Trading Trial 7/8s

I stopped by my luthier this weekend to drop off the last trial 7/8 (you know, the one I got in early December that was due back the 26th, but they were closed for two weeks? Yeah, that one.) and it turned out that they had a new 7/8 that had arrived, so we just switched the cellos in the case, scratched out the old serial number and entered the new one on the trial contract, and I went back home with another cello. (I'd kind of been looking forward to having only one instrument case in my office, but hey, I take the 7/8s when I can get them because they're hard to find.) I took it out as soon as we got home and it's just lovely: a deep chestnutty-red colour (none of the orange stuff I dislike!) with two little knots on the front that look like dimples. It's certainly my second favourite-looking instrument so far in this epic search, the first being the chocolate-amber one that was bought out from under me back in May. I played the first section of the Lee sonata, and from what I can hear from behind it the sound is nice, too -- much more focused than the last 7/8, and certainly well-balanced across all four strings. We'll see what happens when I bring it to my next lesson and my teacher plays it for me so I can hear what it sounds like from in front of the instrument instead of behind it.

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A State Of The Me Update

Hello, world. I'm not dead, just really, really exhausted. See, having fibro = feeling like you have the flu all the time. So when I have the flu? Extra-bad, and extra-long to recover, and I never really feel like I fully get there.

And now the boy is sick, and HRH is iffy, no one is sleeping properly, and can we just fast-forward to where we're well again, please? The boy had to cancel out on a much-anticipated birthday party this morning, and HRH and I have had to cancel on a different long-awaited multiple-person birthday extravaganza tonight. We are none of us amused.

I did manage to drag myself out for a rescheduled cello lesson this morning, because I was going stir crazy at home and I needed the discipline. We decided to play the Lee duet sonata for the concert in April, about which I am very very pleased. It feels good to reply with an immediate and enthusiastic "Yes!" when one's teacher asks if you'd be interested in playing the piece you just started working on for a recital.

So yes, going wiped out my day's spoons (what there were to begin with) but it was worth it. I played both my own cello and the 7/8 on trial yesterday for a total of about two hours, and it is increasingly obvious that simply finding a 7/8 that sounds equivalent to my cello is going to be a huge obstacle. When I switch between them I can very certainly feel the difference in body size, but I can also feel the klutzyness of the 7/8s sound- and response-wise. It is repeatedly being demonstrated to me that my cello is indeed a very excellent cello.

Something I've really noticed in this revisiting-old-stuff-I-worked-on-twelve-years-ago is that these easy pieces really point out where my technique has eroded away. On top of that I'm trying to unlearn certain techniques that were taught to me (lead the bow hand with the wrist, the bye-bye movement to switch between adjacent strings during a quick passage) for more ergonomic and efficient applications. It means a good portion of my lessons are taken up by working on minute things, like today where we spent a good ten minutes on the tiny motion of the right elbow backwards to roll between the A and D strings. After fifteen years of doing that motion with a flick of my right hand and nothing else, it's hard to shed the habit and focus on doing the new movement instead. And at one point I was trying to incorporate three things we'd worked on in the lesson (a different way of approaching a half-shift to extended second position with the left hand, placing the fourth finger on the G two notes before it had to be there, and the right elbow-only backwards movement for the string crossing, all in a passage of four sixteenth notes) and my brain just about exploded. Learning it new would have been enough of a challenge. Trying to ignore the ingrained habits of a decade and a half while applying the new technique and trying to sound good at the same time? All three things on top of one another? While I'm still not operating at 100%? Let's just say it didn't work so well. The good thing is my teacher knows exactly how hard it is to rewire these sorts of things because she did it herself (her original training and my first teacher's technique seem very similar), and understands that planting the seed during the lesson is only the beginning, while setting exercises to work on the new technique during home practise are what develop it. And it's not like we hit all three things at once; we did them separately and they all showed up in that single four-note passage. She also understands that I need a balance of description and actual physical this-is-what-it-feels-like, so she often has me relax and moves my bow arm in the motion it needs to take. I close my eyes a lot during lessons to feel what the movement or sounds is supposed to be like.

I've rambled enough. I'm having trouble breathing, so I think it's time for some hot tea with lemon and honey.

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Survived!

Made it through my second recital ever. Go me!

Didn't screw up my shifts. Didn't let the bow skip. Didn't let the rhythm go ragged. Held a half note a wee bit too long but adjusted. The second repetition was better. I don't think I really lifted the bow as had been my bad habit before lessons either, although it wasn't as 'in the string' as I would have liked. All the trio and ensemble stuff was great, too. I wasn't a mess leading up to it, but the nerves did kick in after we'd set up and I encountered the 'will it never be day?!' mood that develops when you're ready and it's not time to start yet. Apparently we have another recital in June, and I'm actually looking forward to that.

Liam fell asleep ten minutes into the programme. He got to hear the littlest girls do their pieces, but fell asleep either during mine or directly afterwards. He was very impressed with the butterfly someone had painted on the youngest girl's face in full colour, complete with sparkly highlights.

Now it's on to making shepherd's pie (well, more correctly, cottage pie) for supper, and casting on HRH's scarf, as we nipped out to Ariadne Knits before lunch to pick up the yarn. Liam was very impressed with the yarn store, although was firmly convinced that there ought to have been a cat.

Recital Countdown

In the space of thirteen hours I have had two cello lessons, one private on Friday night and one group dress rehearsal this morning at nine. The world is very clear, bright, and cold today, but there's not much wind and so it's lovely. The snow removal crews came along and took away the piles of snow in the street, and driving was actually a pleasure this morning as compared to the hell it has been for the past two days. (Way, way too much time spent in cars in traffic Thursday and Friday. Noting makes me crazier than leaving twice the amount of time it usually takes to get somewhere to account for weather and traffic, and still arriving late.)

Anywhat. Happy thoughts. Cello!

I lugged the 7/8 to my lesson last night along with my own cello, and my teacher played them for me so I could hear them. There's no contest, no comparison. My full size sounds so much better: It's clearer, it rings, there's precision and just plain beautiful sound. The 7/8 was stuffy and dull. This just isn't the one. I was somewhat worried about this. It's going to take a lot to find a 7/8 that has the kind of sound my current instrument does. Anyway, it's not pressing; it can go back to the luthier and I can forget about it until they get another one.

(Also noted when my teacher switched between the 7/8 and my current cello: My cello is HUGE! Yes, yes, I knew this, but I'm usually sitting behind it and I'm used to it. Seeing it in someone' else's hands was an eye-opener.)

So yes, last night's lesson was great. I'm really happy with how my sound is developing after only two months of lessons. I can hear my intonation has improved, and the improvement in sound production that comes from better bow handling and control, too. There's a lot of confidence being developed as well, which doesn't hurt. I came home feeling terrific, which was very welcome after the day I'd had. (An hour on a bus to cover what usually takes fifteen minutes. Yeah. And then late to pick up the boy, late to make dinner, late out the door to the lesson thanks to the original lateitude plus traffic. It was very, very bad. Especially after the previous day's trip to the doctor for the boy's checkup, which took three times as long as it should have to get there and even longer to get home again.)

This morning the light was incredible, what with the sky being clear and so much snow off which for the sun to reflect. And although I didn't sleep very deeply or steadily I woke up in a good mood thanks to the lesson, and looking forward to the morning group lesson. I love the group lessons to begin with, but I'm really enjoying the program we're doing for tomorrow's concert. It's fun to play with the others, and they're a terrific set of people. Some are older than I am, some are around my age, and others are in their teens. We have the two darling little girls, too, who are so serious when they play; they concentrate so hard and yet they stay relaxed. I adore watching them. My teacher played her piece at our insistence, too (if we had to play our solos and duets, then she had to as well!) and we loved it. It's Fauré's "Elegie", and believe it or not I've never been in the room when an accomplished cellist has played something passionate like that. It was incredibly moving.

Afterwards we had our coffee and nibbly things and the kids played Christmas carols on the piano for fun, and it was just so lovely. Having a small group with a defined coach is so much easier than a small group trying to self-direct. And we all support one another and know exactly what everyone's going through or trying to work past.

Something I really want to work on in the new year is advancing my musical interpretation and expression. It feels odd to have been playing the cello for fifteen years, yet be so behind on, well, sounding good (in a different way from being technically correct). Even when I tell myself that I haven't had a lesson in ten years, my brain seems to think that because I've been playing in the meantime I should sound a heck of a lot better than I do. Today the tiniest girl, who is sitting in front of me for the concert, kept turning her head and watching me with wide eyes when I played the "Adeste Fideles" trio, which was nice. Being looked up to soothes both the logical and illogical parts of my brain.

I am looking forward to the recital. I'm still marvelling at the fact. I'm slightly concerned about the boy, who has been off the past couple of days and who will be attending the concert instead of napping, but que sera sera. And it will all be over too quickly.

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A Day Of Squee

My Ravelry invitation just arrived! Only four days after they said it would!

This, of course, is excellent news, but also poorly timed, because I have work to do. I wanted to get it done today, too. Oh well, it's due next Wednesday; if I don't finish it today I can at least get the rough draft done and do the polish on Monday, and still get it in ahead of deadline. Muah-hah.

This is also the day when I get to go take a look at the new 7/8 cello that's arrived chez my luthier. And I get a bonus extra hour of work before I do, because HRH wants me to meet him at his office after work in order for him to drive me over there instead of me doing the public transit thing to his parking lot and absconding with the car to get there myself. Apparently even more people have forgotten how to drive because oh noes, more snow has felled!!1! So I cheerfully accept both the extra hour of work and the chauffeur.

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Cello Squee!

Guess where I'm going next Friday afternoon? Yes indeed, to the luthier in order to try out a new 7/8 cello!

It's nice to be excited about new celloness again instead of mopey about how the whole Mystery Cello thing turned out. But that's still not off the list entirely, it's just delayed for a few years. (A few meaning something like a decade or so. Maybe I'll look forward to it as a fiftieth birthday present to myself.)

My cello fund has been nibbled at by bill- and gas- and grocery-mice, but I can put a down payment of three-quarters on this cello if it's the right one (and if they let me instead of buying it outright), and chances are very likely that by the end of the year I'll have the remaining money necessary to pay it off in entirety. If not by then, certainly by the end of January. Then I can turn to selling my current cello and recoup hopefully at least half of the cost of the new one, if not more.

I'm not looking at buying a cello for the sake of buying a cello. I'm waiting for the right one. I've turned down two, after all (and had one bought out from under me, but let's not go there). It just feels good to be doing something about it again.

And maybe this time I'll remember to buy rosin while I'm there, damn it.

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Orchestra Video

I debated about posting this, but why not.

Someone made a video recording of about half of the recent LCO fall concert. It's broken into approximately eight-minute long sections, so you can see the first and second part of the three-movement Mozart Divertimento (the second part covers the second and third movements), the lovely Adagio for Clarinet and Strings (the so-called "Wagner adagio", which has some nice close-ups of Martine's hands for you clarinet players out there), and the Haydn Symphony 104 in D major (first part, second part, third part, and fourth part). I wish I could say each part actually corresponds to a movement, but they don't. The first part is most of the first movement, the second part is the end of the first and most of the second, the third is the rest of the second and the full minuet/trio, and the fourth is the fourth movement in its entirety.

Why did I consider not posting this? Well, mainly due to the fact that the sound is awful. It's very flat and quite distorted. (Although I recognise that not all the distortion is due to the recording. Ahem.) The balance is completely off, and things are very muddy. Hand-held video cameras just aren't designed to record such a wide range of sound level, especially from that distance in a very echoey venue. And as such, it isn't particularly complimentary. But it's an idea of what went on. Also, it's fun to see what the audience members are doing while we play. (I was amused by the people nodding and tapping their programmes during the minuet, and by the kids.)

And yes, I am cleverly hidden by my teacher's scroll most of the time through the Mozart and the Adagio! Although the videographer seems to have moved forward for the first two-thirds of the symphony and therefore there is a better view of me from a three-quarter back angle in those recordings. (And thus my pathological avoidance of vibrato has been preserved for prosperity. I'm working on that now in my lessons.) Also, good gods, does my left hand always look that spidery?

This is the first half of the programme. I wonder if the videographer recorded the last half, and if it will be posted.

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