tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12248678960697501922024-03-04T23:49:25.763-05:00You Say Goodbye, and I Say CelloAndrew learns to play the cello.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-39057742368614213502010-11-22T11:47:00.000-05:002010-11-22T11:47:36.757-05:00How can I trick myself into practicing the cello?It seems appropriate to share <a href="http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/10/27/procrastination/">this article</a> on procrastination in this largely empty blog about learning to play the cello. The article is fascinating, but long, so I'll summarize it for you.<br />
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We do not procrastinate because we are bad at managing our time. Rather, we procrastinate because we fail to acknowledge that we are weak and impulsive and do not make allowances for the fact that procrastination is inevitable. So, yes, it is a problem of poor planning, but the same amount (or more) can be accomplished by planning to avoid procrastination as planning to do the things you need to do.<br />
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The article talks about services that shut off your internet while at work (and who are these people that don't need the internet to work?) and the <a href="http://www.nutrisystem.com/jsps_hmr/how_it_works/index.jsp">Nutrisystem</a> diet in which you choose meals and a meal schedule in advance. It's all about your now-self tricking your future-self into being productive by giving yourself no other choice.<br />
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I can think of two ways in which I already employ this tactic of tricking myself into doing stuff in the future while I'm thinking about it in the present:<ul><li>Instead of an alarm clock next to my bed, I use <a href="http://onlineclock.net">a website</a> to wake myself up in the morning. This requires me to get out of bed to shut off the alarm, and there's no easy way to snooze, so generally I get up and stay up (although in a recent <a href="http://proko5.livejournal.com/818399.html">Livejournal entry</a> I talk about how future-Andrew is adapting to this plan, resistance is futile)</li><li>To ensure I don't leave the house without remembering that thing I'm supposed to bring with me, I <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=45046620&l=68712b0bcd&id=5510484">hang the object on the front door</a>.</li></ul>I know myself to be difficult-to-get-out-of-bed-in-the-morning and forgetful, so I plan for these weaknesses. I'm not sure how I can implement this strategy to ensure that I practice the cello. Keep the cello on my bed? Set an audio lock on my computer that only responds to the sound of an A being bowed? Train myself to have an uncontrollable urge to play the cello when I hear a bell ringing?Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-16099714847284497662010-07-07T10:10:00.000-04:002010-07-07T10:10:00.782-04:00Cello Practicing DriveFor every $100 donated to the violin repair fund in the month of July, I will spend one hour practicing cello. Please use the "donate" button at right to contribute, and thank you in advance for your donation!<br />
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Thank you to Brandon Travan (horn) and Scott Oaks (flute) for buying one hour of practicing each!Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-76388253981711771032010-06-28T22:06:00.002-04:002010-06-28T22:08:29.264-04:00Back to I Need MoneyRemember that violin I damaged back in April? Well, originally we thought it was going to cost $2,000 to repair, and I got on this blog and asked you all to contribute. Then the violin was repaired using epoxy glue, and that only cost $250, which we'd raised from within the orchestra, so I deleted the post. Now it turns out the repair was a failure, and we're back to needing $2,000. $2,700, actually.<br />
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Please, please donate by clicking on the button below. Take a look at that number again.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>$2,700</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">The violinist does not have the money to pay for this repair on his own. Please think back to a time when you made a mistake that ended up costing a lot of money to fix. Think about being able to help someone who is in that position now. I would be so grateful.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">If 50 each give $50, we'll be there (I'd pay the rest)!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thank you.</span></span></div><br />
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</form>Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-30044341519419981522010-05-24T01:07:00.000-04:002010-05-24T01:07:05.391-04:00I think I figured out vibratoIt's a rocking motion, isn't it? I had been moving my entire hand but what I'm discovering works better is keeping my thumb stationary and rocking the part of my hand over the fingerboard back and forth. I'm sort of rotating it in an arc, and the center of the circle is my thumb. It sounds better and feels right. Cellists, is this correct?<br />
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I'm glad I decided to rejoin the orchestra on cello. I'm not keeping up with the music, but being around other cellists is helping. <br />
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I think my cello teacher has gone home to London.<br />
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Tonight I played piano at a chamber concert (<a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117125531652356">QUOtets</a>) in an ensemble that also consisted of a violin, viola, bass, and (in one of the two pieces) accordion. The accordionist, Seth, arranged the accordion piece and composed the other piece, and we rehearsed last night in my apartment. I had only read each piece through once before we rehearsed, and one of them had a few measures of piano solo which I never quite got right, and stumbled through at the performance. Despite that, I think we did a decent job with them.<br />
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After the concert, an audience member approached me. He is a professional cellist and is interested in getting involved with QUO, but can't attend Wednesday rehearsals. Thinking more about myself than the orchestra, I asked him if he teaches private lessons. He said yes, but awkwardly, since the reason he approached me was to find out how he could help the orchestra, not to get a new student. In any case, teaching me cello would obliquely help the orchestra, and he seemed amenable to it. He lives in Astoria, which would be MUCH more convenient, although I wouldn't get to spend time in Sakura Park.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-70673565573480881832010-05-12T12:22:00.001-04:002010-05-12T12:22:44.902-04:00Disregard my last post (which I deleted)I just heard from the fellow who's violin I damaged, and he said the repair is likely going to cost far less than he was originally quoted. We don't know for sure, but he asked me to hold off on fundraising for now. Thank you to everyone who has already generously offered your support!Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-46489640921087825152010-05-07T01:17:00.000-04:002010-05-07T01:17:10.458-04:00An Order of Magnitude HigherJust found out that my blunder last week is quite a bit worse than the college blunder I mentioned at the end of my last post. About ten times worse.<br />
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On another note, a friend's Facebook post about NYSSMA brought back a memory I'll share with you now. By 11th grade, I'd done NYSSMA on piano twice, but never on violin. Our orchestra teacher made performing a NYSSMA solo a requirement of the class, and we could choose either to perform our solo for the NYSSMA adjudicators or for the class. Naturally, most people chose the more intimate audience of an adjudicator. I have no idea why they're called "adjudicators" and not "judges," but how often does one get to use the word "adjudicator?"<br />
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For my solo, I played <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPba-i26YNA">Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in A minor</a>. Like many of my classmates, I'd never taken private violin lessons and everything I knew about violin playing came from what I picked up in our bi-daily rehearsals and the occasional monthly group lesson. Let me branch off and talk about those lessons for a moment. Lessons took place during another period when you had another class. The schedule was devised so that no one ever missed the same period twice in one year. This ended up being a surprise get-out-of-class-free card, however, I rarely went to them. Lessons, though a reprieve from class, generally weren't much better (enjoyment-wise) than sitting through the class in the first place. Also, the schedule was so erratic that I never knew they were coming, and often just forgot about them. I wonder how many other people treated lessons like I did, and whether the orchestra teacher sat in her classroom wondering who was going to actually show up to them.<br />
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Anyway, the point of this story is that, as I was waiting for my turn to play my NYSSMA solo, I heard a 4th grade girl practicing the very same piece, and playing it much better than I could. I never cared about my progress on the violin, so this only made me laugh. I think my indifference towards the violin is why I still have my violin today. Had I cared about it, I'm sure I would have thrown it across the room in frustration and broken it a few times. I cared about the piano, and consequently abused it, but fortunately never did much damage because the piano is a much more hearty instrument than the violin.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-62196665463289456432010-04-29T01:16:00.000-04:002010-04-29T01:16:34.532-04:00Blunt Force TraumaThere were a few new people at rehearsal today. Well, I think only one of them was actually new, and the others had been to rehearsals when I was absent for one reason or another. The new new person was a violinist, which everyone was happy about. We also had a returning violist and a bassist (for the second time ever), which made our string section bigger than it had been in a long while.<br />
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As a member of the leadership team, I sat down next to the new violinist at the break and introduced myself. I then went about my duties as dues wrangler, collecting money from people. I took the precarious way to the oboes, walking between chairs with violins placed on them. I got there successfully, but on my way back, disaster struck. I can't even tell you how I managed to do it, but I walked into one of the violins, snapping the scroll right off and sending it flying to the floor.<br />
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I couldn't believe what I saw. It was like looking at a severed hand. Then I realized whose violin it was: the new guy's. On his first day in a new orchestra, some doofus breaks his violin. He stared agape for a while, and all I could do was stand there and apologize. People in the vicinity were also staring, but no one said a word. Rehearsal was starting again, and the conductor asked us to work it out amongst ourselves. I invited him into the hallway to talk.<br />
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The talk went well, and once he got over the initial shock he was very understanding towards me. I offered to help him pay for the repair (assuming it is reparable, cross your fingers) and to lend him my violin so he has something to practice on (thankfully, I broke an instrument for which I have a spare). He said he was going to go back to transcribing bowing markings into his music, which meant I hadn't scared him away and he had every intention of continuing to play in the orchestra. I still felt horrible, and was utterly unable to concentrate on the music for the rest of the rehearsal.<br />
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When I got home, I saw that another member of the orchestra had sent an email announcing that he was taking up a collection to offset the cost of repairing the violin, which warmed my heart. It reminded me of a time in college when I'd made a miscalculation that cost my fraternity a few hundred dollars. Even though it was my mistake, Brothers pooled their money together and covered the difference. That's one of the reasons why QUO is so great.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-29415944718336556802010-04-06T21:47:00.000-04:002010-04-06T21:47:45.061-04:00It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Lesson #2)I was rushed on the day of my first cello lesson. My second was the opposite. I practiced a little before leaving, and I arrived fifteen minutes early so I wandered around a bit and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2366928&id=5510484&l=9cfe9d8a1a">took pictures</a>.<br />
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At my last lesson, we discovered that one of my strings was vibrating against the fingerboard and making a hideous buzzing sound. That problem went away on its own, to my great relief.<br />
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I told my teacher, as I will tell you now, that I've decided to play cello in the orchestra this set. It's just silly to be in an orchestra and not play. As much as I loved being dues bitch last set, it was kind of depressing to watch everyone else play while I sat and did nothing but stare at my dues spreadsheet, occasionally doodling in the margins. After a few trips up and down the C major scale, we spent the rest of the lesson working on next set's orchestra music: Ravel's <i>Pavane pour une infante défunte</i> and Offenbach's Overture to <i>Orpheus in the Underworld</i>. We'll also be playing Mozart's Overture to <i>The Magic Flute</i> and Tchaikovsky's Third Symphony, of which I am terrified.<br />
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By the time we'd gotten through <i>Pavane</i>, we were already over time, but she graciously offered more of her time so we could look at <i>Orpheus</i>. She's really just the sweetest.<br />
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Our first orchestra rehearsal is tomorrow and I'm excited for it. I hope to get in some practicing before it.<br />
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I'd like to buy a hook so I can hang my cello up on my wall. Anyone know where I could buy such a thing?Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-57551363041922623992010-03-13T01:20:00.000-05:002010-03-13T01:20:19.792-05:00Like a Virgin: My First Cello LessonEight months after buying myself a cello, I finally had my first ever legitimate cello lesson today (legitimate meaning I paid for it). At first, we set the time of the lesson at 4pm, but as it became clear that was absolutely not going to happen, I emailed her and asked to do it later. We agreed on 5:30, and I got in my car at 4:45. It didn't hit me that 4:45pm is a terrible time to be on the RFK Bridge until I was already on it. 125th Street was also a miserable trek and I really thought I wasn't going to make it by 5:30 after I asked her to switch the time TO 5:30. Miraculously, I found a parking spot right around the corner from her building at 5:29.<br />
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Ayanna is a student at Manhattan School of Music. There are practice rooms in the same building as the residence hall, which I thought was very neat. It was my first time in a practice room since 2002.<br />
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I neglected to do any preparation for the lesson, which meant my cello was in no condition to be played when we took it out of the case. The bridge was in another time zone, so Ayanna spent a few minutes getting my cello into playing condition and tuning it. Unfortunately, once she'd gotten the thing tuned, there was a buzzing sound from the G string (laugh, get it out of your system). After loosening the pegs, moving the bridge, and retuning a few times, there was nothing we could do to get rid of the buzz, and then something started rattling. We decided my cello was just having fun with us at this point, gave up for the time being, and I practiced on her cello for the duration of the lesson.<br />
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Ayanna was very sweet. It was totally on me that we had to waste the first 15 minutes of the lesson fixing my cello. She even offered to go later so I'd still get my hour of lesson time with her. I spent a total of 90 minutes with her and she only charged me for an hour.<br />
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She watched me play a C scale and offered pointers on how to hold the bow and how to position my left hand, some of which I heard before and some of which I hadn't. She had no comment on the position of the cello on my body, which means I retained something from last year! After that, we opened the Suzuki book and I sightread Rigadoon, an easy piece on the top two strings. After playing it through alone a few times and with her a few times, she on-the-spot composed a piano accompaniment and we played it together on the two instruments. Playing it with the piano made me feel like a cellist for the first time.<br />
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My assignments for our next lesson (3/30) are Rigadoon, a Bach minuet (also in the Suzuki book), the A minor melodic scale, and something else from my book of Klengel exercises. Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-35853738981315966492010-03-02T23:30:00.000-05:002010-03-02T23:30:51.730-05:00Month by monthI didn't consciously make any new year's resolutions this year, but the way it's worked out is I've succeeded in changing my life for the better in a different way each month of 2010 so far. In January, I started keeping better track of my spending, and I now have a record of every penny I've spent this year (I have yet to do something with this information, but it's there when I need it, and the mere act of recording it all has made me much more aware of the things I spend money on). In February I continued to keep track of my expenses diligently, and I also resolved to stop dwelling on my ex. This, I think, is the first time I'm mentioning him in a blog post, and I haven't whined about him to anyone in real life (that I remember).<br />
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So I'm thinking March may be the month of the cello. I really don't take advantage of working from home. I could spend my time much more wisely. The excuses I made last year are no longer valid. To this end, I've contacted a cello teacher recommended by a friend (the friend is not a cellist, nor a musician to my knowledge, but she's worked with the girl and heard her play). I owe her a call back, which I hope to make tomorrow (I have no idea what her typical day is like, but she said "Give me a bell anytime.").<br />
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And then I hope to have something to write in this blog!Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-79055556784057192752010-02-20T10:23:00.000-05:002010-02-20T10:23:02.235-05:00Maybe I should post about the cello.The last time I picked up the cello was the night of my orchestra concert in December. The grand master plan was to take lessons on the cello and actually play violin in the orchestra this season (I actually played the violin for ten years growing up). I'm still slacking on finding a teacher (that charges $40 an hour or less, does such a person exist in NYC?), and though I did actually buy new strings for my violin, I have yet to sit down and actually restring my violin. I've been going to orchestra rehearsals, but just been doing my duties as an officer and occasionally playing percussion for the few pieces that require it.<br />
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Speaking of percussion, QUO owns only a tambourine and a triangle (maybe not even the triangle), so I usually end up playing the bass, snare, and cymbal parts on the tambourine. This week, Diego was there with his own cymbals (well, Jon's cymbals), and Jon brought his triangle, so we played Liadow's Polonaise with almost a full percussion section. I played the snare part on the tambourine which, to be honest, was more fun and even sounded a little better, and if not better then different, but in a fun way.<br />
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The moral of this story is: please help me find a cello teacher. I have about an hour and a half to kill, so I may try my hand at restringing that violin.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-57041781029785926922010-02-18T00:46:00.000-05:002010-02-18T00:46:29.669-05:00Grandpa's PiccoloWhen I was in high school, my grandfather got into the habit of giving me things of his. For as long as I could remember, there was a zither hanging on the living room wall of my grandparents' apartment. One day, without warning, grandpa just took it off the wall and gave it to me. One moment it was familiar decor, the next moment it was my personal property. The zither was severely out of tune and I've never been able to make anything more than hideous noise with it.<br />
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Around the same time, my grandfather gave me a piccolo. Unlike the zither, I'd never seen the piccolo before. The piccolo was exciting because I'd never played a wind instrument before (whereas I plucked on zither-like things in The Nature Company all the time). I didn't have it for very long because as soon as my little sister learned of it, she swiped it. As the only woodwind player in the family (Lauren played clarinet for two years in middle school), she felt entitled to any other wind instruments that should enter our house. I picked my battles with Lauren and this was one of those that I let go.<br />
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My grandfather passed away last month and I got to thinking about that piccolo. At the funeral, I asked Lauren about it and she actually still had it. A decade removed from her foray into woodwinds, she was now willing to part with it. My parents gave it to me this past Sunday and I attempted to play it. I have just as much experience with wind instruments today as I did twelve years ago, so the result was something that sounded a lot like wind and not so much like instrument.<br />
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The next day I went out with some gay musicians and brought along the piccolo for an appraisal. Oboist Matthew and tubist Jack sat enthralled in my back seat for a while examining the instrument. Matthew remarked that he'd never seen anything like it, and he kept calling it a "conservatory model," noting that it was very difficult to play. Both of them blew into it and neither was able to eke out a sound much better than what I'd done. Matthew had a lot to say about the piccolo's composition, but ultimately he suggested I have a professional flautist take a look.<br />
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Tonight I brought the piccolo to orchestra rehearsal and showed it to flautists Scott and Craig. They both had similar reactions to Matthew's. Scott questioned whether it was a piccolo or a fife. Craig noted that the fact that it was in three pieces was unusual. He also said that the fingering was obsolete and they don't make piccolos like that anymore. This piccolo was made before piccolo manufacturing conventions changed in the early twentieth century. The instrument might be in D-flat, which also indicates that it's a very old model. Craig was the only one who tried playing the piccolo who was actually able to get notes out of it.<br />
<br />
Nobody thinks that it's worth a lot of money, and in fact, it would probably require a lot of money in repairs if it were ever to be played again, and that might be a waste of money considering this type of piccolo is no longer used. I think I might just keep it around for kicks. Break it out at parties and watch the flautists ooh and aah.<br />
<br />
More interesting than the piccolo itself for me is why my grandfather owned it. To my knowledge, grandpa never played a musical instrument, and all the feedback I've gotten on the piccolo brings me to the conclusion that it's a pretty difficult instrument to play, and it's not something an amateur would pick up. My mom says he probably got it in Germany when he was there during the War.<br />
<br />
My next idea is to show it to my cousin Allison who is a flautist. It might be meaning for her since she actually knew Grandpa Joe.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-17950338504835467422009-10-11T21:01:00.000-04:002009-10-11T21:01:11.889-04:00A little bit a dayMathew had me over for a very productive joint practice session today, more so for me, as usual. I missed last Wednesday's rehearsal because of a conflict with the band, and in my absence, the subject of me came up! Our section leader asked Mathew to go over proper position with me, so he had me over for tea and cello playing. <br />
<br />
Some things I learned:<br />
<ul><li>I hold the cello too high up on my body. The cello should be at a 45 degree angle with the grooves just above my knees and the right-facing pegs at my neck. I should sit at the very edge of the seat with my back straight.</li>
<li>I hold the bow like a violinist, go figure. I should hold the bow like I'm making the number four with my hand; my pinky (or ring finger) on the dot in the frog; my thumb bent into the space between the hair, stick, and frog; and my pointer finger somewhat curled around the wood. My pointer finger and thumb should bear the tension. Having gotten home and attempted this, I have no idea how I managed to do this at Mathew's house.</li>
<li>The arm holding the bow should be relaxed, but not too relaxed (great!). My entire arm should move when bowing a long note. <br />
</li>
<li>I also press the strings like a violinist. This, I think is the hardest to correct. My elbow should be out and my wrist rotated to the front. My fingers should be curved and the tips of my fingers should press the strings (some of this is actually the same for the violin. When fingering the second or third note on a string, all subsequent fingers should also be down (all four fingers should be down when fingering a fourth-finger note on a string). I should practice with the thumb not touching the neck.</li>
<li>When plucking, I should pluck out, not to the side, and not rest my thumb on the side of the fingerboard.</li>
</ul>Mathew gave me an exercise to work on, and he said I should pick an easy movement of a Bach Cello Suite and work on the first four measures or so, just to give myself something enjoyable to play (while I muddle through the mundane exercises and scales, and the difficult orchestra music). Learning good position is better for me at this point than working on the orchestra music, as everything will be easier once I get the basics down.<br />
<br />
When I got home, I did the exercise he taught me on three of the four strings, and then worked on the Menuet from Bach's Cello Suite no. 1. I didn't practice for very long, because I'd spent the whole day playing the cello, and my roommate's family was in the living room laughing up a storm. But the whole point is to practice at least a little bit a day. I should be able to squeeze some practicing in tomorrow night and possibly Tuesday (I have a house guest which complicates things) and then rehearsal is Wednesday. I leave for San Francisco on Thursday, but I'm taking a half day so if I get my packing done, there may be time to practice.<br />
<br />
So, the goal is a little bit a day.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-30461184190627942642009-10-01T00:09:00.001-04:002009-10-01T00:13:44.233-04:00Enjoying being bad and dressing for the camera (Rehearsal #3)I was chatting with a coworker today about the cello (it's quite a conversation piece) and he something to the effect of "Once you're good, you're good for the rest of your life, so enjoy being bad now while you still can."<br />
<br />
I was with him on the first part, but he lost me on enjoying being bad. I'm bad at plenty of things, but I wouldn't say I enjoy any of them. I try to stick to things I'm good at. That helps me avoid <a href="http://proko5.livejournal.com/676068.html">tantrums</a>.<br />
<br />
Here's a picture of me from rehearsal tonight:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BLweur8kyBqDKAPQdU9TrA?feat=embedwebsite"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcHne6sHSoa7Ws8qHsiqiwXfHiAUObLaTKXc8PnVG40rK8WKjeSP4GpJ0WpwveDe7tpH4cUl2m8-QZI4AjEq5_s4ztpvPEhfoA1RSRdC4144SRQpaxWhzmqVHx29XQ8VWg592oOM3UEeI/s400/IMG_4086.JPG" /></a><br />
<br />
That's my cello buddy Mathew on the right. I've gotten in the habit of dressing nicely on Wednesdays because I know I'll get my picture taken. :)Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-14923722306496598952009-09-29T20:53:00.000-04:002009-09-29T20:53:29.576-04:00Bach is my safe haven (Practice Session 8)Hey look, it's Tuesday! Better get off my ass and practice!<br />
<br />
On my ass is where I was for pretty much three straight days this past weekend. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday all went the same way: I got up, watched TV, messed around on the internet, and dawdled until evening plans made me leave the house. Monday was only slightly different due to a touch of atonement and fasting. I figured all that time spent not eating would open up my schedule for other things, such as practicing, but no. My body wanted nothing more than to sit in a chair staring at a glowing box all day, much like I do on weekdays.<br />
<br />
So we once again arrive at Tuesday evening, the night before rehearsal, and I once again haven't looked at the music in six days. I asked my friend Kate if she'd been reading my blog and she admitted that it's kind of a downer. I agree. In my blog I do nothing but bemoan my lack of discipline and the consequential lack of improvement. I pledge to fix that. The only way to fix that is to practice more. Look at all of the things practicing fixes!<br />
<br />
Tonight's practice session was a half-hour long. After a few scales, I decided to start with the Brahms, since I didn't get to it last time, and I did horribly on it at rehearsal last week. That was a mistake. The Brahms is very difficult, and it discouraged me right away. I then went through the Russian Dance from The Nutcracker, and most everything else I either tacit on or playing the piano. Wanting to raise my spirits, I indulged in some memorized pieces written for other instruments. I played the right hand of a Bach Minuet, one of the violin parts in the Bach Double Violin Concerto (down an octave and a fifth), and the first violin part of Bach's Fugue in G Minor (down an octave and a fifth), just as much as I could remember.<br />
<br />
I almost wish I weren't in an orchestra. The orchestra music is not beginner's music. I'd really like to start from the beginning, with a teacher, and not have to worry about this music that is above my level. A private teacher is laughably out of the question right now as I can barely find the time to sit down and practice, let alone have a lesson.<br />
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I'll try for a cheery post next time. :)Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-35529977612829759062009-09-24T12:16:00.000-04:002009-09-24T12:16:37.118-04:00Damn I sound good! Oh wait ... that's not me. (Rehearsal #2)I'm happy to report that my cello seems to have gotten over its fear of tuning. While we were rehearsing the Chinese Dance from the Nutcracker Suite, I thought the cello was significantly out of tune. I waited until the end of the piece to retune it only to discover the instrument was perfectly in tune. I was just reading the music wrong!<br />
<br />
I still have a hard time hearing myself, and I often mistake the cello playing going on around me for my own. Often rehearsal is going so fast that I only have time to slap my finger down on the string and hope for the best. When this miraculously results in the correct pitch, I am thrilled for a moment at my skill/luck, and then I realize, no, that's Mathew.<br />
<br />
I sightread the celesta part in Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy on piano. I got the music minutes before rehearsal began, so I focused on the ascending arpeggios in the middle of the piece where my part is completely exposed, thinking I'm doubled in the winds for the rest of it. Well it turns out the entire piece is a solo for the celesta, so I'll be practicing that a lot. Fortunately, it's not that difficult, and it's on an instrument that I know (well, I know the piano, anyway).<br />
<br />
The Brahms Serenade is beautiful, but I'm worried it might be completely unattainable for me right now. Nonetheless, that's getting some attention from me next time I practice (which will be ... no idea).Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-86316116338590489342009-09-22T22:21:00.000-04:002009-09-22T22:21:09.134-04:00Oh hello, blog! How I've missed you! (Practice Session 7)Tonight, after jauntily scaling and arpeggioing up and down for a few minutes, I focused once again on the music for QUO. I practiced the music in rehearsal order, which of course means I did not get to the music in the second half. Fortunately, I don't think the artistic director conducting those pieces reads this blog :)<br />
<br />
I was delighted to find that cellos are tacit in the Overture to the Nutcracker Suite, and the cello parts in the Chinese Dance and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy are very easy (slow and pizzicato). The March is also pizzicato, but fast. Still, I was able to muddle through it, and I surprised myself by playing a five-sixteenth note run across two strings. It sounded like a rusty door hinge at first, but after three or four times, I had it. The Waltz of the Flowers was daunting, mostly because it's long, but I have the melody, which is nice. After I was done practicing, I went into the living room where my roommates were and asked them if they heard me playing the Waltz of the Flowers. Lindsay said "I definitely recognized something at some point." I'll take it.<br />
<br />
I think I'm playing celesta on Sugar Plum Fairy, which will be fun, but it's unfortunate that that's one of the easy cello pieces.<br />
<br />
Then I worked on the fifth waltz of the Blue Danube, and I rocked it (as much as I, at this juncture, can rock anything on the cello). I began practicing the coda, which, in my opinion, is way too long to call itself a coda.<br />
<br />
I practiced for an hour before I got fed up with myself and stopped. I didn't have enough time to really work on any of it because there's so damn much of it, and I started so late (9pm). Even if I hadn't started late, my tolerance for listening to myself play is low.<br />
<br />
My main pet peeve with my playing is accidentally bowing an adjacent string. My intonation isn't spot on, but it's getting there. It's the bowing the extra string accidentally that really makes my playing sound like crap. I know that practice will take care of that. Practice will take care of everything. I would be making real progress if I would just sit down and practice more. With rehearsal tomorrow and band stuff Thursday, the rest of this week is shot. I'll have to make myself practice multiple times over the weekend.<br />
<br />
A big challenge I had at rehearsal last week was hearing myself. Now that I know the music better, maybe that will be less of a problem. I'll let you know, readers!<br />
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Still haven't named the poor guy. Lindsay has decided his name is "Cookie." It isn't.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-28387561857714810262009-09-17T00:52:00.000-04:002009-09-17T00:52:35.683-04:00Rehearsal #1It's not that interesting to read about a frustrating rehearsal experience, so I'll just share with you this comparison. It was a struggle to play anything, so I was just happy I got the occasional note in. I was chatting about this with Dan who is just learning to play the viola and he empathized. I've memorized which staff lines are open strings so when I see one in the music I grab it and say "Ha! I can play that note!" Granted, it's not always meant to be played on the open string, but I gotta take what I can get. I compared it to listening to Spanish language radio and catching words like "amigo" and "cabeza". Mathew and Dan both agreed that, yes, that is what it's like. Particularly, that is what it's like to muddle through the Brahms Serenade.<br />
<br />
There is much work to be done.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-7548711373065019082009-09-15T22:00:00.001-04:002009-09-15T22:02:03.351-04:00The night before the rehearsal (Practice Session 6)My only plan for tonight was to practice. I left work at 6pm, stopped to buy printer paper (because I've finally run out of documents with blank backs to print on), moved my car, and was home by 7. After tooling around on the computer and eating for an hour, I decided I'd better get to practicing before it got too late. After all, that was the plan.<br />
<br />
I was really dreading picking up the instrument. My last practice session had left me sour, and I hadn't picked it up in four days (are we noticing a trend?). I knew it was going to sound terrible and I was going to get frustrated. I decided to ease myself into the cello by practicing the piano part of that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cello_Sonata_No._1_%28Brahms%29">Brahms Cello Sonata</a> I mentioned in <a href="http://yousaygoodbyeandisaycello.blogspot.com/2009/09/distracted-by-brahms-practice-session-5.html">my last post</a>. After I couldn't avoid it any longer, I picked up the cello.<br />
<br />
I was delighted to find that it was in tune (enough), because tuning it is the biggest challenge. I was also delighted to find that I could make it all the way through a two-octave C major scale without wanted to jab the tip of my bow into my ear repeatedly. My intonation was passable, and I was glad for that. Then I got crazy and played a B-flat major scale and that was okay. I flipped through my Klengel book and landed on scales of quarter notes bowed in groups of four. I did that in C major, and called it a warmup.<br />
<br />
Enough fooling around. It was time to actually practice the music I would be playing tomorrow. There are five pieces:<br />
<ul><li>The Blue Danube</li>
<li>The Lone Ar-Ranger</li>
<li>The Nutcracker Suite</li>
<li>Brahms Serenade no. 1</li>
<li>Dvorak Serenade no. 2</li>
</ul>I practiced the first two pieces. My intonation was horrible, I kept forgetting the key signature, I kept bowing adjacent strings, and then I decided to create a <a href="http://twitter.com/lgbac">Twitter account for the Big Apple Corps</a>.<br />
<br />
So far, I am the same music student I was as a ten-year-old. I can't concentrate and I have no discipline, and this means I never practice. When I do practice, I get frustrated very quickly and stop. Now, when you get frustrated while playing the piano you can bang on the thing, creating a very satisfying, loud noise that accurately conveys the rage that's going on inside you. When you get frustrated when playing the cello, there's not much you can do other than scream. It's a quandary very similar to when I got a flat screen monitor at work. Before that, I had a piece-of-crap CRT monitor that you could bash with your palm as much as you like and do no damage. When I got my nice, new flat screen, it could not weather such abuse so I had to keep my anger inside. So, instead of erupting in a fit of rage when I get frustrated playing the cello, I create Twitter pages.<br />
<br />
I'm not going to be able to keep up with the orchestra tomorrow, no matter how slow they go. I'm going to play very softly, and get lost a lot. And when we're done, I'm going to drink.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-86417118917274846242009-09-12T11:09:00.002-04:002009-09-12T11:12:51.777-04:00Distracted by Brahms (Practice Session 5)My blog is an accurate representation of my progress with the cello, so nine days without a post did indeed mean I hadn't practiced in nine days. My excuse is thus: I spent five of those days in New Orleans at a <a href="http://www.gaybands.org/">LGBA Conference</a>, and when I got home I had three straight days of meetings after work for the <a href="http://www.queerurbanorchetra.com/">Queer Urban Orchestra</a> and the <a href="http://www.lgbac.org/">Lesbian & Gay Big apple Corps</a>.<br />
<br />
Finally, yesterday, Mathew came over and we practiced. We did scales and some of the music for QUO rehearsal, but I had barely looked at the music and was getting frustrated. I think Mathew was getting frustrated with my frustration (he's a naturally cheerful person, and it must have been exhausting to deal with my gloom), so he suggested we play some of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cello_Sonata_No._1_%28Brahms%29">Brahms's Cello Sonata no. 1</a> for which I'd told him earlier I was working on the piano accompaniment. He'd been practicing the cello part at home. We played through the exposition section of the first movement a few times, stopping to correct things and try again a few times, and it was actually really fun. Mathew enjoyed playing with an accompanist which he'd never done before, and I enjoyed being competent on a musical instrument again :)<br />
<br />
I've never been a good accompanist, which I think is because accompanists usually have no connection to the music they're playing. They're often doing a favor for someone, sometimes called in at the last minute, and of course, the soloist chose the piece and the accompanist doesn't necessarily have any interest in the piece itself. Often the part is a piano reduction of orchestral music. As a young pianist, I tried accompanying several times and each time was an embarrassing failure both for me and the soloist.<br />
<br />
What's different about this situation is I LOVE this piece. I've been listening to a Yo-Yo Ma recording of this piece (and his other Cello Sonata: no. 2 in F Major) since I was a teenage Barnes & Noble customer (Borders hadn't come to my town yet). The piano part is pretty easy (I only sightread it once before playing it with Mathew yesterday), and when I don't know an area of the music from the page, it's easy to fill it in from my memory of how the sonata sounds. I'm looking forward to learning this piece well and perhaps one day performing it with him.<br />
<br />
But back to the cello. I need to practice, seriously. Mathew commented that my intonation had improved. My biggest challenge was understanding where the notes are on the instrument. I can read music just fine, but I can't sightread a cello part because I'm still learning what pitch each string is where on the fingerboard each note is. He said that will come with practice.<br />
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My opportunities to practice between now and our first Orchestra rehearsal on Wednesday are minimal. As I type this entry, I'm already running late to meet my sister on Long Island to try on suits for her wedding, and the rest of the day is consumed with a LGBAC gig. Sunday is my grandmother's unveiling, followed inevitably by a long family lunch, and then I have to write the first band newsletter of the season (I'm the Board Secretary of the LGBAC) and catch up on two month's-worth of minutes and a number of other things I stupidly volunteered for. Monday is LGBAC rehearsal, so that leaves Tuesday. I'm nervous about rehearsal on Wednesday not only because I'll have not practiced enough, but also because my cello still takes a good fifteen minutes to tune, and then continues to go out of tune for the first half hour of playing. I'm going to have to keep stopping in the middle of rehearsal to tune.<br />
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Still haven't named the cello yet. Maybe that will help.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-49895734375503240482009-09-02T16:51:00.000-04:002009-09-02T16:51:46.998-04:00Naming the celloLast week, I posted pictures of my cello on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2313522&id=5510484&l=bf11099167">Facebook</a> and asked friends to help me name it. The thirty-some responses I got were all over the map, but there were some trends (friends who suggested are in parentheses):<br />
<ul><li><b>Alliteration</b>: People suggested names that begin with a "ch" sound. Imagine these cute names preceding "the Cello": Chelsea (Kim O), Chester (Stephen S), Charlie (Casey S).</li>
<li><b>Citrus</b>: My alcoholic friends favored names that made my cello sound like Italian lemon liqueur: Lemon (Susan P), Lime (Sara B), Limoncello (Tompy), Liz Lemon (Lynne C).</li>
<li><b>Girly</b>: I hadn't prefaced my call for names with the fact that my cello is a boy, so I got these suggestions: Kitty (Amy N), Trixie (Jim B), Peony (Mimi), Lola (Christian S), Gertrude Wang (Jennie B).</li>
<li><b>Old-timey</b>: Something about the cello seems to invoke in my friends images of suspenders and plaid: Hubert Shalaily (Annabel), Oswald (Karen M), Barnsley (Kim F), Ernest (Courtney Y).</li>
</ul>Then there were the names I could not categorize<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td><ul><li>Cielo (Adrianne)</li>
<li>Cello-X (Gary L)</li>
<li>Steve (Holly)</li>
<li>Dmitri or Sasha (Leslie)</li>
<li>Sauce (my sister Lauren)</li>
<li>Tadah (Quang)</li>
<li>String Thing (Smatt)</li>
</ul></td></tr>
<tr><td><ul><li>Zanzibar (Alyssa C)</li>
<li>Jaws (Tim K)</li>
<li>Wang (Danielle M)</li>
<li>Moonchild (Travis)</li>
<li>Buns (Laura R)</li>
<li>Yo Yo Cello-Ma (Jin)</li>
<li>Yo-Yo-Mamma (Patrick)<br />
</li>
</ul></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Some of those have explanations, but most do not.<br />
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Feel free to leave your suggestions as comments, but as I warned my friends on Facebook, I will probably not choose any of them :).Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-34493918112613157342009-09-01T20:18:00.001-04:002009-09-01T20:22:07.374-04:00Time does not fly when you're playing the cello (Practice Session 4)I think the hardest thing about practicing a new instrument is to keep going when you sound HORRIBLE. Tonight, I sounded horrible for about a half hour straight before I decided to stop and blog about it.<br />
<br />
My cello is still being a little bitch about tuning. I had to retune each string at least five times before I could even begin playing it. Each string got at least another two retunings once I started on scales, and the D string is still giving me trouble. All that retuning has made me paranoid when I'm playing up the scale and I arrive at a new string that sounds nothing like I expect it to. I stop my scale and bow the open strings only to discover that the instrument is in tune, and I'm just fingering the note miles away from where I'm supposed to.<br />
<br />
This frustration feels very familiar. I alluded to it in my first post. I just can't stand the sound of me playing an instrument poorly. It bugs me even more than learning the piano because you can generally expect the right sound to come out of any of those 88 keys any time you play them. You can even SIT on the piano and you know you'll at least hear a nice, pan-diatonic mush, if you just sit on the white keys, that is (which I suppose requires a small butt).<br />
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Tonight, I trudged through a few scales, followed by a scale in thirds to spice things up a little. Then I listened to myself play the first piece in the first cello Suzuki book, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Variations," and, unable to bear sounding like a six-year-old, I moved on to the second piece: "French Folk Song." I played that a few times and then I began to improvise when I decided I needed a break. So did Penelope (the cat featured in the masthead photo of this blog), whom I did not realize was in my room until I heard her clawing at my bedroom door to get out. I don't blame you, Kitty.<br />
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I'm going to return to practicing now, because if I don't, I know I'll be glued to the TV for the rest of the evening.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-42086126835483899312009-08-30T23:54:00.000-04:002009-08-30T23:54:07.145-04:00Cello Buddies (Practice Session 3)Tonight I went to a practice session with my cello friend, Mathew. When I took my cello out of the case, I was surprised to find that it was very nearly in tune. Nice. My cello goes out of tune after one octave of a scale, but a car ride from Astoria to Washington Heights does nothing to it.<br />
<br />
I was worried the session would turn into a cello lesson for me and Mathew would get nothing out of it, but I think the session ended up benefiting both of us, as intended. I got to learn from him, and he got to practice as well. Despite how horrendously I played for most of the evening, I was definitely playing better by the end. Mathew noticed that my bridge was really crooked and fixed it, which will hopefully help the tuning situation. He also gave me a whole bunch of pointers on the basics of cello playing, which I hope I remember. I'm going to try practicing in front of a mirror, because I can't for the life of me keep my left hand where it's supposed to be.<br />
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Mathew also suggested I improvise on the cello as a way to learn the instrument better. This reminded me of something one of my composition professors told me in college. He is an avid improviser. His primary instrument is the violin, but he often improvises on the piano. He told me he's not a pianist, but he becomes one when he improvises. When you're not worrying about the notes you're playing, the resulting music is free and effortless.<br />
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I am so thankful to Mathew for our practice session and for being my cello buddy. My learning the cello is still a personal journey, but it's a lot less lonely (and treacherous) with a guide.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-32764209620600887072009-08-29T09:59:00.000-04:002009-08-29T09:59:04.308-04:00Practice Sessions 1 and 2Since I bought the cello on Monday, I have practiced on it twice: Tuesday and Thursday. Being me, I thought I was going to sit down, put bow to string, and beautiful music was going to glide out of the instrument. Well, no. It wasn't quite like that.<br />
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I currently am in possession of Klengel's <i>Technical Studies for the Violoncello - Volume 1</i>. I also have J. S. Bach's <i>Six Suites for Cello Solo</i> and Brahms' <i>Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor</i>. Cellists reading this post will be saying "Andrew, no." These pieces are well beyond my level, as I can barely make it through the scales in the Klengel.<br />
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My first practice session was kind of disastrous, as I couldn't even get the damn thing to stay in tune. I didn't know whether it was the instrument, me, the climate, or some other factor. All I knew is once I finally got the instrument in tune, it was immediately out of tune after I finished a single scale. I muddled through a few two-octave whole note scales before giving into temptation and attempting the Bach. It was a good exercise in finding the notes, but I certainly couldn't take more than a few measures.<br />
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Thursday's results were similar to Tuesday's. I struggled to get the instrument in tune. This time, I would tune a string, and then the action of tuning another string knocked the first string out of tune. That was maddening, and I screamed once (but didn't throw anything) before finally getting all the strings at pitch. I got bored with the two-octave whole note scales and tried some quarter note scales with different bowings. I then treated myself to a few measures of the Brahms.<br />
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What I need is a beginner's book of cello solo pieces so I can actually begin learning where the notes are. Having played the violin, I can maneuver myself around the cello. Of course, the increased distance between the notes is an adjustment I need to make (it's greater than I expected). On the violin, the next pitch up always meant one additional finger. On the cello, it sometimes means two fingers.<br />
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Since every good blog has links, I will give you my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A440">secret to tuning without a pitch pipe/tuner/tuning fork</a>.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224867896069750192.post-58379942958432414402009-08-28T12:41:00.003-04:002009-08-28T22:58:24.571-04:00I say helloI've decided to take up the cello. It's not as completely random as it sounds, as you'll read below, but it is inspired by something completely unrelated to music. I really haven't had my brain to myself since my boyfriend and I broke up in January. I think about him constantly, and when I'm not thinking about him I fixate on other men. I needed something new in my life. I decided that, rather than go on moping, I would spend that energy doing something productive, hopefully something beautiful.<br />
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When I was in third grade, I was given the choice of learning the violin, the viola, or the cello. After a year or two of private piano lessons, the idea of music as a group activity was different and exciting. I chose the violin because it seemed the most manageable, and listed viola as my second choice. When the woodwind and brass instruments were offered in fourth grade, I stuck to my guns and my violin. We were once again given a choice in fifth grade, and this time I listed violin as my first choice but cello as my second. My orchestra teacher, Mrs. Ramsden, noticed this change and asked me point blank if I wanted to switch to the cello. A little part of me did, but it was still a very big instrument and it seemed impractical. Even as a child I was considering storage, schlepping, etc. I once again stuck with the violin.<br />
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Once I stopped growing, my parents bought me a violin (rather than continuing to rent) and my fate was sealed. I stopped thinking about the cello.<br />
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I don't know what got me thinking about it lately, but when the opportunity to join an <a href="http://www.queerurbanorchestra.com/">LGBT orchestra</a> came along, I found my chance to take up the cello. I didn't want to go back to playing the violin. I was never very good at it, and it's just such an awkward instrument to play. You have to hold it in place with your chin and your shoulder. Your left hand holds the neck of the instrument, but it's there to press the strings, not to hold it up. A cello is anchored to the floor. It just seems like a more comfortable performance situation.<br />
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I also decided I would buy the instrument, rather than rent it. The idea came to me gradually, and I started my search lazily, posting a call to my Facebook friends and browsing Craigslist fruitlessly. As the search picked up, I was directed to a fellow band person who manages a Sam Ash in Midtown. I also found a cellist friend of a friend to look at cellos with me and offer his opinion on them. Once I started really looking, things happened fast. I found a cello I liked last Thursday at Sam Ash, Mathew (the cellist friend) gave it his seal of approval on Monday, and I bought it right then and there. I asked them to hold it for me because I was meeting friends as a bar, and I left the store. I'd gotten about a block away when I decided to turn around, get the cello, and bring it home.<br />
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I'm excited to be starting something new, but I'm also concerned. I've never been a good student, especially of music. As a young pianist I was prone to fits while practicing, when I actually bothered to practice. Even as a college student I was irresponsible. I'm hoping things will be different with the cello, as it was entirely my idea to take it up and I'm very motivated to do well at it.Andrew Bermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01291577106492047301noreply@blogger.com1