Adult Cello Camp

In 2015 and 2016 I was fortunately able to attend Cellospeak. This was an organization dedicated to adult cello players of all levels, from beginners to experts. The faculty was stellar, and the week-long workshop was filled with valuable sessions, one-on-one lessons, and amazing faculty and student recitals in the evenings.

In 2015 my wife and I flew there, and I rented a cello for the week. In 2016 I drove myself there, a two-day drive covering 1300 miles each way. Due to these logistical issues I never returned. Sadly Cellospeak did not survive the pandemic.

At the same time I learned about Cellospak and attended, I was aware of another adult focused string camp called SCOR. They offered 3-day workshops a different locations around the country. At least two of the locations were within in a day’s drive. For various reasons I never signed up attend.

I have been thinking about doing another adult music camp and so I did a search for SCOR. They did survive the pandemic, but with a slightly altered approach. They are located only in the Finger Lakes region of New York, and they offer a variety of workshops, include ensemble, baroque, and cello-only.

My excitement at the idea of three days of cello with other adults was unfortunately tempered by the discovery of their “staying healthy” policy. In a nutshell they prohibit the wearing of masks. They also have no vaccination requirement. For me the idea that they wouldn’t let me wear a mask–even if I wanted to–is enough to eliminate them from consideration.

It was really disappointing as there are very few adults only music camps. I live in a small town in Kansas. Traveling to music workshops or camps is the only way I get to see and play with other adults who are amateur musicians.

How We Made Musescore 4

This video is fascinating, both as a musician and as a software developer. An incredible achievement.

Vanhal Cello Concerto in C Major

About two months ago there was a posting on the Cello Reddit asking about the Vanhal Cello Concerto in C Major. I was intrigued enough that I hunted up a performance on YouTube and was struck by its similarity to the Haydn C Major Concerto. After listening to it, I wanted to learn to play it. Searching online revealed no good source for sheet music for the piece. I eventually used the university’s inter-library loan to get a copy of the full score from Rice University.

The full score is unfortunately a disaster. The typesetting is too small to be legible, there are numerous musical errors, entire passages for the cello are notated in viola clef, and there were many missed accidentals, leaving melodic lines unresolved.

In order to have sheet music that I could read and play from, I made a transcription using MuseScore As the full score was difficult to work from, I eventually purchased a Viola transcription of the piece as a second source. My cello teacher provided editorial help, and added dynamics, fingerings, and bowings to the piece.

The full score had some anomalies, including lengthy passages where the cello part was written in viola clef. Music from the Baroque era had a quirk regarding changes from bass to treble clef; without an intervening clef, a jump from bass to treble meant that the treble notes were to be played down one octave. As this is not common in modern editions of Baroque pieces, I shifted those passages to the pitch to be played. My transcription also corrects a number of pitches that were plainly incorrect in the source material.

My wife, a pianist and owner of a piano studio, used the reduction from the Viola transcription, along with the full score, to create a piano reduction for my cello transcription. Her goal was to create something that was appropriate, and not romanticized or overly florid. She also found a number of mistakes in the source material, which helped to improve my transcription.

The end result is the full concerto, with separate cello and piano reduction parts. The transcription is available on Sheet Music Plus or Sheet Music Direct.

• Sheet Music Plus: Vanhal Cello Concerto in C Major
• Sheet Music Direct: Vanhal Cello Concerto in C Major

YouTube performance videos:

• Vanhal Cello Concerto I
• Vanhal Cello Concerto II & III

I am indebted to my cello teacher and my wife, without whose help I would have been unable to complete this project.

Luthiers Are Nice People

One drawback to have an in-home trial of a cello, or in my case four cellos from three different violin shops or luthiers, is returning the cellos you don’t buy. Not only is there the drive, which in my case is at least 90 minutes, and, in one case, just over 2 hours, there is the conversation when you return the instrument.

I was apprehensive about handing in a cello and saying, “Thank you for loaning me this cello, but I’ve decided to buy one from someone else.” As it turns out, I needn’t have worried. Both of the luthiers I returned cellos to today were gracious, and even excited for me. Excited that I had found a good instrument. When I told them what I was getting they both replied that it was a very good cello, one that will challenge me and last me a long time.

Between politics and the pandemic, so many interactions with new people are tense—you don’t know where they stand on issues, and you don’t know what topical land mines are just beneath the surface. Being able to return two instruments today, and getting positive feedback, and congratulations, was very affirming.

All three of the luthiers I’ve met during my cello search are good people. That they are genuinely excited for me makes getting my new cello even better.

Buying My Forever Cello

It’s Time to Upgrade Your Cello

At the end of my cello lesson a few weeks ago my teacher said to me, “I think it’s time to upgrade your cello.” A part of me thought that I would never out grow my current cello, so I was surprised and elated by the prospect of buying a cello.

I started lessons twelve years ago this month. My current cello, which I have had since day one, is an Eastman 100. A good, capable student instrument. Since I bought it from my wife’s eldest son, and since he bought it new, it has always “been in the family.” I have no intention of trading it in or selling it.

David, my teacher, suggested that I look for something in the $4000 - $5000 range. After spending a couple of weeks reading various articles on how to buy a cello, and researching violin shops and luthiers in the area, I felt I was ready to go try some cellos.

Helpful Guides

I found a couple of helpful guides online about buying a cello. Strings magazine’s How to Shop for a Cello Priced }Under $5000, and Adult Cellos’ Beginner’s Guide to Buying a Cello: Common Misconceptions and How to Try Cellos Effectively were both extremely helpful.

My teacher recommended the luthier he uses as a good starting place. I also used the dealer locations link the Jay Haide site as a way to find area violin shops.

For the in-store visits, I put together a “play list” of pieces or parts of pieces to play on each cello. I wanted a “checklist” so that I’d try the same things on all the instruments I played.

Here is the list of things I tried to do with each cello I played.

• Open strings, loudly and softly
• Hunt for any wolf tone
• A three octave C major scale
• The opening measures of Brahms’ Sonata in E minor, opus 8
• The opening measures of Beethoven’s Sonata #3, opus 69
• All of Swallow Tail Jig (a mandolin/fiddle tune)
• the thumb position sections of Martin Berteau’s Sonata III, Allegro movement
• Various Christmas songs (’tis the season)

I wanted to get enough of an impression in the shop of each cello, so that I could select one for a home trial. In addition to playing it at home, I planned on taking any borrowed cello to my lesson to allow my teacher to play it, and to allow me to hear it being played. This is going to be my forever cello, I am not likely to buy another one. It is worth taking my time, and being deliberate.

I have discovered that the selection is almost certainly going to be mostly subjective. While there are some objective aspects, it really comes down to how does it feel to play, how does it sound, can I make all the nuanced notes I want with it: from light as a feather to bow hair snapping attacks.

The Contenders

There are four luthiers or violin shops relatively close to where I live. Relatively is a relative term. The closest is 90 miles away, the farthest is 140 miles away. I had intended to visit all four, but at Wyatt I ended up taking out two cellos on approval. With no room in the car for a third cello I skipped KC Strings.

• Amos Hargrave - Lawrence KS
• McHugh Violin - Wichita KS
• Wyatt Violin - Independence MO
• KS Strings - Merriam KS

At each shop I played all the instruments they had in the $3000 - $5000 price range. In one case I played a cello priced at $9600. While it was a very nice cello, I’m not sure that it was twice as nice as the $4995 cello I borrowed from that luthier. In all I played 13 cellos, in three shops, located in two different states. I borrowed, or brought home on approval, four cellos, one each from Lawrence and Wichita, and two from Independence.

Century 520

The Century is a beautiful instrument, with a dark, glossy finish. It is setup with a Belgium style bridge and Larsen Originals for the A and D strings, and Thomastic Infeld Spirocores for the G and C strings. The end pin is carbon fiber.

The cello produces sound very easily. The date on the label has 2020 for the year, so it is a relatively new instrument. The sound is rich and even across all four strings. No one string stands out as either too bright or muffled. At least one of the cellos I played in the shop had a pronounced drop in sound production between the C string and all the other strings. Something that a change in setup might address, but enough to cause me to set that cello aside from consideration.

This cello has a string wolf around F#—it would require some kind of wolf eliminator.

The strings on this cello are set very high, perhaps too high. The luthier said that he can easily cut down the bridge to lower them. In the lower positions I don’t notice it too much. In the upper positions it does trip me up. I’d have to move my bow much closer to the bridge than I am used to.

Jay Haide l’ancienne

The Haide sounds fantastic, but is finished to look worn and old. Personally I find the fake antiquing to be a bit much. The label on this cello says 2021-01, so it is only 10 months old. I suspect it’ll continue to sound better and better the more it is played.

The setup for this cello has the strings quite low, lower than my cello, and significantly lower than the strings on the Century. The fingerboard does not have a Romberg slope. In my playing I didn’t notice the lack of a Romberg slope, so I’m not sure if it would have become a factor or not.

So far it hasn’t got a wolf tone, but I think it may very well develop one as it gets played regularly.

Eastman Pietro Lombardi

The Pietro has a warm, golden color, and a wonderful sound. I played seven cellos in that shop, and the moment I started playing this cello, I immediately put it ahead of the others. It is setup with Larsen A and D strings, and Spirocores for the G and C.

It plays very easily and has a bright clear sound. The shop was eager to sell it, and offered a 20% discount, reducing the price by nearly $1000.

Jay Haide Statue Euro Ruggieri

This cello didn’t have a price tag on it. When I started playing it I was immediately bowled over by its power, by its resonance, and by the richness of its tone. I thought to myself, please don’t let this be a $10,000 cello. There were actually two Euros. I played both and selected this one as it had less antiquing. Overall the Euros have far less of the antiquing that is on the Haide l’ancienne.

Like the Pietro it is setup with Larsen A and D, and Spirocores for the G and C. The end pin is carbon fiber.

The Ruggieri in the name refers to the cello pattern it is designed to mimic. In this case a Francesco Ruggieri. These are broad shoulder cellos. The upper bout is bigger than on a Strad model. The increased air volume gives the cello lots of power and projection.

Playing At Home

I picked up the Century on the 11th, and the Haide l’ancienne on the 12th. I played both of these cellos every day for a week. I’m working on the Bach C minor cello suite, so some of the playing time was spent with my A string tuned down to G. This gave me ample opportunity to tune with the pegs. Both tuned easily with the pegs.

At my Thursday lesson (after I’d had the cellos for a week) my teacher played both. I liked the Century better. He was leaning toward the Haide. By the end of the lesson he agreed with me that the Century had a better over all sound. In my mind the Century was the cello to surpass.

On the 19th I planed two visit to more shops, hoping to bring home two more cellos to try. As it turns out, I brought home two from the first of those shops: The Pietro Lombardi and the Haide Statue Euro.

After playing both here at home, I was almost immediately convinced that the Euro was the cello for me. My wife also felt it had the best overall sound. On Saturday, I met my teacher long enough for him to play both the Lombardi and the Euro. The moment he drew my bow across the C string on the Euro, he stopped and said, “Oh.” After a few minutes playing both, he said that he liked the Euro. I told him that I agreed. And with that, I knew which cello I wanted to buy.

Finalizing the Purchase

Having the privilege to check out four $5000 instruments so that I could play them at home, was crucial to the success of my search. Having a total of five acoustic cellos in our living room was a bit mind blowing.

I have been in contact with the wonderful folks at Wyatt Violin in Independence Missouri to make arrangements to return the Pietro Lombardi, and the case I brought the Haide Euro home in. At that visit we’ll finalize the purchase.

I also need to return the other two cellos to their respective luthiers. This means a fair bit of driving for me over the next two days. Manhattan to Lawrence to Wichita to Manhattan one day, and Manhattan to Independence and back on the next day. All told I will have driven nearly 1,400 miles exploring my cello options.

I couldn’t be happier with my decision to buy the Haide Statue Euro cello. I am already making plans to rearrange my practice space to make enough room for me to have both my acoustic cellos, my NS Design electric cello, and my mandolin, out and ready to be played. I am looking forward to making beautiful music with my new cello.

Channels of Information

Music, in its written form, has a high information density. Let’s use this two measure snippet from the start of Sonata No. 3 by Vivaldi (RV 43) as an example.

There is a lot of information just in these two short measures. The information can be broken down into several channels of information:

• The pitches to be played
• The rhythm of the notes
• The tempo of the music
• The articulation of the notes, for stringed instruments, the bowing
• The dynamics to be used

The Pitches

Reading from left to right, the first piece of information is the clef. The clef determines where on the staff pitches fall. In our example the clef in use is the bass clef. Cellos have a large range, so cello music is written in three different clefs: bass, tenor, and treble.

While this snippet starts with bass clef, it ends with a clef change to tenor clef. The first note in measure 3 is not an A, it is an E.

The key signature is the next piece of information that determines pitch. In the example there is no visible key signature. By convention this means the piece has no accidentals to alter the pitch of note heads. It’s either in C major or A minor.

With the first note being an A, and the last lowest note also being an A (not shown) we can determine that the piece is in A minor.

Finally the notes themselves determine the pitches that create the music the audience will hear. Since there are no accidentals in the key signature, all the notes are the pitches they appear to be. If, for instance, the key signature had been D Major, with its two sharps, then the third note would not be a C, but rather a C sharp.

So the first channel of information, the pitches, has clef, key signature, accidentals, and note heads as its sources of information.

Rhythm

The next channel of information is the rhythm. Rhythm is notated by using different note heads. The example has quarter, dotted eighth, and sixteenth notes. The rhythm is determined by the ratio of one note to the next. Quarter notes are twice as long as eighth notes. Eighth notes are twice as long as sixteenth notes.

Dotted notes add a wrinkle to the mix. A dotted note, both the A and B in the first measure, have their shown valued plus half that value again. In this case the two dotted eighth notes are half again as long as they would normally be.

If you reduce all the notes shown to sixteenth notes, then the dotted eighth note would each be 3 sixteenth notes in duration.

Contrasted against the rhythm is the pulse of the piece. The time signature that we skipped over earlier determines the pulse. In our example the time signature is 3/4. This means that there are three quarter note pulses per measure.

The example starts with a quarter note, it’s the down beat of that measure. The first dotted eighth note falls on the second beat (pulse). A dotted eighth note plus a sixteenth note equals one quarter note, so the third and final beat (pulse) for measure one happens on the second dotted eighth note.

Juxtaposing rhythm and pulse is perhaps the most difficult part of music for me. These two elements work in concert (ha!) but at times they seem to be at odds with each other.

The second channel of information, rhythm, has the time signature and note heads as its elements.

Note heads are now part of two different channels of information. Their meaning, to borrow from programming, is overloaded. The note heads convey two different pieces of information: the pitch and the rhythm.

Tempo

Tempo is the next channel. Tempo is the pace of the music. In the example the tempo is broadly hinted at by the word “Largo” above the first note. Largo is a very slow tempo, perhaps 40 - 60 beats per minute. Sometimes there will be an actual metronome marking indicating the tempo.

Articulation

Bowed string instruments like the cello have another channel of information: articulation. Articulation is how the pitches are produced with the bow, or even finger in the case of pizzicato notes.

When no indication is given otherwise, bowing generally starts with a down bow on the down beat, and alternating bow direction after that. There are several articulation alterations that can, and do, happen.

In the example the 2rd and 3th notes, and the 4th and 5th notes, are played in a hooked fashion. Hooked bowing means that the two notes are played with the same bow direction; down down, or up up, rather the down up. Hooked notes often occur in 3/4 or 6/8 time where dotted notes are immediately followed by their next shorter sibling. Here we have two sets of dotted eighth sixteenth notes. The first is played with two down bows, and the second with two up bows. Hooked bowing is indicated by a slur connecting the notes, and a staccato dot over the second note.

The articulation for hooked bowing is long-short. The dotted note gets a long bow. Then there is a brief stopping of the bow, then a much shorter bow for the staccato note.

While this short example doesn’t show it, there are many other bowing types, each of which alters the sound produced.

Articulation works closely with rhythm to define the sounds produced.

The fourth channel then is articulation, the techniques used to produce the sound.

Dynamics

The final channel is dynamics. Is the music loud or soft? Gradually getting louder or softer? Suddenly changing? While some music has explicit dynamic makings, many pieces do not. And different eras of music (looking at you Baroque) had dynamic conventions that were broadly understood and used. Repeated phrases almost always play the second phrase much softer.

There are both dynamic markings like p (piano) or ff (fortissimo) and expression phrases like “molto expressivo” or “brightly”.

The dynamics channel is where much interpretation occurs, it is where the expression of the music comes to life.

Many Channels, One Sound

All the channels happen simultaneously. They are not only layered on top of one another, they are intertwined, sometimes complexly so. In my musicianship I struggle the most with pulse. Note reading, whether in bass or tenor clef has become nearly second nature now. The basic bowing techniques are also well ingrained. Where my struggles happen is combining several channels at once. It’s like juggling. Three balls is easy, four balls is tricky, five balls is astonishingly hard. A simple rhythm, with few accidentals, and straight forward bowing is like juggling three balls. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy. Add in some accidentals and some fancier bowing techniques, and a clef change or two; now you are juggling four balls. Add in one more thing, like a fast tempo, or a complex syncopated rhythm, and you’ve got your fifth ball.

Finally, the format of music printed on the page doesn’t always line up with what it sounds like to me. In the example, the last note of measure one, is really a grace note to the first note of measure two. The fact that is is connect by a slur to the previous note, and separated by a bar line from the next note are just artifacts of how music is written down. In a way it is like reading poetry. You don’t pause at the end of the line, you go until the next punctuation mark.

I continue to be fascinated by music and by learning how to play music. That it has complexities only adds to the enjoyment of figuring it out.

Can't Play B-flat with a Crooked Finger

Backward extension from first position is the largest / hardest stretch for me when playing my cello. When I extend my fore-finger back toward the nut, it has a slight curl, which makes my B-flats and E-flats something in-between B-flat and B. A B-flat-and-a-half.

This has been a problem for as long as I’ve been playing with extensions. Intellectually I know that I need to straighten my 1st finger to play in tune, but while juggling rhythm, tempo, bowing, etcetera, I rarely get my finger straight.

One problem is that I rarely listen to myself play. While I am practicing I hear the music but I don’t listen to it. I miss the details. When I get out my Go Pro and make a video of myself, I immediately see and hear all the little mistakes I’m making. It’s humbling. It borders on being depressing. In my head, while I am practicing or playing, I sound good. On tape I hear what I actually sound like. It’s a bit like hearing your own voice when it has been recorded.

With that in mind, I have a new goal. Once or twice a week I want to make a video of myself while practicing, and then take the time to review the video and observe what I am doing physically with hands, arms, posture, head, etcetera. And listen to the tone, intonation, volume, projection I am getting from my playing. My hope is that by exposing myself to the truth of my playing, and not relying on my own ego’s idea of my playing, that I’ll gradually improve those things that are holding my playing back.

First objective is to really focus on a straight 1st finger in backward extensions to make my B-flats ring true.

Cello During COVID

Unless you’ve been living under a rock on the dark side of the moon, your life has been impacted by COVID. Every aspect of life has been altered to some extent.

My practicing has varied from trying to tread water to actually making good progress on new music. From one day to the next my motivation, cognitive ability, musicality, and general mood vary from “I should just put my cello in its case in the closet” to “Music sets me free and is a good thing”. And I don’t always know where on the spectrum between these two extremes I am until I start trying to practice. I’ve learned to be gentle with myself; some days I just walk away from practicing or even playing, so as not to taint the experience with the stresses of times.

These are the pieces I currently have on my music stand.

• Bach Suite for Solo Violoncello in G Major - this is a new edition, with different bowings/fingerings. I have actually enjoyed refreshing this piece.
• Eccles Largo and Allegro - I’ve made good progress on these two movements. Lots of work to do, especially on the Allegro.
• Bach Duets - #15 - Pieces based on Bach cantatas. #15 is filled with 32nd note descending scale pattens, alternating with 3rds that skip around. Playing the 32nd notes consistently and evenly is frustrating.

There’s a Goltermann Nocturne I’d like to learn because it’s a beautiful piece of music. But that may or may not happen this semester.

Over the weekend my wife and I recorded ourselves playing an arrangement she made for cello and piano. The piece (originally a piano only piece from her studio) is beautiful. Neither of us was particularly pleased with the sound quality of our recording. The cello in particular sounded thin and reedy - not at all like it sounds in real life.

I was dismayed at how variable my intonation was. Whereby variable I mean awful at times. I have resolved that I need to video tape myself regularly and watch the video and make changes to my playing. Making a video of every practice would not be constructive - trying to watch every practice would double my time commitment. My idea is to record some of one or two practices each week. Pick a passage or etude, play it on video, and then dissect it and work on one or two things for a week, then record it again. Hopefully I’ll see improvements. And over time I hope to improve across the board.

And I’ll continue to give myself permission to not always be in a good space to practice every day.

Romberg Sonata for Cello and Piano II: Andante Grazioso

The second movement of Romberg’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, Opus 38, Number 1, is “andante grazioso”. Or gracefully moving along. The movement is only 51 measures long and has a 3/4 time signature.

The movement has a nice lyrical quality, and I find it pleasing to both listen to and to play.

There are two rhythm patterns that reoccur through out the movement. Measures 10 and 11 introduce these two patterns.

Measure 10’s pattern occurs 7 times in the movement, measure 11’s 8 times. Clearly getting the subtle difference between a dotted quarter note (measure 11) and a quarter note tied to a sixteenth note (measure 10) is vital to correctly playing this movement.

The other noteworthy (sorry) measures are the 32nd notes in measures 18 and 23. Here’s measure 18:

And here is measure 23:

Of the two, measure 18 is considerably easier to play. Measure 23 is the crux of the entire movement for me. Especially when you realize that the eight 32nd notes occupy as much time as one of the following quarter notes.

Approach

Once measures 10 and 11 were identified as the two repeating rhythmic patterns, I made a copy of the music and lightly shaded those measures; green for measure 10 and red for measure 11. And I shaded each subsequent repetition of each pattern.

The green pattern occurs in measures 10, 19, mid 24 - mid 25, mid 25 - mid 26, 37, mid 47 - mid 48, and mid 48 - mid 49.

The red pattern occurs in measures 11, 15, 17, 38, 40, 42, 44, and 46.

The pairing of the two patterns as they first occur in measures 10 and 11, happens once more, in measures 37 and 38.

Using the metronome, set for 16th notes, I started with m. 10 & 11. Once they were reliable, I set the metronome to eighth notes. Counting eighth notes proved to be trickier than I expected in m. 10. The tie between the opening quarter note and the first sixteenth note, means the second sixteenth note - and first pitch change - happens between beats. In m. 11, the dotted quarter note at the start of the measure puts the pitch change on a beat.

As with the triplets in the first movement of the sonata, regular, daily practice of these two rhythm patterns is what helped me to learn them. Skipping a day or two on these patterns forced me to slow down and reintroduce them to my fingers.

32nd Notes

The 32nd note pattern in m. 18 is really a turn. I think that is why I’ve found this measure far easier than m. 23. The trick to m. 18 is getting the ratios correct as you slow down from 32nd to 16th to 8th as the measure progresses. After the 32nd note turn, the last four 8th notes seem to be very long.

Measure 23 is an altogether harder problem to solve. The first four notes can be played in 1st position. The F# that follows requires a shift to 4th position. The middle C played with the 4th finger is 4th position on the D-string, i.e., a string crossing. Surprisingly the second set of 32nd notes is easier to play faster: two notes, string crossing, two notes. The first four notes followed by the shift to 4th position are harder for me.

While playing the A - B - C - D pattern, I tend to carry my 4th finger too far away from the finger board. The results in a stutter where the 3rd finger strikes the string every so slightly before the 4th finger does. I’m working on keeping my fingers much closer to the finger board. This not only improves intonation, it helps to speed things up.

I’ve spent a lot of time with the metronome on m. 23. First counting 32nd notes, then 16th, then 8th, and finally quarter. I am up to about 50 for the quarter note. My tempo gaol for the movement is 72. So I have a ways to go yet.

Self Trust

I’m also learning to trust my instincts regarding tempo and rhythm. I tend to play the two rhythm patterns correctly most of the time. When I doubt myself, it is usually in error. My internal sense of pulse has always been there. Now I am more able to rely on it while I’m actively making music.

I am enjoying learning this movement. As with the first movement the passage work and focusing on details have really improved my ability to play it. And being able to play it vastly improves my enjoyment of it. The Romberg Sonata in E minor has become one of my favorite cello pieces.

Romberg Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 38 No. 1 E minor

Romberg’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor is a beautiful piece. The arrangement between cello and piano is perfect and the piece is romantic without going overboard. Playing it, for me, is not without some challenges.

The Romberg E minor is written in three movements: Allegro non troppo, Andante grazioso, and Rondo Allegretto. This posting is about the first movement. I’ll write about the other two in a couple of future posts.

Allegro non troppo

This movement follows the typical exposition, development, recapitulation form of the sonata. The exposition, or A section, is repeated. The movement is entirely in bass clef and ranges from low E on the C-string to an A harmonic above middle C on the A-string. The piece is wonderfully cellistic, meaning it feels right to play it on the cello.

Technically there are two challenges in the first movement: triplets and turns. There are also several places where a note value is skipped, which is a rhythm challenge.

Turns

There are five turns total with three starting on a down bow and the remaining two starting on an up bow. All of the turns follow either a pair of quarter notes or a half note. As the turns are written in sixteenth notes, you are skipping at least one note value, if not two from the preceding note into the turn. I have found it difficult to be confident in my ability to play the turns, especially the initial one in measure 7, so I tend to tense and panic, making them much harder to execute.

The solution to playing them with confidence has been to slow way down, and start with just the four sixteenth notes and the quarter note the follows at first.

m. 7
F# - G - F# - E - F#

Not only is slowing down important, but pausing between each repetition is vital. If you repeatedly play a passage without pausing, you stop thinking about what you just played and how you played it, and start playing mechanically.

Part of the difficulty in m. 7 is that there is a shift. Here is the whole measure plus the first note of m. 8.

m. 7 & 8
| F# - G - F# - E - F# - A - D - C - A - F# | E

You turn around the opening F# and then skip up to the open A string. While descending from D back down to the F#, you need to shift while playing the open A, so that you play F# with your 4th finger, allowing your 2nd finger to play the E in m. 8. There is a D# following the E. You could play the F# with your 3rd finger and extend backwards to the D#, but intonation of the D# is more reliable in half position. Measure 8 ends with a quarter rest, so there is plenty of time to return to first position.

Measure 13 is the second turn. This turn happens completely in 4th position, and there is no shift immediately following the turn. This turn has always been the easiest of the five for me to play accurately and reliably. Measure 13 begins with a half note G above middle C.

m. 13 & 14
| G - F# - G - F# - E - F# - G | F# - E - D - D |

Measure 15 & 16 follows the same pattern as 13 & 14, half note - turn - dotted quarter - eighth - quarter - quarter. Measure 15 begins on middle C.

m. 15 & 16
| C - B - C - B - A - B - C | B - A - D - D |

The last two turns are the same. The second one has a shift to half position at the end, to set up for the D# that follows. Measure 17 starts with F natural below middle C. The D# in m. 20 is played in half position.

m. 17 - 20
| F - G - F - E - F - A - D - C - A - F | E - D - C |
| F - G - F - E - F - A - D - C - A - E | D# - F# - A |

These five turns are repeated in the recapitulation at the end of the movement.

Unlocking the first turn with slow repetitions and gradually increasing the tempo with the metronome helped all of the turns. Playing them from the recapitulation also helps, as they occur in different places along the staff, with breaks to the next staff happening in new places in the pattern. Visually the music looks different, even though the turns are identically to what was in the A section.

Triplets

Of the 126 measures in the first movement, 33 have triplets. Being able to play a triplet per beat reliably, over and over, is the key to this movement. For me it is the relentlessness of the triplet passages that is hard. Your focus cannot slip or you’ll lose your place and the passage will collapse. In order from first to last the triplet passages have 8, 1, 9, 5, 7, and 3 measures each. For me the apparent, sudden, increase in tempo is the challenge. You move from a flowing, lyrical passage immediately into several measures of triplets (sometimes interspersed with quarter notes, or dotted eighth note sixteenth note triplet figures) where you are playing far more notes for the same four beats.

Solving the triplets was the single biggest challenge for this movement. The final triplet passage was where I started. Measures 122 - 124 start on E below middle C. The entire passage is all within first position, with one extension for the low F# at the end

m. 122
| E-G-B A-G-F# E-G-B A-G-F#

m. 123
| E-F#-G F#-E-D C-D-E D-C-B

m. 124
| A-B-C B-A-G F# - B

Learning to play the triplet passages was pure metronome work. The approach was to start with the metronome set for 8th notes at a slow speed and gradually increase the tempo. Once the metronome was too fast to really listen to individual clicks, approximately 160, we divided the setting by three and started counting quarter notes, once again slowly increasing the speed after successfully playing the passage.

Here are some of the metronome numbers for the triplet passage at m. 122, taken from my practice notes on November 26th:

For the eighth note: From 80 to 88 to 96 to 104 to 110 to 116 to 120 to 124 to 130

Dividing 130 by three, to switch from counting each note, to counting each triplet, I reset the metronome to 43.

For the triplet: From 43 to 45 to 47 to 50

Once I reached 50 I experimented with long bows, short bows, staccato notes.

If I skipped a day of triplet passage work, it would take far longer to return to the tempo of the previous practice session. Even overnight I would sometimes seemingly lose ground. However, as I completed more and more triplet passage work, the amount of “warm up” time needed to return to tempo decreased.

Performance

I started working on the Allegro non troppo movement on October 3rd, with an eye toward performing it on December 22th at a studio recital. Two weeks before the performance, at my lesson with my wife accompanying me on piano, we performed the movement for my teacher. With a couple of minor intonation problems and maybe one stumble, I was able to play through the piece. Three days before the performance, when my wife and I began our practice session with a start to finish performance of the piece, it completely fell apart. Passages that had never before been an issue were unplayable. The performance was a disaster. I contacted my teacher and asked to not perform in the recital. He and I discussed it at my lesson, and agreed that I would not play two days later.

It was upsetting and disheartening to have spent over two months working daily on this piece only to not perform it. Performance anxiety was something we hadn’t addressed in practicing. Imagining the other members of the studio (grade and high school aged children) and (worse) their parents watching and listening to me, was enough to completely derail me. Obviously I need to incorporate some kind of mock performance into my practice. Setting up a video camera that is blatantly pointed at me while playing, perhaps.

I haven’t set this piece aside. In fact I am now working on all three movements. I would like to master this piece. I want to be able to play it in front of other people, or a video camera, without hesitation or difficulty. Using the approach of passage work, and deliberate, slow playing using a metronome, I am slowly assembling the passages into movements, and the movements into a sonata.