M6 and M7 Review Received

From C -

Haven’t had time to go through the video in detail though I did watch it a few times over. Evidence of much stronger technique and bow control. Still, in even easier passages (beginning of Lully Gavotte) notes need more articulation, more bite, but not staccato. I guess separate notes need to sound a little crisper so they are clearer. The cello strings aren’t going to have as rapid as a response as violin or viola so the method of articulation may be different. I certainly don’t want to tell you the wrong thing.

My preference in playing those first few lines is to play the quarter with “rounder” notes and play the eighth duplets more crisply, again, sorry, more articulated. The general effect of the eighths comes off as “sawing”. You can do better.

I heard you get some nice vibrato on that folksy piece you played with the hat [M7] even though the Suzuki sheet music shows open strings on half note phrase endings (m8, for instance), try using a fingered note and using vibrato, not too much, but just to get the note started well and ringing. In study the bass gamba I found that a little vibrato at the start of even shorter notes helped give the note a better start Wow, talk about the response time of lower strings. Trying to get those bottom strings started was like trying to start an old diesel on a cold day! I miss those early music sessions!

The train tracks (pauses) are taking too much time in places and are hindering the flow of the music. They are not not of the composer’s pen, anyway. Starting a new sentence after each mark is a good idea but do it within the flow of the music. Watch your rhythm in m11, you are not getting to the first beat of m12 on time (the A half note). That eighth and 2 sixteenths need to be in the space of a half of a beat (assuming you are counting in cut time).

Also, watch your intonation on m5: the G, and m7; the raised leading tone, C#.

I would like to hear you play the piece a little slower but getting those eighth noted better, not legato but with just a small space between them. It’s not so much that the ending of the first eighth is going into the 2nd, it’s that the eighths need to have a better start to each.

The rit. In m20 is not necessary. It, too, is interrupting the flow.

The next section shows much technical progress but I rather reserve analysis till you’ve put a little more polish on it.

When you practice slower, try to convey a sentence structure to help with phrasing. For instance the first 8 bars can be a question (m1-5) and an answer (m5-8). This s how phrasing was first explained to me by my aunt when I barely knew how to hold the instrument up!

Just to to reiterate, none of these suggestions are meant to minimize your work and very evident progress that you have made in a short time (let alone all the vacations and other distractions you’ve had).