EMajor
- 2nd 1st 1/2 3rd 2nd
- 1 x2 4 1 x2 4 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4
- IV III II II I
Position Pieces: The Elephant's Waltz
- This was a disaster too! :( I practiced this, but for some reason it just didn't stick with me. Normally I can think of the notes and not worry about the fingerings, but not this time. I think maybe it's because I wasn't too familiar with notes on the G string in the first place.
- Things to work on:
- Try to make it sound like an elephant waltzing
- Heavy strokes in the lower half of the bow and also try bowing closer to the bridge
- Make the first note heavy since it's a waltz
- Experiment with bow lengths
- Work on faster tempo
- Make it sound more legato
Chorus from "Judas Maccabaeus"
- Sounding too "fluffy" - I need to watch my bow stroke and make sure my angles are correct
- My bad habit of pushing my bow forward too much has returned
- Things to work on: tone & bow angle
- Vibrato
- Clayton wants to start incorporating vibrato into pieces so we worked a little bit on doing vibrato on the half notes
- Vibrato is difficult... I spent some time putting together some vibrato videos to go over. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL43wDa-OEqffCmLwZtSOq9jMvOcxFfND9
- Clayton teaches the "soft/flexible knuckle method," and not the "rotation method" - not sure what those are officially called...
Also, after this piece I'll be switching to another method book to work with Clayton on. I think we'll be using Solos for Young Cellists. Clayton likes to go at a faster pace, and it's been difficult to re-learn some pieces to cover them with Adam. I've discovered working on old pieces is just not very fun, so by the time I get to the piece with Adam it's kind of boring. Also, they tend to focus on different techniques which can get a little confusing sometimes.
Got to record Minuet No. 1 which is kind of a disaster right now since I haven't practiced that in a while. I'm going to have to "re-learn" that piece before I can record it. ...ugh...
that list is a lifesaver, thank you! my teacher officially told me today during lesson that she wants me to experiment with vibrato and i'm a little intimidated, really! i've only done the preparatory exercises but not an actual vibrato.
ReplyDeleteby the way, i've just downloaded the score for the cello bits of the two pieces you're learning for the orchestra and my goodness, look at the amount of quavers and semiquavers! i know you'll do great. i think it's just breaking down the bits so they don't look too intimidating. that list of advice by vera jiji is great especially the bit about faking and not trying to play all the notes. i guess in the end, it's about performing for an audience?