That’s a phrase I picked up somewhere along the learning line.  Quit trying to open a locked/stuck door when there’s a window nearby that you can open.

Here’s the latest music that I’m struggling challenged with:

So not only do I have string crossings (and this is allegro molto), it’s changing rapidly.  So divide and conquer!  I can only do one task at a time and my first goal is to figure out the notes.  For me it seems one option is to play two double stops for each grouping, eliminating the repeated notes:

This is a useful tool and it helps you hear the correct tones as well as practicing the finger choreography.  Playing double stops is another tool towards better intonation.  Basically,  you’re trying to training the muscle memory in your fingers to move from one location to the next location smoothly and easily.  Somewhat like playing guitar.  At the same time you get the extra benefit of improving intonation.

There are many applications for this.  If you’re playing the Bach Suites, I’ll bet you have many opportunities to try this.  Any music with string crossings is an chance to practice double stops.  You only want to do a small amount and just practice that.  As I’ve written this, it will be something I practice slowly and smoothly before I even try to play the music as written.

You know the old adage “Slow and steady wins the race?” Well, learning to play the cello is not a race, but slow and steady is crucial.

I am returning to pieces I’ve worked on in the past but never “finished”.  I felt so good after working through Élégie that now I’m back to the third movement of the Haydn Concerto in C.  I saw several students play it at the SC Cellobration master classes and I am motivated.  As Zuill Bailey said, “It’s in C!  You can do this!”

Instead of “playing” it, I’m looking at very small sections- like 2 measures- and slowly analyzing the true choreography that it takes to play them.  Consider the following:

First ignore all the open G’s.  The first to second double stop requires a shift from a closed position to an open position, maintaining the space between 2 and 4 in the shift, and pointing 1 to play the D.   Even this was tricky for me.   I drone a G at the same time.   I go back and forth, slowly, evenly, meditatively, practicing the shift.   I want my left hand to get more comfortable with this motion and I want to make each movement in a smooth motion.   Next I take the shift from the second double stop to the third and repeat the process, taking into consideration each motion for my fingers.   And so forth!

This is all I’ll be working on at first, but it does feel like yoga cello.  Controlled, slow motions leading to the goal of enlightened cello playing!

What really throws me is when I’m looking at a new piece, whether at home or sight reading in orchestra, happily playing along with quarter notes, maybe a dotted quarter and an eighth.   All of a sudden, there’s a measure with a rhythm that is different from what I’ve been doing (what was that composer thinking?).  I know we’re “the metronome” and I’m supposed to keep the beat going, but sometimes I get a surprise.

It happened to me in orchestra this week.  Merrily playing along with uncomplicated rhythms and then I see this:

OK, I was fine with the first measure but I was stopped at #41.  I do have a few methods of dealing with this.  On the fly, not so great.  I think I stumbled over the first 2 beats and just played the last 2, which isn’t the worst case.  But when I got home, I took a better look.

One of the things I do is add notes, then take them away.   So I’d play 4 eighth notes for the first 2 beats, then the last 2 quarter notes.  I ignore the tie.  Then I play the first 2 notes correctly, remembering to count it as One-ee-and-a (my go-to method for 1/16 notes).  The first note gets the “One-ee-and” and the second note gets the “a”.  (As an alternative to this, I could just play 4 sixteenth notes, then eliminate the second and third of the sixteenth notes.)  I play this a few times still ignoring the tie and playing the next two eighth notes and 2 quarter notes.

FInally I add the tie.  Just omit the first eighth note of the 2 that I was playing.  Now I have it.   I play the measure about a zillion times because I’m old and it takes a lot of repetition for my body to remember.  I like the “add notes and take away” method.  It works well.

The nice thing in this piece is that I get this pattern 3 more times so once I’ve figured it out, it’s good throughout.  And one more thing:  keep counting.  It always helps.

As cellos, we are often the metronome, setting the beat and keeping everyone else honest with a steady beat, neither increasing tempo at FF or slowing down at PP.   We are the champions of steady.

Sometimes, however, even we are befuddled.  When we see odd time signatures, or changing time signatures, we can be thrown off balance a little.  Just a little, as we ARE cellos.

Here’s an example:

This is from “Celebration” written by Beth Bultman, director of SCOR camps (stringcamp.com).  Notice time signatures of  12/8, 10/8, 9/8, 10/8, 6/8, 10/8.  It changes more but this gives you the idea.   Enough to confuse anyone.

Here’s something I learned at SCOR, thanks to Kyle Bultman.  ALL TIME SIGNATURES are made up of either 2 or 3 beats, of some combination thereof.  That’s it.  It’s really that simple.  So the 12/8 measure is 4 groups of dotted quarter notes, or 3-1/8 notes.

• 10/8 is two quarters:  2-1/8 notes and 3-1/8 notes.
• 9/8 is 3 groups of 3-1/8 notes
• 6/8 is two groups of 3-1/8 notes

I’m playing a piece in orchestra which is 7/8, so I think of it as 2-2-3 when it’s quarter note, quarter note and 3-1/8 notes.  It’s easier that way and it’s really hard to count to 7 every measure, let alone 12 or 10 when the time signatures are constantly changing.  If it’s a fast tempo, counting to 7 is thrown out the window.  The good thing about a piece like “Celebration” or the one I’m playing in orchestra is that an eighth note is always an eighth note,  in that it isn’t slowing or speeding up (although that can happen- but a conversation for a different blog!)

Break it down and keep it simple.  A fundamental cello rule.

I have recently found a new set of cello study books that are fabulous.  They are written by Cassia Harvey and can be found at Amazon or her website charveypublications.com.  I mentioned “Flying Fiddle Duets” in a  previous post.   It is written by her sister and is FUN FUN FUN and easy to play.

Ages ago I studied “Élégie” by Faure.  It’s a gorgeous piece and I got stuck on page 2 when the hard part came in.  Here’s what some of it looks like:

I had already purchased a help guide by another cellist to conquer this piece, to no avail.  I put it away and moved on.   Until I found “The Faure Élégie Study Book for Cello” which I discovered at Cassia Harvey’s booth at CELLOBRATION cello choir in SC.

This book puts in black and white exactly what my teacher tells me to do.  Small sections, worked in different ways, to teach your fingers what to do.  It would be great if I were consistent in my practice to really do this WITHOUT trying to actually “play” a piece.  Even when I cover up the notes before and after with my “post-its”,  I don’t always do enough of the repetitions.  Cassia’s book has me working ONE MEASURE over 2 (or more)  pages of exercises.  It’s wonderful.  I’m so excited that I’m finally going to be able to play this piece without fear of the dreaded page 2.

And this is only one of books she has for beginners, intermediates and advanced players.  Working on Bach’s Cello Suites? There’s a Cassia Harvey study book for that too.

Check out her catalog and I’ll bet you find something that will help you on your cello journey.