Mon 0:45 (1600-1645)

Sat I had a dress rehearsal and a concert. Sun I played 2 services, which including the pre-service prep time was 5.5 hours at church. I didn't practice either day.

Today I did an Apres Un Reve run through, then listened to a recoding with piano, followed by 3 run thoughs with a piano accompaniment track, the first with music, and the others mostly without. After a tiny bit of shift practice, I...

... opened Suzuki book 1 and played through various pieces with as much nice legato as I could muster, both as written and in thumb position. That was kind of fun.

Then, just for kicks I did a Breval run through from memory.

OK, I don't know how productive that was, but it was fun, anyway.

Thu 1:40 (1200-1300, 1950-2035)

Just the facts. 30 min on Apres Un Reve, 15 min on Boismortier in case we played it at quartet rehearsal, the rest on orchestra music. Concert on Saturday. Unexpected evening practice time when I, alone, showed up for quartet rehearsal because I didn't listen to the voice mail telling me that our coach had an appendectomy and rehearsal was canceled.

Wed 0:55 (1204-1259)

I'm finding the @EmilyCello No Tension Challenge to be both fun and rewarding. Love seeing her Dvorak practice tips, and applying a few myself. Today I am working with this recording, and the additional challenges I added today were 1) talking a bit on the video 2) moving while playing, and 3) playing with a cat in the audience.

For practice, I started by warming up with open strings and slurps. First, I made the remarkable discovery that the bow change sound was hidden much better while letting up slightly as I changed direction, allowing the string to continue to vibrate until I caught it going in the other direction. Previously I had been trying all manner of bow change speeds but stopping the string as I changed direction. Cool.

I morphed into 1 note and 2 note string crossings, ala Vivaldi, and lo and behold, I can actually play the impossible string crossing pattern today. WoOt!

Moving on to Faure, I focused on just the two scale patterns, one ascending and the other descending, in the 8th line. I don't think I can even remember all the practice techniques I threw at those: add-a-note, double minting, add-a-note WITH double minting, using the harmonic to check intonation by alternating ringing and stopping. OK, I guess that was all the techniques, but lots of different patterns. I also tried to talk while playing - nope, not ready yet, but I could eventually say some of the fingerings out loud. I also tried to move a lot more, but I think today the movement actually induced more tension. That's OK, it will be better tomorrow.

Here we have 2 takes of the screechy half of Apres Un Reve. You can see on my face that I go in and out of "no tension," using movement to release when needed. I would say that is definite progress.





I'm not sitting on the notes today as well, but I'm not surprised, as between the cat, the talking, and the new movement I've made the task much more complicated. Tomorrow... well, let's see if I can think of a better way to move from distraction to no tension.

Tue 1:05 (1100-1215)

Warmed up with open strings and slurps, morphing into Vivaldi string crossings. Focused on right elbow motion. Found as the energy need increased with faster crossings it worked better to provide more body support forward from my chest. Funny, I'd never noticed that before.

Started the No Tension part of my practice with a run through Perpetual Motion in G. Continued to feel more relaxed with more body support.

Then Apres Un Reve. At my lesson yesterday we spent a lot of time on just the first two notes: starting the first note, and the shift to the second. Pointers included:
* Can't start with the bow sitting on the string. Must be dynamic.
* Over-supinate, even putting the frog in the hand to start. At about 1/3 bow, normal bow hold, then increase bow speed after the shift.
* The "shift happens" as the first note is played. Think dynamic again - can't sit on the note, then decide to shift.
* The arm motion is akin to the preparation needed to launch a basketball. Remember to "bend the knees."
* Remember to hummmmm. Pressing the string inhibits this.

For practice today, I did a lot of shift double minting, exploring these pointers and releasing tension. I played short phrases over and over, again attempting to release tension before beginning and to maintain relaxation through the phrase. I tried different (irrelevant) head movements and wiggles to monitor my body parts for tension. I also practiced phrases with a neighboring open string double stop to check intonation.

After working through the piece in fragments a couple of times (~45 min), I recorded a run through. What I tried to do on the recorded run through was to sit on the end of each phrase until I remembered the next fragment and released residual tension before proceeding.

There are some trouble spots still in the middle of the screechy section. I had my music to my right, so you will see me squinting at it (forgot my glasses this morning) to check when I can't remember what comes next. One takeaway is that I need to know the piece well enough to be able to think ahead, but I was surprised that what felt like lots of thinking time didn't perturb the rhythm as much as I thought it did.



Making the video at the end of my practice block turns out to be a very useful exercise. Initially I couldn't help but add the layer of nerves that a performance situation "requires." Today, I felt for the first time that I was allowed to practice in front of the camera.

Note: as I was warming up, I realized that I was never going to release tension while I felt cold. Thus, the funny furry scarf and the down vest. Funny-looking, but much more comfortable!

Mon 0:50 (1545-1635)

Today is the second installment of the @EmilyCello No Tension Challenge. After warming up with open strings, slurps, and a lazy D MAJ galamian scale, I worked on the first half of the screechy part of Apres Un Reve, 25 reps of each of the two phrases. I had planned to do the whole thing, but 25 relaxed reps takes longer than I thought, plus John was absolutely driving me crazy climbing my back while I was trying to play.

There are 4 clips, because each was a failure. Yeah, if there had been a good one I would have just posted it. The first was surprisingly the best. I sat down and realized I couldn't remember how the first phrase went, having just finished 25 reps of the second, LOL! But because I paused for the memory lapses I managed to keep fairly loose until the end, which is actually the beginning of Phrase 3, so I didn't practice it today. Then, oh my, what faces!



The subsequent clips are very telling for where my issues are - before every shift , and at the beginning of every phrase. No problemo!







Tomorrow I will focus specifically on "preparing the relaxation" before shifts and phrases. Knowledge is power.

Sun 1:20 (1817-1858 and 1932-2011)

There was a half hour break between blocks due to phone calls, so I listed the times separately.

First half hour was spent working out fingerings in Sven* Symphony, 1st mvmt. The relaxed playing from the previous block carried over; very gratifying. The last 10 minutes was dedicated to the icky scale with the rocky pattern in Capriccio Italiene.

The second block was spent on the second half of Apres Un Reve. I didn't feel ready to give it the 25x treatment, but did enough reps to confidently work out the fingerings and bowings. Intermittent focus on relaxation, but not total. I'd say it's 85% memorized. Tomorrow I'll do another block and record it for the @EmilyCello No Tension Challenge.

Sun 1:00 (1410-1510)

So, The Thing for today is relaxation. And I don't just mean the putting out the deck furniture and sitting in the sun kind, though that was nice, too. The most dissatisfying part of Thursday night's quartet performance is that as we waited and waited to go on I got more and more chilled and more and more tense, and when we finally played I was unable to release enough tension to play the way that I know I can, and that I did 1.5 hours before, during our warmup. It's not the nerves per se, it's the resulting tension.

I had a nice discussion with @EmilyCello regarding how to practice "not getting tense," looking for the best single thing to focus on while I practice, since I can't really OD on epinephrine and cope with it any time I want to. She suggested focusing on the sensation of relaxation to the exclusion of anything else I was working on for a part of my practice. And she proposed a challenge: video a run through of Apres Un Reve (current project) while focusing on relaxation, and post it. (A little epi-inducing, anyway.)

For today's practice, I divided the opening, pre-screechy part into two, and practiced each phrase 25x, pulling my focus back to relaxation as many times as I lost it, which was frequent. (You can see my counting abacus on the top of the piano.) Then I set up the camera and recorded it once off. That run through was less relaxed than the practice run throughs, but I am not entirely displeased. It definitely shows progress. Watch my face, which shows far fewer ticks than usual. (For some of my practice runs I actually kept my mouth hanging open - easier to feel the minute workings of the jaw that are the beginning of tension.)



Next time I'll do a couple of screechy lines. Be afraid.

Thu 0:42 (1441-1523)

Warmed up with open strings G C G D A DG then slurps across D and G. Really sitting right down there on the bridge, experimenting with bow speed on the different strings. Explored the sequence bow level change then bow change motion when going to a higher string on up bow. 10 min

Then it was logical to start with the little string crossing section in the Vivaldi (Spring) 1st mvmt. Worked from double stops in correct pulse. Seemed to work "OK" with just a little elbow drop after the pulse. Would be worth discussing this bowing at a lesson.

Next, fingering for soli section in the 3d mvmt. Loving how my bow weight from open strings is still carrying over.

Ran through the Handel, which we will be performing at a little recital tonight. Just took it under tempo, polishing a few shifts, and staying loose.

15 min or so on Apres un Reve, playing it with exaggerated passion and phrasing, big vibrato while, yes, focusing on keeping the right arm relaxed and weighted. Fun.

Back for just a few more minutes of Handel, and that's all for today. Warmup for recital at 6, recital at 7.

Tue 0:30 (1238-?)

First half hour
10 min Open G. At the end, was playing with bow speed - fast into change, slow out of it seemed to make the smoothest changes.
10 min Apres Un Reve. Shifts and bow weight.
10 min Handel, slightly under tempo, going for smooth sound.

Then I spent most of the rest of the afternoon with my orchestra music, listening to recordings while following the cello part, getting scared and depressed. Overtures are fun to listen to, but a bear to play, and a "light" program filled with overtures is a nightmare. There, I said it. Now that I've cleared the air, I can get down to work, but first I need to survive rehearsal tonight.

Sun 0:35 (1330-1405)

Weird, I think I practiced yesterday, but I can't remember it.

Today I was up at 0545 to play 2 services in church. Practiced ~35 minutes afterward. Warmed up with a few open strings, then E MAJ in a variety of patterns. Worked on Apres Un Reve for about 15 min, and spent the remainder of the time on Handel. OK, not so productive, but I was tired. Still am, evidenced by my loss of yesterday's practice memories.

Interesting morning in church. Turns out T4-'s in-laws attend my church, so T4- was there visiting. While they had hired an extra violin and 2 violas, I was the only cello, and evidently one of the cameramen liked my bright green shirt. It seemed like every time I looked up I had a view of my bow hand. (DH said I had more than bow hand cameos, but I spent most of my time looking at the music, not the screen.) Or, maybe my bow hand just looks especially graceful now, attracting even the attention of the non-musician cameraman? Hah!

Fri 0:40 (~1600)

10 min Open G, single note C or D on III, a few 2 string slurps

20 min Apres Un Reve, about evenly divided between 1st and 2nd thirds. I'm really not sure which string to finger the last 3d on.

10 min Handel, mostly focusing on the shifts.

I may be deluding myself about sounding better, but the ringing tone I am getting out of the cello is definite incentive to keep playing.

Fri 0:40 (1710-1750)

A short practice today, partly because I am feeling very dispirited, and partly because I got myself into a time crunch and that's all I have had available so far today, and I'm not likely to have any more time later.

Started out with the Faure Apres un Reve, gooey shifts and memorizing the opening. The treble clef section is more problematic, both because of the position and because I am less confident that I am interpreting the fingerings correctly.

Did a short period of actual work on the Handel that we (cello quartet) plan to perform in a couple of weeks. Buffed up two small fingerings, but was otherwise discouraged that I am never going to have the volume and tone the coach wants.

Ah, well. Moving on, warmed down by pfutzing around with a Gabrielli ricercar one of our other quartet members is going to perform at the recital, than a bad run through of the top part of the Canon a Duo.

Some days, the bear eats you.

Tue 2:33 (1042-1315)

The Thing for this week is all about shifting. Mostly about shifting. And about playing tennis on the fingerboard. Here are my pointers:
* When starting a note from nothing, think of hitting the ball and releasing it. There should be dynamic motion, not a start from a stop.
* Prepare the shift by unweighting the arm as you begin the note before the shift. The tennis analogy is still very apt. It's a bit like watching the ball bounce, curve up and down, and bounce again.
* The hand must be relaxed, and the fingers curved. Periodically monitor for my finger collapsing tendency.

T4 suggested that, in addition to working on shifts in scale runs as in Haydn, I add a piece which requires slower shifting. So this morning I dug out an edition of Faure's Apres un Reve - I have a Music Minus One volume called 10 Concert Pieces for Cello - and I spent the first 50 minutes on that. First I read through it roughly, then listened to the recording. Then another pass through at no tempo doing shifts and finger patterns. Finally worked on memorizing the first two phrases, with special attention to the bowings, as I kept getting out of sync. I would have kept going but I have a few other things to do today.

One more tip remembered from last week:
* In thumb position, the elbow weight goes down as the finger number goes up, to shift the weight over the playing finger. Fight my tendency to raise the elbow instead. (This makes such a big difference!)

Next 40 minutes: Haydn C, a little more than half on the exposition, and the remainder on the chord section. Slow, relaxed shifting practice, with special focus on unweighting the note before the shift. I'm not having much luck with getting the chords to ring yet, so today ended up focusing on the hand patterns with a variety of (separate, inegal) bowings.

Spent the last half hour or so revisiting Capriccio Italienne. Back to orchestra tonight, and my assignment is 2nd chair. Oh, terror, under Maestro's eye, or worse, ear. We also got word that the planned Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orch was scrapped for budgetary reasons (too expensive to rent) so we will be going with Bernstein's Overture to Candide from the last concert (which I didn't play) and possibly the Tchaikovsky from 2 concerts ago, which I did play but not entirely successfully. Plus I'm playing a different part - inside instead of outside. Enough said. Another great piece for shifting practice and hopefully eventually fast scales.