Falling Off A Bicycle

| posted in: practice 


As Sibylle and I were in Germany for 10 days, last night was the first cello practice I’ve had since January 22nd. It felt like there had been some deterioration in my sound, and there were some passages in a couple pieces that weren’t as memorized as I’d thought. Cello, like many other skills, is perishable.

That I was exhausted certainly didn’t help; I only managed 5 hours of sleep the night we returned from Europe, and it was hard to think much less play coherently. Still I managed to work through a couple of older pieces and work on the newest etude I’ve been assigned.

Each practice session I try to finish with something I play well, something easy that sounds accomplished. Last night I choose Twinkle, Twinkle. After I played it in G Major, Sibylle asked if we could do a duet. So we played it together. It was a beautiful end to my practice session.

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Mark H. Nichols

I am a husband, cellist, code prole, nerd, technologist, and all around good guy living and working in fly-over country. You should follow me on Mastodon.