He said a good rule of thumb when working in a duet, is to first tune to open strings D, G, A and then C. I think he said that D had the strongest resonance in a cello and I should always pay attention to make sure my cello is resonating to get the best sound, so adjusting to the D before the G is better.
We went through Country Dance and we drew little arrows to show whether it was supposed to be played a little lower or higher. He admitted that it's tedious work to go through note by note, but after awhile I should start remembering if the note should be played a little higher or lower with respect to the other notes. I don’t think I’m good enough to adjust each note when I need to, but it definitely is good practice and its good to know / hear when the notes are off and why they are.
When I was listening to the duet practice recording, I thought we sounded pretty out of tune, but I was listening to my cello and it was resonating fairly well so I didn't think I was off, but with respect to the other note I was!
Clayton recommended that I play these pieces against a drone, which I have been, but I wasn't able to hear and recognize when I was off. Especially B flat against the open D string since haven't played any pieces with B flat before.
Assignments:
1) Continue working on Goodear.com intervals – 10 min a day
- I seem to hear 'Increasing Intervals with Prime, 3rds, 5ths and Octaves,' but for some reason I can't recognize them in Decreasing Intervals! I asked Clayton if there was a way to recognize this easier, and he said I just had to practice it, and to stop working on Increasing Intervals and focus on Decreasing Intervals! He said specifically for me since I don't have a lot of time I need to focus on things I don't do well in. How did he know I wasn't practicing Decreasing Intervals as much? LOL!
- I started a log to track what I was getting correct, so hopefully by the end of the month I'll have tangible proof that I'm getting better. Although I am able to start recognizing things now, which is pretty cool.
2) Jamey Aebersold’s The II-V7-I Progression Vol 3
- Read through the book
- Work on pages 25 & 26
- Listen for intervals and chord changes, follow along first
- Try to play along
- Play the arpeggios (the blackened in notes)
3) Jamey Aebersold's Nothin But Blues work on page 29
- Read through book
- Follow along and try to recognize and hear the chord changes
- Try to play-along to the CD
4) Work on intonation with duets
- Use a drone
- Really listen to see if the notes are in tune
- Play double stops
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