Back in the saddle again

Yes, it has been four months and I have not played my new cello regularly. I will admit that my life has been taken over my doctoral courses and teaching English at Grand Canyon University. I have made a promise to myself that now that I am off for the summer, my number one priority besides getting in shape for summer, is to get back into playing form on the cello. I plan to start practicing again this Monday, and I will post my new summer practice schedule then.

Practice Program

So I am loving this new cello of mine. It still squeaks (yikes) which tells me that it is just me playing the cello and not the instrument itself. However, I love the tonal quality of this cello as well as the ease of playability. It is a nice student cello, perfect for my needs. I wish now that I had invested in a good cello back in the beginning, but the thought of spending $60 per month to rent a cello seemed outrageous, so I settled for a poorly made cello and thought I was being "wise." Even though every cello website I went to said "do not waste your time with a poorly made cello," I didn't listen to the experts. I assumed they just wanted me to by one of their instruments, but in truth, they were correct. Students will lose interest when they are forced to play on a cello that doesn't suit them.

My new cello is perfect for me. I am still not sure how I will end up, whether I will purchase this cello outright or if I will turn it in and buy a better cello. I am content now, but let's see how things go later on.

My practice regime for the month of January looks like this:

C. Schroeder	Nos. 6-22
	Nos. 24-25
	Nos. 28-29
	Nos. 30-32
A. Schroeder	Nos. 3-22
Scales	No. 22 Cmaj
	No. 27 Gmaj
	No. 30 Dmaj

I am out of practice, and my fingers are weak and uncooperative right now. However, just since I started playing again, I am getting some dexterity back into my hands, and I am improving quickly. Carl Schroeder is the method book with which I first learned to play the cello. I like it because it covers scales and etudes and it has nice music to play.  Alwin Schroeder, Vol. 1, is the study book I am using for finger strength and dexterity as well as to practice bowing technique. I am slowly working through this book, but I hope to make good headway this year. This book as 80 selected works that include bass, tenor and treble clef, though a majority are in bass clef. In a perfect world, I would love to move into book 2 by next year, but as I look at the studies, I realize that I probably will be in this book for a good while longer.

I plan to introduce the Klengel and Starker books later in the year, once my fingers are used to playing my new cello without any finger guides. I also want to learn tenor and treble clef this year. I should be able to do this fairly easily as it is just a matter of learning the notes on the clef and then visualizing them on the cello fingerboard.

Oh, so many good plans! I will be happy if I can get to back to where I was last year before I set the cello aside for other things. I will have more time now that I am teaching and not working full-time. Wouldn't it be nice to look back on 2014 and review the year to find that I had accomplished my cello goals and that I was now moving into more advanced cello literature? Dream big, dream big!

Cello Plans for 2014

Merry Christmas to Me - A New Cello!

My new cello is AWESOME! I received it on Saturday, and although it is taking a bit of time to find the notes (no note helpers -- stickers or lines to show me where 1-3rd position is), I love the sound and the ease of playability. In fact, I just purchased two new cello books that should help improve my technical ability and performance.

I am renting this cello from SharMusic. I went with their SharWay plan, which costs me $60 per month. This is a brand new Chinese cello - a Franz Hoffman Prelude. It is a good student cello -- beginner level. Cellos are expensive to purchase, and this cello is priced on the low end (retails for $750). I can pay the balance of the cello off in 6-9 months or I can trade up for a better cello (I don't think I will do that, but you never know what will happen down the road!)

Cellos range in price from $500-$5000 (and up) for beginning to advanced student cellos. I have been looking for a new cello since 2010. I have priced a number of them, and I have read reviews, listened to cellos being played, and factored in the costs to determine exactly what I could afford to invest in this hobby of mine. I have played on two cellos so far. My first cello was given to me by a friend of my father's. He had an old Kay cello that he bought from someone about 20 years ago. Kay cellos were very popular in school orchestras in the 1940-1960s. My Kay is dated from about 1950. It is a laminate cello and sounds pretty bad. I replaced the strings once, which helped a little. The cello itself was very easy to play, and for that, I am thankful. I learned quickly, and I progressed to the point where I was able to begin Suzuki Level 3 books. However, the sound quality really bothered me, and I knew that it was time to get a better cello.

I was going through a difficult time financially, so purchasing a new cello was out of the question. My teacher gave me her Cremona cello to try out. She had bought it off Craig's list a couple years back and never could play it. I put new strings on it, and I played it for about a six months. It had better sound, but it was more difficult to play. I took it to the luthier in town, and I spent about $175 dollars getting it repaired (new bridge, sealing cracks, etc.) In all, the quality improved, but it became more difficult to play after the luthier worked on it (LOL!) 

In fact, as time went by this cello refused to play without excessive rattles and buzz noises. I constantly crossed strings due to the fact that the fingerboard was set too high on the cello when it was first made. No wonder my teacher couldn't play it! I struggled with it for almost a year, and I started to feel as though I would never be able to play well. I stopped practicing blaming the cause on school and work when really it was that the cello was so bad I couldn't play or enjoy it.

Three weeks ago, the Lord put the idea of getting a new cello on my mind. I don't know how it came about, but one day I just got this feeling that I should go check out cellos! I went to Southwest Strings first, and I inquired about a used Yuan Qin cello. I had priced this cello a while back, and I liked it a lot. It sounded nice, and I read that it was a very good student cello (retails for $2500). I was going to invest in it - make payments on it - but then my work life took a turn and with the monthly cost around $150, I knew it was out of reach for me. I didn't want to spend that much each month so I put it off. I then saw that they had a used one for sale listed at $650. I thought that this might be the cello for me. I asked and was told that it was not a good cello (nice of them to be so honest) to purchase. It had a number of cracks and it needed a lot of work.

A week later, I was surfing the net, and the Lord prompted me to check out SharMusic. I went over to their website and browsed around. I didn't really see anything, but I clicked on their rental program to see if they rent nationally. As I read about their rental program, I found myself clicking on the cello link. Next thing I knew, I had rented a cello from them. I could have purchased (rent to own) a more expensive cello, but since I am only working part-time and going to school full-time, I decided that $60 per month was doable for me. 

The cello arrived on Saturday. It was well packed, and when I took it out of the box, I was delighted with the color (deep red-brown). The A string and peg were off, so I had to put it back on myself (good thing I have changed my own strings before). It took a while to warm up, but now stays fairly in tune. I only have to adjust the fine tuners each day. Hopefully, after a couple weeks of playing, the strings will stay in tune.  

I am pleased with the sound quality -- it is a step up from my Cremona cello, and it has no wolf tones, rattles or buzzes. It is also smaller than my Cremona, even though it is a standard 4/4 cello. I love the finish - antique varnish - and I think the overall quality is good. Mind you, I am not a performance major. I wanted a good sounding cello to play with my small chamber group, and perhaps some day, play in the church orchestra. I am not looking to solo or become a professional cellist. I enjoy cello -- it relaxes me -- and I love the fact that I can play an instrument (after believing for nearly 47 years that I was musically-inept!)

I consider myself to be an advancing intermediate cellist (technically speaking), and probably an advanced beginner when it comes to performance. I panic when I perform so I don't do it, and I don't like the pressure of performing. I can play in my group, but even then I often miss notes and I will freeze up if the music goes to fast for me to keep up. My goal for 2014 is to return to my technical level of progressing intermediate (where I was in early 2012) and bring my performance skill up to Intermediate. My long term goal is to be accomplished. Accomplishment has various meanings, and different performers will view it through their own lens. In my case, accomplished means the ability to play any piece of music well. For me, that means with technical precision. I am not musically gifted, so to speak, so I am not a passionate player. I am technically good. This is my skilled area -- it was the same when I studied art (painting and drawing) -- I was never gifted creatively, but I could practice the discipline with great precision. Therefore, my goal is to be accomplished and to  be able to play any piece of music well. This would mean that I could play a piece of music assigned by an orchestra director (at my church) or I could play the cello part in a small group or in chamber.

To help me perform better technically and stylistically, I have created this repertoire for cello study:

Etudes and Scales

Klengel Technical Studies, Vol. 1 by Julius Klengel

I read several reviews and this book is suggested for advancing cellists who need to strengthen fingers and who need to develop familiarity with the fingerboard. I can play in 1-4th position, some 5th, but not consistently. I am solid in 1-3rd, 4th on the A string. I struggle more with 4th on the D-C strings.

There are two volumes of this technical study book. Once I master volume 1, I will move onto volume 2.

Schroeder Foundational Studies

I have been working through this book for about a year now. I am slowly progressing through the selections. They get progressively harder and I am stuck between 26-32. There seems to be a big jump in skill so I am hoping that with Klengel's book on fingering and scales, I will be able to progress further in Schroeder. There are 3 volumes, and this series is supposed to provide the advancing cellist with enough material to last a life time.

I have volume 1 only, and I am thinking it will probably be a couple years before I can finish this book and move into book 2.

Schroeder Cello Method

I have volume 1 and 2 of this series. I started learning to play cello with volume 1. This book worked for me. Not sure why because I have heard that some people do not like it. I was able to teach myself cello (initially) by working through the scales and using the Internet. I love the etudes in this first book. They are easy to play and give the beginning cellist the feeling that they are playing "real music." I have some other beginning study books (Mooney for example) that are easy to play (geared for children) but boring. I completed book 1 already but I cannot move into book 2 because it focuses on Tenor clef and I am still working on solidifying my knowledge of bass clef. Still, I hope to complete book 2 at some point in time.

An Organized Method of String Playing by Janos Starker

I read about this book on a cello website today. I ordered the book from Amazon, and I am hoping that it will do what the author promised (mind mapping the fingerboard to help with understanding all the note positions). The cello website where I found the reference said that this book would help you understand the cello, the fingerboard, and note placement. I am keeping my fingers crossed!!

I think this is my greatest need right now (after getting a better cello!) I need to "see" the notes in my head and to know where they are on the fingerboard. I still struggle to remember where the "target" notes are (thanks to Rick Mooney's book on targeting notes -- the one thing I learned from his series). I now know that in 1st position on the A string you start with B and end with D (with C and C# in between -- the dreaded C#). On the D string, you begin with E and end with G (G# being one of the most used notes on cello -- is right next to the fourth finger position). On the G string, you begin with A and end with C, and then on the C string, you begin with D and end with F. The sharps, which always get me, are now mentally cemented in my mind. My hurdle for January is to find the notes: D, G, C, and F (fourth finger) without going flat or sharp. I had a smiley face sticker on my old cello to remind me where to put my pinkie. I am going non-stickie on this cello, which means that I have to learn where to put my finger every time without that visual cue!!

Cello Music Selections

I am very happy playing etudes. Weird as that may seem (most string players do not like etudes -- according to my teacher who has been teaching violin and viola for years), I love these short pieces. I like that I can work through an etude and learn it well. I get frustrated over longer pieces, and etudes give me enough to chew on before I get bored. I don't really have any music selected right now. My cello teacher will give me parts to play for chamber, and I will be meeting with her every Sunday before our chamber group to go over them. I am on my own as far as lessons though. My teacher retired and moved about 45 minutes away from my house. She still has her small group come out and play on Sundays, but she is not teaching lessons anymore. She will go over the pieces with me to make sure I understand them. I struggle with time signatures and tempo mostly. Once I play through them once or twice, I am usually good to go. I am good at sight reading, but I cannot read super fast to where I could sit down and play through a piece on the fly. I can so long as the piece is not too difficult or too fast.

Down the road, I am thinking of working through Popper's High School of Cello playing series: 15 Easy Studies, Opus 73 and Opus 76. I would like to be able to say that I played through this series at least once in my life time.

Other than Popper's books, I would like to tackle Suzuki Book 4 at some point. I need to finish a couple of the harder pieces in Book 3 (Humoresque and La Cinquantaine). I really want to play Breval's Sonata in C Major. This is on my list of want to play pieces along with Bach's cello suites. Dreaming...just dreaming.

I did it!

I bought a new cello! Well, I am renting a new cello -- to be more accurate!! After a disappointing chamber group meeting on 12/8 and 12/15, I made the decision to invest in a better quality student-level cello. I ordered a Franz Hoffman Prelude cello from SharMusic. It is a good student cello, in my price range (for rental fees and purchase), and hopefully it will be easier to play. I ordered it today, and I am hoping it arrives before Christmas!

2013 and a whole lot of nothing

Yes, it has been over a year since I blogged on this site. I have been so very busy with work and school, and unfortunately, cello got set by the way side. My cello teacher retired in 2013, moved to another part of town, and I was left to continue to work on studies on my own. I did my best, but I wasn't into it anymore. Thankfully, we have kept in touch and our small chamber group still gets together occasionally. It is not the same, though, and that is what bothers me most. My son has grown up, now age 20, and is so very busy with life, work, and his own thing. Our other member went away to school (good for her), and that left just the three of us who remained (one adult, one high schooler, and myself). We have stayed together, and played together, but like I said -- it is just not the same.

I pulled my cello out yesterday and lugged it across town to play with my teacher. It was nice to see her, and we covered a couple Christmas tunes. My cello is so difficult to play, really I mean it. It doesn't help that I am out of practice, and that I have forgotten how to read notes, LOL! I invested about $250 into my cello in 2012, and the luthiers did a good job of getting it back into shape. But the cello itself is wrong, just wrong. It was made wrong, and over the years has suffered greatly due to neglect. I would love a better cello, but at this point, I am stuck with what I have and with what I can afford.

After all, I am a graduate student again (PhD) and I am working part-time (teaching English Literature) so right now I have very limited funds to devote to anything outside of living expenses. Perhaps in 2014, I might get a better cello? Oh, wouldn't that be lovely! For now, I will continue to dream of a new cello, but I will settle for what I do have. God is good to me, and I am thankful for the cello I have to play. Thank you!

Some thoughts on getting back into shape:

• I was just listening to George Winston's Christmas album on Pandora, and a song came on that had a beautiful cello solo. I so wish I could play something lovely like this song. I need to find some lovely cello music that is not fast, but is slow and melodic. I think I would play more often if I could play the kind of music I like to play.
• I have some good books to practice scales and such. I need to set aside a small amount of playing time each day and just practice. My calluses have worn off and my fingers are so sore. I need to get my fingers back into shape again.
• I need to make time to play - that is really the crux of the matter. I just don't make the time. I fill it with everything else BUT practice. My fault, my bad...
• Last, I need to recommit to cello and make it a priority among all my other priorities. I can do it, I have time, I just need to make it so.

I do love playing the cello. Yesterday as I went to my teacher's house I was thinking that I was no longer interested in playing the cello. I said to myself "I don't care anymore" but this wasn't true. After I got to her house, and we started to play the music she had selected, I felt myself let go and enjoy the experience again. I think I enjoyed playing because of my teacher and the small group I played with each week. It gave me something to look forward to each week, and I loved the friendship of the group. I miss that feeling, that sense of belonging. I think this is really the issue. I gave up playing cello because I lost my friends, my teacher, and my sense of being a part of a group.

Cello Plans for 2012

It is March 3, 2012, and I see that it has been about 8 months since my last post to this blog. A lot of changes have taken place in my life over the past months, and my routine for cello practice has ended up out the window. I have since regained my love of playing, and in January, made the decision to start practicing regularly again. I thought I would post my plans for 2012, along with an update to what I had hoped to accomplish in 2011.

Update on 2011 Plans (as posted last year)

• Greater comfort in playing in groups and in front of people
• Confidence in my ability to sight read and then play with a group
• Expression and fluidity in my bowing
• More study in position, especially 3-5th (working on 4th position since Fall 2011)
• Generally working on playmanship, playing so that I sound better -- no matter the style or level of music
• Lastly, overall enjoyment of the cello. Less pressure to perform, more effort to enjoy and be moved by the instrument and the beauty of its voice.

I was able to accomplish my goals for 2011, even though I really didn't have as much time to practice as I had hoped, especially in the latter half of the year. Still I am pleased with my progress, and I am looking forward to setting some new goals for this year.

New Goals for 2012

• Continue working on 4th position, and then move into 5-7th for great range of expression
• Complete the Suzuki Book 3 selections I am missing (Humoresque and La Cinquantaine)
• Begin Book 4 towards Fall
• Learn to finger without my tapes for reference
• Continued work on bowing technique for fluidity
• Transition to performance -- be able to play one solo piece in recital by Christmas 2012
• Increase my range of music to include folk as well as Chamber
• Lastly, continue to enjoy writing cello music, creating at least two pieces for chamber.

On the other side of goals, I am also sporting a new cello. My lovely old Kay cello needed to rest, and my teacher loaned me her Cremona cello. It had some major playability issues, so I took it to the String Shop of Arizona, and the Luthiers there fixed it. It looks beautiful, and plays well. I am really loving what opportunities exist for me as I continue to progress on the cello and move into more advanced and accomplished cello pieces.

My Repertoire for Spring 2012

• 170 Foundation Studies for Violoncello, Vol. 1
• Introducing the Positions for Cello, 4th Position, Vol. 1
• The Cello Collection in 1st position
• Suzuki Book 3, Humoresque and La Cinquantaine
• Vivaldi's "Spring" (for Chamber)
• Medley from "The Gladiator" (Chamber)
• "Through Time" by Karen Macklin (Chamber)
• "Ave Maria" (accomp. for Violinist Betsy Morrow's Sr. Recital)
• Some piece yet to be written by me

My Practice Schedule

With working full-time now, and getting ready to graduate with my Master's degree in English Literature, my time is very limited. However, I have figured out how much time I can devote to my studies each week. The following is a pretty good schedule for me.

• M, T, TH - Practice for 1 hour usually around 8-9 p.m.
• W-F - No practice, Lesson and Chamber reheresal
• S-Su - Practice for 1.5 hours stressing bowing and technique exercises, scales, and other easier things to help strengthen and develop quickness in my fingers.

Overall, my ultimate goal for 2012 is to become ready to perform at a Level 4 grade so that I can tackle most music and feel confident in my ability to play Chamber, folk or classical selections. Next year, my goal will be to learn how to play in Tenor Clef. For now, Bass Clef is my best friend, so I am content to continue to develop skill and reading ease with Easy to Moderate cello pieces.

Focusing on Technique

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I would add a little update. My current program is working well, and I feel that I am steadily improving. One thing that needs addressing is my cello bow-hold. I have been holding my bow incorrectly, and my thumb is stressed. I have to now learn how to rehold the bow, and it is so difficult to change this bad habit. The good news is that I am in less pain, and I can manage my practice and lesson times without a lot of tension. It will all work out in the end -- sometimes you just have to relearn technique.

As far as my study books go, I am progressing through the following books:

Solos for Young Cellists Cello

Solos for Young Cellists is an eight-volume series of music compilations with companion CDs. The series ranges from elementary to advanced levels and represents a truly exciting variety of musical genres and techniques. This collection of wonderful music offers young cellists the opportunity to work in various positions, techniques, meters, keys and musical styles.

American Fiddle Tunes for Solo and Ensemble: Cello

This collection contains 16 traditional fiddling tunes from across North America. They are arranged in a theme and variation format, typical of American fiddling. The authentic fiddling style harmonies are written so that various combinations from solo instrument with piano to duets and trios to full string quartet/orchestra are possible. Includes cello melody (solo), cello harmony and piano accompaniment. American Fiddle Tunes for Solo and Ensemble books are written as ensemble books, so they can be played as solo books with piano accompaniment or together as ensemble.

Hal Leonard Introducing The Positions for Cello and String Bass Vol 1 (Fourth Position)









I am currently finishing up Vivaldi's Concerto in C, first movement, and will begin the second movement next week. It is really a very nice piece of music, and I am enjoying it. I may post a link to my practice piece soon. I am feeling more confident now, and I think I could easily perform some of these works.