Pretty much had my head handed to me at cello lesson today. The next steps for learning are things that are hard to define precisely; getting the pulse of the music, knowing when to fudge or linger certain notes to give them character. These are the sorts of things that are difficult for a precisely literal person like myself to get. Grace notes are still difficult for me to understand. One issue with La Cinquaintaine is that I need to NOT play them on the beat. There is a real note that needs to be played on the beat. There were also some other rhythmic issues that came out of yesterday’s recording.
It’s no longer going to be a simple matter of “well, the left hand goes here”, or “try to attack the string more there”. This is tough for me because I don’t have an approach to the problem at all. But we’ll work it out. The more I do of this, the more respect I have for real musicians.
You are so right. I’m an accountant by trade, so this is not easy! Although I do find the left hand more understandable, and the notations on music (rhythm, dynamics) DO give direction. It’s the bow that really confounds me, and although I’ve read up on the magic of the bow, I’ve yet to uncover that mystery.
As a fellow literal-ite, I can totally identify with this. My awesome, but right brained, teacher has a hard time understanding this.