Hello, Thumb Position

Last night my hour-long lesson, which usually goes a bit overtime, clocked in at a solid hour and a half. Why? Because we worked on the orchestra music instead of my lesson stuff, which I think is sensible because my lesson stuff can wait while the orchestra stuff grows ever more crucial. Rimsky-Korsakov gave the celli some lovely lines in the third movement of Scheherazade, and wrote them in treble clef. Which means they are Very High. And that means thumb position.

Which I have never used before.

So I was initiated by necessity into the Mysteries of Thumb Position, and ow. But other than the ow, it made a lot of sense. I came home with instructions to play Mary Had A Little Lamb and Ah, Vous Dirais-Je Maman and any other nursery rhymes I could think of in thumb position, as well as the Bizet and Mendelssohn and Rimsky-Korsakov that require it.

I think my lesson would have gone quicker if I hadn't had to stare at the treble clef and count up from the bottom all the time to figure out what note what indicated. Because good grief, I'm only barely fluent in tenor clef, and now treble? I had to write it all out and post it in front of my music stand at home for quick reference.

And in 7/8 news, it's very very easy to play all the way up there in thumb position. Sixth and seventh positions in general have been easier to play than on the 4/4, so unless I'm making it up (which is entirely possible) we have a thumbs up (no pun intended) for ease of (and possibly easier) playability in upper positions. I'm finding the full tone reaches between fingers 1, 2, and 3 up very challenging up there, so I can only imagine how much harder it would be with an extra millimetre or two on the oversized 4/4. The distance between notes is supposed to be smaller up there! Why do the distances between full tones seem so big in thumb position?

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Astonishing

So I took the 7/8 in to the luthier last night (and was twenty minutes late, thank you every single red light on de la Verendrye) and talked about the kind of sound I was looking for. I played it for him and he agreed that the C string was a little mou (which would translate to 'soft' or 'mooshy' [not 'mushy,' totally different!] or some such thing, but in English those infer touch rather than quality of sound). He put the cello across his lap and WHACKED THE BRIDGE a few times.

Yeah. But he's a professional, so he can get away with it. Also, he was probably using some Jedi Luthier Techniques or something, which means there was More Going On than just whacking it.

And he gave it back to me, and my gods, it was like a different cello.

Then he said, "Hmm, the A is a little timide." And he asked what that would be in English and I said the direct translation was 'timid,' but again, it didn't convey the quality he was looking for. I would have said 'reserved.' So he put the cello across his lap again and inserted the fancy swirly crowbar that is the soundpost-adjuster, adjusted the soundpost, and gave it back to me to play. And my gods, it was yet again a different cello. The lower strings are more focused, everything is more balanced, and yes, the projection has improved overall as well. (Not a lot of the latter, but hey, it's a student cello.)

I am very pleased.

I signed a two-month contract for rental, paid the fees, and walked out with it. Now it becomes my primary cello so as to really work it and see if the size difference actually does make a positive impact on my technique.

I realised this morning that I haven't even looked at my lesson material over the past insane work-week, which is moderately problematic because (a) I have cello lesson in an hour, and (b) there was an entirely new piece that I haven't even played through yet, but I suspect my teacher will be understanding because I worked my orchestra stuff instead. (Good grief -- the Hebrides overture, the Arlesienne treble clef celli solo in the 'Carillon,' and the Risky-Korsakov; they will kill me.)

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In Which She Apologises

Dear new guest conductor,

I’m really, really sorry for panicking about the second bassoon part you asked me to play for the L’Arlesienne suite two nights ago at rehearsal. I agree that it was really needed so we could fill in the missing bits, and I was willing to give it a shot on the cello until you handed me the music. I was having a really bad day, and all I saw was multiple flats and tenor clef, and I knew I couldn’t sight-read it. Thank gods for M, who was willing to give it a shot (and pulled it off creditably, too). I’m pretty ashamed of myself, especially because it turned out that I could have done it as the crucial bit she ended up playing in that exposed part was in fact in bass clef and nice relaxed eighth notes. But her intonation while sight-reading is probably more reliable than mine anyway.

Just wanted to say I was sorry. And I should apologize to M again too, who was almost as flustered as I was about the music, even though I probably already apologized to her too many times during and after the rehearsal. I feel awful about it.

But hey, how about that sight-reading of the third movement of Scheherazade? Pretty good, hunh?

Sincerely,
the cellist in the second chair

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More Musings on 7/8 Cello No. 7

Yeah, I know, I tend to go on about this. It's a big thing in my life, and this journal is mainly for my records, after all.

I mentioned the slice in the table to my teacher at the ensemble lesson on Sunday and her eyes got very big. She looked at it and said, "Do you have a digital camera? Take a picture and send it to them, and ask them what they're prepared to do about it, and if they'll guarantee the work. This kind of thing can really affect resale value." I wonder if they might end up dropping the price a bit because of it. Because damn it, I like the sound of this one. I've already seen that four different examples of this model sound completely different; it's not like they can just order another one in for me.

Also, the more I think about this, the less willing I am to make an absolute decision one way or another in this brief space of time. Renting had occurred to me months ago when I was trying the Jay Haides in Toronto, but my mother reminded me of it yesterday. I know my local luthier rents student kits; there's probably no reason why they wouldn't rent this student cello to me for a few months, in order for me to get a better sense of how the size is going to affect my playing. Not all my rental fee will go toward the purchase, of course, but most of it will, and if I don't buy this one then I have a credit for whatever I do end up buying, be it cello or bow.

We got new music in the ensemble class yesterday: The Beatles' 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' arranged for trio (so much fun for the middle voice because there's that rhythm but you're not playing the melody you expect), 'Dona Nobis Pacem' as a canon, 'Ave Verum Corpus' (which I could not get in tune; the 7/8 felt like it was sitting funny, as if I was torqued, but no matter how I adjusted I couldn't shake it, and of course I was playing the top voice which goes stratospheric), a really fun blend of two popular tunes done tango-style, and a kids' song (we get to accompany the littles, and it's going to be hilarious). There will be more, no doubt. And I learned that my friend from orchestra, who also began studying with our principal cellist about a month before I did (and who also plays a 7/8), is playing the other part of the Lee duet with me, which is going to be lovely.

Back to work.

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In Which She Works Through Some Issues

This morning we had an awesome, awesome brunch chez Adam and Karine. The term 'groaning table' was invented solely for this morning's repast. We got there, the boys all ran upstairs and played on their own, we were given excellent coffee and had the blissful experience of having adult conversation while the three boys played elsewhere. Absolutely lovely. I love that the boy is at an age where he can be trusted to play elsewhere with others and not require constant checking-in. We knew things had gone well when the boy broke down when it was time to go, and said at random tearful intervals all the way home, "I want to go back to Samuel and Matthieu's house now."

But this post is mostly about last night's cello lesson.

Holy cello lesson of technical adjustments, Batman! "It may not feel like you're making progress," my teacher said reassuringly, "but when all this stuff is done you'll just fly." And I know I am making progress, because as I clean up one thing another becomes apparent (either caused by the adjustment or revealed hiding behind it) that needs to be addressed. It's like following a trail of Smarties to a really big prize of some kind.

Speaking of really big prizes: This 7/8 looks like it very well could be The One. It's the best one I've tried out of all seven so far. It's a bit richer and more intimate than the one I've got. Mine is clearer and has better projection (how could it not, it's freaking humongous, of course the bigger soundbox projects more!), which, if I was playing solo in halls, would be better. But realistically I'm not going to be doing that, am I. The more velvety 7/8 is fine for chamber and orchestral section music. And overall, if it's in this good a shape now, after a year or so of playing it will have opened up even more. The only problems my teacher confirmed were that (a) the C sting lacks a proper balance with the rest of the strings, (b) the C string lacks quick response, and (c) if the projection could be improved just a wee bit that would be nice, too. (So nice to have my initial assessment of the instrument supported. Go me!) A bit of adjustment plus a different C string would probably do it; she sent me home with a couple of different strings from her hoard to try. She's going to talk to the luthier about it this week when she goes in to pick up her bow that's been repaired. The only problem I've found otherwise (and just now, yikes) is a too-far-down cut made in the table where the neck is set in; I'm worried it might carry on down the front as a crack. We'll see what they say.

I played it for my entire lesson. Never even touched my own. This has happened all week in practise, too.

I also had something confirmed for me. My teacher was playing a passage on first the 7/8 then on my 4/4, and I liked both the sounds but in a different way. And she said, "Honestly? You'd have to spend a lot of money to find a 7/8 equivalent in sound production to your cello." Now, this is something I've suspected more and more through this process. My cello is a surprisingly good cello. People with more experience than I do tell me it has excellent tone and projection and balance and is very easy to play. Plus it has had forty years to mellow and develop. It's just a tad too big for me. And now that the possibility of buying a new 7/8 is becoming more and more real, I'm clinging irrationally to it. Is buying a new 7/8 a bad step? No, not at all; I'm just worried it's an unnecessary one. Yes, it's a better quality cello taken in the grand scheme of things, but do my current needs, or those of the near future, require the higher quality cello? Honestly, probably not. Will the 7/8 be better for me technically than the oversize 4/4? Maybe. Might my fibro require a smaller cello in the future? Possibly. Is the oversize 4/4 holding me back? I won't know until I start playing something else, will I.

Yes, I'm wibbling. Badly. All the shopping and research was fun, but the big step of buying it is so fraught with responsibility. It won't be a bad investment. It's just a lot of money for a maybe. (On the other hand, I've just remembered that this is temporary anyway; the real upgrade in quality will come with the repair of the Mystery Cello some years down the line when my cousin and I have the money. So there, wibbling. This isn't the end of the line; this is a step in the correct size direction. Stop second-guessing yourself about this nebulous thing called 'quality.' Do you like the sound? Yes. Is it better or worse than the one you've got? Neither, really; it's different. Is it a complete loss of money? No, because resale value will be high, and you'll probably succeed in selling your current 4/4 anyway at some point. So.)

On top of all that, I feel like I'm cheating on my 4/4. I feel like I'm being disloyal to fifteen very, very good years.

Argh!

As an aside: My teacher pulled out the bow that came with the 7/8 kit and said, "Aren't you going to play with this?" "No," I said, "it's dull and stiff." "That's odd," she said, "they're usually a bit springier than wooden bows." "Oh, no, this isn't carbon fibre," I said, "it's fibreglass." "Fibreglass? Why didn't you ask for something good? When you take things home on trial you can be like a kid in a candy store: 'I'll take one of those, and one of those, and maybe some of this...". Duly noted. Because eventually, I'm going to need to replace this cracked bow, too....

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First Review of Cello 7

I played the 7/8 yesterday for my entire practise time. It was that good. Usually I get frustrated with the lack of response I expect to get and switch back to my own instrument.

It's... resonant. A bit less clear on the C string, but that can be adjusted. It has really nice tone colour. There's a good balance across the four strings, nice response, and did I mention it's resonant? Holy cow. There were times when it sounded uncannily like my cello. In general it sounded much, much more developed than the last one. At least, it sounded that way from behind the instrument. We'll see what happens when I cart it to my lesson Friday night.

I kept hitting adjacent strings because the bridge/fingerboard combo is less curved than mine. I initially thought I'd want that increased but then realised that most cellists probably wish it was the other way around in order to use the minimum amount of effort/energy possible in switching strings. It's even easier to play than the last one in a physical way, too; the action is even sweeter. (The action was pretty much the only thing I liked about the last one.) What I find interesting is that they're both 2007 instruments, so they're roughly eighteen months old, and yet this one sounds so much more played-in. Just goes to show how wide a variety you can find within the same model and production year.

I'm looking forward to hearing it played by my teacher. You hear completely different things when you're sitting in front of the instrument being played than what you hear from behind it.

And now that I'm potentially close to finding The One True 7/8, I'm panicky. I don't really need to change instruments. I love how my instrument sounds, and I like how it handles. (I may just be used to it; a 7/8 might handle even better once I adjust to it.) What if I switch and it's a bad decision? (I sell the 7/8 privately and don't take much of a loss on it because 7/8s are hard to find, or even sell it back to the luthier for not much of a loss.)

I took pictures last night because she's really, really pretty. I spent more time that I ought to have because I couldn't really capture the colour correctly. But here's an idea of what she looks like. The first picture is the standard comparison shot of my 4/4 and the trial 7/8 (standard, ha; I haven't done this since I brought the first one home last July, but it shows you the colour difference and reminds you of the proportion differences as well). The second is a full shot of how she looks, and the third is a close-up of her 'dimples.' I've touched up the last one colour-wise to give you a better idea of her true colour:




I've just realised something: I've started calling the cello 'her' instead of 'it.' That's the first time this has happened. Hmm. This could be dangerous. (Or appropriate. Who knows?)

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For My Own Entertainment Records: The Series Of 7/8s

Cello 1: Eastman VC-100 (May 2008, La maison du violon Longueuil) [balanced tone? brown-amber varnish, in-shop trial only]
Cello 2: Scarlatti (May 2008, Wilder & Davis) [in-shop trial only; oil varnish with pronounced grain]
Cello 3: Eastman VC-100 (July 2008, La maison du violon Longueuil) [just didn't grab me, orange-red varnish]
Cellos 4 and 5: Jay Haide (July 2008, The Soundpost) [in-shop trial only]
Cello 6: Eastman VC-100 EA-78-954 (December 2008, La maison du violon Longueuil) [unfocused, bleh tone, stuffy, dull]
Cello 7: Eastman VC-100 EA-78-1460 (January 2009, La maison du violon Longueuil)

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