Do what works

I have an amazing teacher.  You can see for yourself at nancello.com.  She encourages me beyond my abilities and makes me believe I can do anything.  So I continue to try everything.  I’m playing in a community orchestra and a new cellist joined me.  She is young and started playing cello as a child.  Needless to say, she is an excellent cellist.   She didn’t have any music so she was reading off mine.  I had to explain it to her, as it is full of markings.  Numbers, shift markings, colors, notated repeat info.   At the next rehearsal she had her own music with nary a mark.   I admit, most people do not make as many marks as I do, but as a late learner, I need more help.   It’s not obvious to me when to shift and I have a hard time looking ahead.  Bad eyes or just less practice, or a combination.  But since I’m doing this for my pleasure it makes sense to me to do whatever it takes for me to do the best I can do.   So I encourage you to do the same.  Mark up your music if it makes it easier for you.  Use colors and special marks that you understand.  I did notice that my new cellist stand partner was quickly marking the repeats on the music, just before we played.  So maybe all my ideas weren’t so bad.