Cello Lesson Number 10

Yesterday, August 20, 2026, I had my tenth cello lesson with Ana Ospina at New School of Music.

Lesson Notes

Ana had me work on tonalization — getting the strings to vibrate sympathetically and the cello to resonate.

Ana guided me on bow placement. She put a marker halfway on the stick of my bow so I will do staccato strokes using the middle of the bow with even back and forth. I need to learn not to let my bow wander over the fingerboard when I’m reading music.

From Suzuki Cello School Volume 1, we played “Song of the Wind,” “Go Tell Aunt Rhody,” and “O Come, Little Children,” with Ana playing the cello accompaniment. We played the tonalization exercise on p. 12, and Ana had me pay special attention to the vibrations of the cello.

Ana had me play the D major scale, the G major scale, and the D major arpeggio (D, F#, A, D) on the D and A strings.

I plucked and then played “Perpetual Motion.” I have the notes memorized, but I need to work on bowing.

Ana put a corn cushion on the back of the cello neck where my thumb goes. The cushion is helping me place my thumb in the correction location for the first position.

In general, my intonation is poor (but improving), and my bow control is erratic (but also improving). My sense of rhythm is good (possibly because my father was a drummer).

Assignments

For my next lesson on Friday, September 4, Ana wants me to practice the following pieces from Suzuki Cello School Volume 1:

• “May Song”
• “Allegro”
• “Perpetual Motion” in the keys of D major and G major