Tonight was one of my best sessions on the Bourée ever. I don't know what happened and I'm not questioning it. But one thing I'm still struggling with is the bowing through that bumpy passage:
So, if you haven't played this before, you're bowing this out from the beginning of this line, which leaves those singular articulated notes on single up bows. Clearly the temptation is to rush through your bow, making a kack wooshing sound to get enough bow for the down bow for the three slurred notes. Sing it out loud and you'll immediately hear the problem.
It's amazingly difficult not to freak out coming through this bit. You want to rush the three slurred notes so you don't run out of bow, you want to slice through the up bow like you're doing some mad aerobics move, and really just end up with every student cellist's favourite sound: panic crunching.
You know it – you're freaking out about your left hand, or trying to do vibrato before you're really sorted or just paranoid you're going to run out of bow – and there is the unmistakable sound of trying to make noise without moving the hair on the string. Sssccccrrrrrunnnnk errrrk SQUEAK.
I've gotten past a full screeching stop, but I'm still battling the woosh. Thoughts?
Rex Westen
5 September 2008 at 9:36 pm
I like the video cello lesson very much. If you notice her right hand just follows the music – it sounds very, natural, doesn’t it?
I have maybe an unusual perspective on screech noises – could you try to be interested in them? If we are going to have a full range of articulation it is better not to try not to make certain sounds. A couple of reasons for this: first we cringe if we make an unintended sound, which is just rotten for the tension level. Two – if we become interested in all the sounds a cello makes, we learn more quickly to be able to produce a large variety of sounds – which is why the strings are the most interesting group of all the instruments. I like to feel like I can do anything on the cello – Hendrix, jazz, swing, baroque, rusty hinges, cats meowing.
I would agree that making the ‘pretty’ sound of the cello is important – that place where there is the full range of harmonics. I usually let it make up no more than half of any note that I play. This is important ear training to me, to hear what all the parts of a bowed note sound like. If you listen carefully to somebody good, depending on the type of music, it is possible to hear which parts of the note aren’t pretty. The beginning of a note can be quite harsh, for example.
To make the pretty sound is not so hard – try playing a piece using only the middle finger and the thumb on the bow. Doing this it is impossible to press, which kills the pretty harmonics. This will help you to play the cello with your arm instead of your fingers. When you then use all the fingers, see how lightly you can touch the bow. You then see how the cellist in the video lets the bow arm do all the work, and why it sounds so nice.
What do you think?
Erin
6 September 2008 at 10:10 am
Thanks Rex! Very interesting. It’s true we aim only for pretty sounds… depends what we play I suppose. And I struggle with tension for sure, as do all of us.
Thanks for commenting!
Guy Aron
10 September 2008 at 1:34 am
Try it bow only. Just a couple of times. Until you’re moving from one string to another satisfactorily. Then put the left hand back in. I promise you won’t regret it. (I resisted this for a long time, in spite of my teacher always recommending it. But she’s right dammit!)
HTH
Guy