Cello Lesson 1

I have made progress with my left hand and playing pizzacato with my right hand. The bow however was still a bit of a mystery to me. Sure I could 'pull' a sound from the strings, but I was not really happy with the quality of the sound and that put me off really getting stuck into it.

The best way to make progress is to fix the worst part and that was certainly the bow.

To fix the worst part I really needed guidance from someone who knows. Who to go to for tuition? I have seen Joshua Verco perform with the Davidson Brothers and after checking out his web site decided to approach him for a lesson. After some to-ing and fro-ing Monday was the day, so I travelled down to his place and explained what I wanted and showed him what I had accomplished so far on my own. I took the bow out and made my feeble attempts at making a sound. Joshua was in the kitchen making a cup of tea and without even seeing me knew what my problem was and proceeded to remedy the situation. Apparently I'm not the first novice to make the mistake I was making. As Joshua described it, the right hand grip of the bow was all wrong. It looked like I was cutting a loaf of bread instead of bowing a cello. I was shown the 'right way' to hold a bow with backup from some YouTube videos. Sure enough after a few minutes the sound I pulled from the cello sounded consistent and full, the best I've heard it up until then. I was encouraged. I'm going to have to work at it because some of the arm/wrist positions are a little hard for me to perform. I hope that with some consistent practice my discomfort will gradually diminish. It's the old story of using muscles and positions you do not normally use being difficult to use. Practice, practice, practice.

During the lesson we went over quite a few things: Posture, cello position, bow position and a lot of right hand techniques. I have my homework cut out for me.

Most happy with my first lesson.