Category Archives: Bach Cello Suites

I’ve been working on the Courante from Suite No.3. My teacher put in a few of the articulations, but left me to fill in the rest. I sat down with my big Barenreiter edition with the different manuscripts while I was over in Canada, and worked up a version I feel works for me. I’m having more fun with this one than I did the Bourée, it makes more sense to me.

I definitely have to work on those finger lifts for my right hand to get those quaver runs on alternate strings smoother.

With my holiday break I’ve sort of lost track of my yoga practise and my shoulders are halfway to my ears. *sigh*.

Gottagopractice commented in video form on my thread of posts (1, 2, 3, 4) about the Bouree from the Bach Suites that I’m working on. I will have a go with her advice in mind tonight. Meanwhile, for the rest of you…

Thanks GGP!

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:

I think Benadryl plus is the answer to the Bach Problem.

Well no, obviously not the complete answer, that's more like quit my job and spend the next 30 years of my life trying to become Steven Isserlis. But this is much better than what was happening before. The space cadet trance that my night time allergy pills put me in seems to help with the tension, and paranoia about screwing up the Suites.

I found that tone I couldn't find before, my vibrato is becoming freer in stages (I was playing the Breval at this point, no one pull a Norrington on me) and I was able to move a bit while playing. One of the tutors at that chamber music course I went to in the spring mentioned that being able to sway a bit in your seat as a cellist is a good thing – it shows a lack of tension. Of course I couldn't do it then. I can sort of do it now.

And I played that Bouree faster than I've ever played it before. First of all, I was playing it very s l o w l y. Secondly, I figured I'd give the first chunk a go at a more dance-like speed to see if that helped my comprehension. I think it did – I was able to go back to a slower speed to work out some tricky fingering bits without losing the feeling.

I'm nowhere near in the ballpark of understanding it. We're talking on the motorway on the way to the town where the ballpark is located, kind of thing. But it's a start.

The Bach Suites are not happening.

Even when it's not the fingers I'm struggling with, like the first half of the Bouree, I just can't seem to find the right feeling. It's a dance, I know, and I know I'm not playing it at tempo yet, but it's not so slow as to make it impossible for me to feel it. It's like trying to get Gusdog to sit with you when he doesn't want to – it's all feet kicking out and twisting terrier action. That's not even quite right… if you've ever tried to make a wreath with freshly cut sapling branches (stay with me here), weaving the pliable yet willful branches is really difficult. They don't snap back in your face, they just patiently and slowly move back to their original and natural state unless you pin them down. Or nail them to the table top.

I've tried thinking intensely about what I want the music to sound like, I've tried not thinking about it, I've tried opening my mind to let it tell me how it should flow, I've tried half a bottle of good red wine, and, on a separate occasion, a dram of good whisky. NOTHING is working. It steadfastly refuses to speak to me and it's making me very, very upset. I've not practised it for five days, only stared at that light-blue book across the room with my arms folded.

Clearly, Bach doesn't like me.

Okay, after my little snitfit the other day, things are better. I spent most of my short practise time today on the Bourrée, concentrating on getting the feeling and not panicking about my left hand fingering. Easier said than done, as usual, but I made pretty good progress. 

 

Oh bloody hell. You know how I had such a nice rehearsal on Monday evening and was feeling all pleasantly surprised? Here I was thinking my more frequent practise sessions were paying off, but tonight I sat down and my fingers would not obey me.

Today: ‘Are you spending a lot of time working on something you’ve been trying to learn and learn well? It could be more confusing than usual today, Erin. You might come across a new concept that doesn’t quite make sense to you at first glance. Don’t waste time puzzling over it; think about something else. The meaning of it all should come to you out of the blue. Be patient!’

The first time I tried the Prelude to Suite No.1, I hadn’t officially started learning it yet – I was just playing around. I flipped to the front of the book and had a go.