Cello Lesson Number 2

Yesterday I had my second cello lesson at New School of Music with Ana Ospina.

Lesson Notes

My lessons take place in the Concert Room, where Ana has me sit in the stage area facing her where she sits in the audience area (the stage is not raised). I think this will help me get accustomed to sitting in the stage area when I reach the point of performing in a recital.

Ana would like me to bring in my written work for learning the bass clef so she can check it.

I asked about how much rosin to use on my bow, and Ana said she puts rosin on her bow once a week. I’ve been applying rosin once a day, so I’m using too much rosin.

I can tune my cello using the fine tuners, but Ana tunes it much more quickly by ear, saving us time.

We reviewed what I’ve been practicing for two weeks from Blue Book of Tunes - Cello:

• Gee Dee Gee (p. 3)
• Rockin’ the Boat (p. 4)
• Ski Jumps (p. 5)
• Bow Hand (p. 6)
• Moon Landings (p. 7)

Ana introduced whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets, and sixteenth notes. I’m familiar with these from playing guitar. More importantly, Ana gave me exercises to play these, switching between note types — for example, whole notes with down bow, then up bow, a measure of half notes, a measure of quarter notes, etc. I had difficulty playing these on the different strings and changing note lengths. I need to work on the mechanics of playing these starting with a down bow or starting with an up bow (starting from the middle of the bow for the shorter notes).

Ana put tapes on my cello’s fingerboard and got me started with finding the notes on the D string in first position.

The hour flew by, and I’m feeling eager to getting started on the new exercises.

Assignments

My assignments for the next week include:

• continue memorizing the notes of the bass clef
• work on my bow hold, including pronating and relaxing
• practice bowing whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets, and sixteenth notes
• work on “Rock ‘n Roll” from Blue Book of Tunes - Cello
• work on playing notes in the first position

Upcoming Recitals

Ana Ospina is performing in a Cello Recital at the New School of Music on Tuesday, May 26, at 6:00 p.m. I plan to go.

The Student Recital for Ana’s students is scheduled at New School of Music on Wednesday, June 3, at 7:00 p.m. I plan to go to see what it’s like.

Workbooks

I am using copied pages from three books so far. Today I ordered the books and some extra books that I anticipate I’ll want.

From Neil A Kjos Music Company I ordered the following workbooks:

• All for Strings Theory Workbook 1 - Cello
• All for Strings Theory Workbook 2 - Cello
• Basic Music Theory and History for Strings, Workbook 1 - Cello
• Basic Music Theory and History for Strings, Workbook 2 - Cello

From One World Strings, I ordered the PDF version of Blue Book of Tunes - Cello by Bonnie Greene. The website has audio files for violin, but there do not seem to be audio files for viola or cello.

From Presto! It’s Music Magic Publishing, I downloaded music note reading worksheets and printables for the bass clef.