dying on a screen. The "sappy love story" vibrato.
He says if you can learn that style of vibrato and get it strong enough so your arm isn't insta-tired, you can do any style or width of vibrato you can think of. I can already do it, but after 30 seconds, my arm is tired, so I have to work on that one a bit. But hey, I have a goal.
Finally, we get to the Elgar variations. Yes, that same one that I've been working on. I play the entire first half, and stop. I look at my cello teacher, who is, oddly enough, sitting there with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. "Wow.... You've really come a long way with that one. Keep going!" So, I pick up the cello soli, and have a little pitchiness, but the emotion is all there and my legato has gotten SO much better, even I can tell. We can fix the pitch with a little work and time, no sweat. After we reach the end of the cello soli section, he looks at me, picks up his cello (always a good thing!), and says, "Let's play this together, and I want you to try to match my sound. Play it as close to what I'm playing as you can." We play the entire thing together (except the one spot I get tangled up and laugh), and at the end, he looks at me and says "I need to start finding some intermediate repertoire for you, and maybe some duets for us to play together." Wait... what??
As any good student would do, I suggested the Popper, which he said he wasn't familiar with, (so I sent him a copy when I got home). I said, "I thought I wasn't ready for intermediate yet?" He looks at me and says "I wouldn't classify you as a beginner anymore." I don't remember anything after that.... I floated down the stairs and to my car, grinning like an idiot, with my teacher walking beside me, since he was parked next to me.
Wednesday came and went, and I was coming down with a bug, and after I got home from taking a day with my husband, I crashed HARD. I didn't even touch my cello. Sad cello mom here!
Thursday came, and I headed up to Virginia for my usual Thursday evening orchestra rehearsal. We played all the usual stuff, and we got through it, but then the director shouted, "Moving on! Nimrod!" I wasn't sure whether to dread it or be excited. I guess I was a little of both, and I hoped it would go as well as my lesson had. We began with the usual trouble spots, then went to the beginning and played the whole thing through as a group. He picked out the wind chorale in a couple of places, then he told the winds and brass to take a rest while he worked with the strings. Uh-ohh. This could be good or bad.
We went to the beginning and played all the way through. I had my usual pitchy spots (I KNOW... you're telling me in your head that I need to go work on those and fix them. I will... I promise), but it went well for the largest part of it, and I nailed the soli section. YES!!! We finished up, and went on to another piece. After rehearsal, the director came to me on the way to my car. "You've made so much progress on the Elgar. We're really glad to have a strong player like you join us." I thanked him profusely, then confessed that I've only been playing for six months. I don't remember much after that.... I was floating to my car... again.
I was sick in bed for the rest of the weekend, but I got my newest piece in the mail and looked at it. It's deceptively easy, but it's going to be a lot of work on long bows, legato, and vibrato. I couldn't practice my actual cello, but I listened to it a billion times and have begun to study the fingerings. There are NO markings in the music, so I have some choices to make. In the meantime...
Happy Cello'ing! #celloislife