Do you remember as a kid getting that first bicycle for your birthday or Christmas? Off you went with your helmet, knee and elbow pads, and training wheels. You probably rode with those things for months to even years. Then all of a sudden Mom or Dad says, “Alright, time for your first ride without those training wheels!” Well that’s what I’ve done with my cello! Except it has never required a helmet, knee, and elbow pads. I have taken the tape off of my finger board, the training wheels for the cello. I was using the tape as some sort of gage for where the notes are. The cello doesn’t have any kind of frets so most, if not all, beginners use tape on their finger boards. Without that tape, my cello looks nice and all grown-up. Now it’s all up to my memory’s mechanics of positions on the cello and my ears for tuning. Yay!
After about a months break, Bay Strings Community Orchestra is back in rehearsals for the second portion of our season. Next concert April 15th so mark your calendar. I guess to attend this concert you can’t be late mailing your taxes. *smiles*
We will be playing pieces by Norman Leyden, Peter Warlock, and Gustav Holst. Meanwhile, when I’m not in rehearsal and practicing that music, I’ve been working on fingerings and shifting to different positions.
Last Thursday night was our first Bay Area Strings concert of the season. We played at St. Joseph Chapel. I’d never been there before, but wow, what a beautiful place. I was a bit worried about the strings on my cello because the temperature was in the 20s. That big of fluctuation in temperature tends to make my cello really have tuning issues. But all was well, tuning was easy, and the concert went well! Since this concert was so close to Christmas we did play a few Christmas pieces. ”It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” was my favorite. Below are some photos taken before the concert. Our next concert is in April!
Here is an example of what I’ve been working on lately. Looks easy, right? Maybe. Let me break it down for you.
In this example, there are three beats (notes) to a measure. The lines over the notes are called “slurs”. To play a slur on a wind instrument, you would use your tongue to make a beak in the sound as you are blowing into the instrument. For string instruments, they are played moving the bow in one direction (down bow, then up bow). The first part that’s tricky is that the first and third measures are moving strings, so I have to be conscious of the angle of my bow so I don’t hit other strings. Next tricky part is that each note gets one third of the bow. The purpose of the exercise is to be able to have correct bow angles and smooth transitions from string to string because yes, this type of slur does appear in actual musical pieces. I’ll ask again…looks easy, right?
Thursday night was the first rehearsal of Bay Area Strings for the 2010-2011 season. I always feel so nervous going to this rehearsal because I’m not as experienced at playing cello as I am flute and I don’t want to be late. I get off work at five o’clock and rehearsal starts it six. Mobile is not a large enough city to have a rush hour but for some reason, every major road gets extremely backed up during the five o’clock hour. I have this motto — Better never than late. I left work at 4:45, drove eight miles home to pick up my cello, and another five miles to rehearsal to get there right at six. Needless to say, I was fussing at the drivers around me the whole time trying to get there. I was able to speak to everyone, those who were there last year and meet new comers.
The first rehearsal was good and encouraging. We are playing a couple of pieces that are quite above my playing level which means I have a lot of practicing to do. Our concert is in December and we are playing this really nice six suite Christmas piece and once perfected it’s going to be really nice. The other piece is by Gustav Holst, Brooke Green Suite. We will get the other pieces in later rehearsals.
In some of my private practicing, I’m working on more fingering and bow exercises, along with some some pieces or arrangement of well know tunes. One of them was a Brahms piece that’s more like a lullaby. Let me tell you, when I first played it, it would wake a baby and make him cry. But no worries, I put a little more time to it and it started actually sounding like a lullaby. With a little practice, practice, and more practice every piece, exercise, and etude gets better and better.
Have you ever sat down and sight read a piece entirely and when you are done you think “wow,that has potential to be very good!”? Well I did that, for the first time since playing cello! I was so proud of myself, my husband recognized the piece and my dog didn’t run to another room howling. That’s always a sign of improvement, right?
(Yes, really my dog has howled at my playing. It wasn’t long after I began cello and I was playing an exercise over and over that she apparently didn’t think was getting any better and was annoying her. She howled and left the room. )
I was playing an exercise called Theme from the New World Symphony. The original New World Symphony was composed by Antonín Dvořák.
It’s not perfect by any means. I still need to sit and play it with my tuner. Most of my life I’ve played flute with the higher pitch range and sometimes have a hard time hearing and tuning the lower notes. However, I feel encouraged and I will have it beautiful in no time.
Woohoo! Bay Area Strings Community Orchestra rehearsals start back next Thursday!!!!
Humidity – (n) humid condition; moist; dampness
High humidity can be harsh on most anything. Look at my hair…
Low humidity, straight –which I love
High humidity, curly –which I don’t love
Yes, I have curly hair…please don’t touch.
Humidity and extreme temperature changes can really cause damage to a cello. I have a cello made of wood. Wood is a material that exchanges moisture with the air. It will expand and contract which will cause a lot of stress on it. The strings themselves put tremendous pressure on the body of the cello. When I’m not playing my cello, I store it in it’s hard case and in a room that the temperature doesn’t fluctuation so much. I typically arrive early for rehearsals, or wherever I’m playing, to allow my cello time to slowly adjust to the new temperature and air of the room.
I have to tell you a story. Not too long after I got my cello, Jeff and I went to some friends house for dinner. I had exciting repertoire to play for them such as “Jingle Bells”, “Old McDonald Had A Farm”, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, and “Can-Can”. This friend (I won’t disclose names to protect the innocent) claims to be an excellent cook. Anyway, we’re there and I’m getting my cello out, getting ready for a nice performance for them. Low and behold, he burns the bread…to a hockey puck. Smoke goes all over the house, the smoke alarms are blaring, and we have to open the doors. Uh-oh. It’s warm with smoke in their house and winter outside, not a good combination. My cello went crazy and a string snapped. Note, to self: Always keep replacement strings in your case. I didn’t get to play for them that night. But we went back a few weeks later and had an excellent cello performance!
Have a great weekend everyone!
First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for making my birthday this past Sunday extra special! From the Facebook posts, phone calls, phone calls singing to me, and the really cool gifts, I can’t thank you enough.
Since I got my cello, I’ve had a really hard time keeping it tuned. I took it to a luthier (someone who specializes in string instrument making and repair) to have it maintenance, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
When tuning, you want to use the fine tuners located on the tailpiece of the cello because they are more precise to the note. Righty tighty, Lefty lucy still applies. Turning them to the right makes the pitch move sharp (up) and turning them left makes the pitch go flat (down).
If the fine tuners have been tighten all the way and the cello is still out of tune, you will need to completely loosen them and use the top pegs.
To me, that’s when it gets tricky. I hate having to move the top pegs. If it has to be done, it has to be done. Don’t get all hulk-ified with the pegs. Turning them too much can snap your string. I know this from experience…with a snap in the face. Yes, I’m usually guilty of operator error. Gradually turn the pegs, push them in really good, and use your fine tuners to finish getting closer to the pitch.
Here’s something else I’ve learned. See how the string is wound around the peg in the photo below? It’s goes most of the way across the peg box.
It’s suppose to look more like this…
The strings should be wound closer to the cheek (walls of the peg box). This helps with keeping the pegs staying in place and not slipping. Learn something new everyday!
Back to the luthier… I took my cello to him night before last. He re-set my bridge, sanded the shoulder that had built up in my pegs, and re-strung my strings. I pulled my cello out of the case last night and had one of the “Waaahhhhhhhh” moments. Very nice!