That’s It: Practice Nov. 6, 2006 November 7, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Misc., Practice.add a comment
I noticed today that I was playing with bass virtually vertical at one point even though I’m using a Rabbath endpin. Tomorrow I’m going to find a straight endpin and use it. I’ll try this for two weeks and finally decide what’s the best endpin for me.
Practice Nov. 6, 2006 November 6, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Bow & Right Hand, Left Hand, Practice.1 comment so far
Time: 120 min.
I have tried out my bright idea of raising my shoulder, but my shoulder ached for the passed week. Thus, I should try to find a medium in between. Raising my shoulder allows my hand to move up and down the fingerboard without wasting time adjusting my elbow when I go over the break point between thumb and normal position. Today, I also noticed that there’s some joy’s to playing with the bow hair loser. I don’t know what to do about it. When I had my lesson with Mr. Hurst, he adjusted my bow such that it was loser than I’ve kept it for the past few months. On the other hand, Mr. Angell likes the hair tight. I guess it’s up to me. In the orchestra, I feel better with a tighter bow because I can press more, which is bad.–but it feels so good. I should talk to Lee and Hurst about this.
Practice Oct. 31, 2006 October 31, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Left Hand, Practice.1 comment so far
Time: 120 min.
Today was pretty neat. I finally got through the entire first etude of Findeisen.
Most importantly, I figured out that playing with my elbow sticking out to the left helps my shifting from normal position to thumb position. I used to put my elbow more or less behind the neck, but that created an extra movement of bringing my elbow up when I switched to/from thumb position. Having the arm behind the neck seems to be an inherent problem of the Laborie Endpin setup, but I think this gets around the problem. I just have to get used to it–it’s so awkward.
Practice Oct. 23, 2006 October 24, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Focus, Left Hand, Practice.add a comment
Time: 110 min.
Today was an okay practice, but I still had lots on my mind. I need to find a way to focus better while I practice.
I moved onto A major warm-ups, today, and I find that focusing on one key rather than every key is much more productive. I then practiced the Bottesini no. 2 I. I’ve gotten through the first page, but I have to fix up my openning vibrato. The problem is that I open with a thumb vibrato, and that doesn’t nearly as good as my pointer finger vibrato. I remember Mr. Hurst saying that I need to place the weight of the hand over the vibrato finger so that the finger becomes a folcrum. I’ll try that tomorrow.
Findeisen is okay, but I haven’t gotten very far in it. I’ll start with Findeisen instead of Bottesini tomorrow, and, hopefully, I’ll get farther.
Practice Oct. 22, 2006 October 22, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Practice.add a comment
Time: 113 min.
I started off with D major scalar exercises which I’m still having problems with at the top of the third octave. I still think this is because my fingerboard runs out at that point, but I still have to work on that. Too bad. Tomorrow, I will move onto A major.
Today was the first day I worked on the Findeisen book. It’s actually really hard and I only got through the first half of the first page. But most of the time, I worked on the first movement of Bottesini #2.
I didn’t notice much today, but I was just really trying to have fun.
Practice Oct. 19, 2006 October 19, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Bow & Right Hand, Practice.add a comment
Time: 120 min.
I’m not going to even try to recollect the other days that I’ve missed on blogging. But up until now, I’ve changed my routine. I start up with scalar warm-ups that mostly follow Mr. Hurst’s daily routine. I then do etudes and rep in any order. Changing the order spices it up a little from day to day. But I like the new routine, and I think I’m going to stick with it for a while.
My new Findeisen etude book just got in. In the mean time, I’ve managed to learn Nanny/Kreutzer no. 16. This etude also helped me prepare for the Bottesini Concerto no. 2 that I’m starting to work on.
Mainly, I have to keep a sharp eye on my point of contact while playing. I’ve been focusing on being parallel to the bridge too much. After to speaking to Mr. Hurst, it’s appearant that being parallel to the bridge doesn’t mean I’m being perpendicular to the string.
Fall break, Mr. Hurst, and the last few days October 14, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Misc., Practice, Private Lesson.add a comment
I finally did it. I found him! I got a lesson from Mr. Hurst during fall break and it was great. He recorded our lesson on a cassatte tape, so I’ll need to blog about it in depth with a cassette player near me. But mainly, I’ve changed my routine, and I’m dropping Dragonetti and moving onto Bottesini.
Sept. 28-30, 2006 October 1, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Practice.1 comment so far
I was burining out on Friday. I managed to get through lots of the scaler excercises, but I just played Dragonetti I & II afterwards. I don’t think that’s wrong. Oh, I also played Bach Cello Suite no. 1 Prelude. I don’t know–I just really like that one. But there’s no new discoveries right now other than the fact that I’ve been playing less excercises these past few days. That’s okay–playing music is much more fun. Maybe not as productive . . . but what the hell. Being able to enjoy the moment is part of this.
Practice Sept. 27, 2006 September 27, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Focus, Left Hand, Practice.add a comment
Time: 90
I had less time to practice today because I rehearsed with quintet for someone’s piano recital.
I find it easier to concentrate when I play the rep stuff, but I’ve got to get better at focusing in my scaler excercises. Hmmm . . . maybe I should find another way to make it harder other than getting faster. What should I do? I guess I’ll add dynamics to some of my scaler things.
With Lee’s new idea of shifting, I have to watch out for over shooting. But’s it’s still faster. Damn, that means I have to slow things down to get used to the new shift. Grrr . . . well the point’s to get better. I guess I should get off this speed thing.
I’ve also decided to repeat things more at lower speeds and push my hands to the max once so that I don’t repeat doing it wrong. But I don’t think it’s right to say that someone shouldn’t play something faster if he can’t play it well at a certain tempo. The idea of telling yourself that you can’t do something is just . . . wrong.
Practice Sept. 26, 2006 September 26, 2006
Posted by 06kahao in Focus, Left Hand, Practice.1 comment so far
Time: 120 min.
Today was about the same as yesterday’s practice, but better on the focus side. I made sure to cut my pointer finger’s nail. That was a good thing. I’m able to keep the curve in my pointer finger in thumb position. Ellison and Rabbath collapse the fingers, but Lee has it super curved. Hurst said that I need to aim slightly towards the side of the string. I prefer Hurst’s idea because . . . I do. One reason because Hurst said so. I also don’t like the collapsing of the fingers because I end up using less muscles in the fingers. It looks like it should hurt too. One problem with today though: cut the other fingernails!
Keeping my slow bows at 7 are great right now, but I’ll keep it there for maybe another week or so. The Nanny etudes were a little sloppy, but I’ll work on it. Kreutzer no. 5 and Fiorillo no. 18 are okay though. Kreutzer is still a little under 160, but I decided to speed up Fiorillo–is that good?
Rep is fine. I’ve decided that I’m going to focus on a more Rabbath technique for some of Dragonetti because I do the G string thing with lots of my scales and etudes.
