It’s Complicated Part 2

I got diverted when I started talking about all the things we have to do to make music with the cello.   I watch others and I think, it seems so easy to them.  Why do I have to think about and remember so many things?  Actually, I don’t and neither do you.  We practice each part of celloing: the notes, the dynamics, the articulation, the bowing- in order to train our arms, hands, and fingers to do the work WITHOUT our brains having to remember everything.  It would be impossible without the muscles “remembering”.  There is so much to the music.   The training comes a little at a time.  I do write all over my music but I think that the act of writing it down reinforces what I’m trying to train my fingers to do.  And believe me, my fingers have a mind of their own.  If I don’t train them properly, they’ll do whatever they want.  Training them involves slow smooth motions, or they won’t get it.  (My fingers are slow learners.)  That’s what the practicing is all about.  Training your fingers (and yes, your bow) to do what your brain knows you have to do.  Your fingers don’t get the message from the brain.  They have to do the work, make the motions, over and over, to learn.   This is what you’re practicing.  It’s not rocket science, but it is complicated.