Soloists always have an incredibly thorough definition of the piece they are playing, both in terms of musical structure & in terms of the technical means to realize that interpretation.
They also have a holistic awareness of the composer's life, cello, theory (well, not always), the score, history & everything else. They have thought deeply about these things and have applied them to the piece.
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Today I noticed:
1. I am often not breathing during my chamber piece.
2. I was not using my shoulder blades in my bowing, which meant I wasn't making circles w/ my shoulders or opening them up.
3. I'm often not holding the string all the way down with my left hand ...
These were all useful realizations.
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In other news, I got to see Alma play twice today ...
First, in a masterclass ... As if the fact that she plays incredibly well weren't enough, she also picks things up incredibly fast ... I forget what she was playing at this point ... I think maybe some Liszt thing ...
Second, in the chamber concert as part of the Trout Quintet. ... Um, Wow!! First of all, it was so great to see that piece live & performed by other students. They all did an amazing job .... Alma in particular had the whole score memorized & did an incredible job of playing what is essentially always a 2 voice part (it's practically written as if it's two instruments really). There was this perfect clarity between the voices, and you could always hear them both.
Her playing is really inspiring & I can't wait till I've developed my mind and technique to a point where it's that focused ...
I'm getting a lot more analytical about practicing in general, and have decided that I'm going to devote the first half hour of my practice every day to basic fundamental & kinesthetic work & making sure that all of that is really-well set & reinforce ... so the first hour will be a bit of an exploration really ...
I've improved so much in the really short time since my lesson yesterday, and it's really encouraging (but also makes me want to practice more, so I can improve more!)
I need to go to sleep now ... two concerts tomorrow!
Edit: We had a bit of a Jam session afterwards, though it turned into a read Jazz Charts session after a bit, which is much less fun ... Sytske knows all sorts of cool fiddle stuff ... I really need to catch up on that!
Also, there were some other really cool pieces at the concert & lots of other stuff/people I want to write about ... I'll probably spend all my free time thursday practicing & writing up all the things I didn't have time for ...
2 comments:
"1. I am often not breathing during my chamber piece.
2. I was not using my shoulder blades in my bowing, which meant I wasn't making circles w/ my shoulders or opening them up.
3. I'm often not holding the string all the way down with my left hand"
of course you probably dont need me to point this out, but this is where practicing slowly will prove useful. goodluck
Slow practice is only useful if you do it with these things in mind. I could practice any of those things fast or slow ... focused, attentive, corrective practice is useful for that stuff.
Sometimes slow practice can actually do more harm than good - if you practice the wrong things while doing it.
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