My Lessons began on June 9, 2017. My cello teacher is Ms. Sara Haughton at the Catoctin School of Music. Lesson 1 was about setting the baseline. Sara and I discussed my past cello experience. I told her that I was a pretty good cello player back in the day. Nothing like a Yo-Yo Ma or Mstislav Rostropovich, but I advanced fairly quickly, playing intermediate and some advanced level music in a short time. So she gave me a few things for me to play, scales and basic music. Well there was a problem. I mentioned in my first post, I haven’t played in 35 years, so I’ve forgotten a few little things…like reading music (actually, this is a BIG problem). Sara gave me a quick refresher on how to read music and it all came back!
Some observations from “my comeback”.
Gross motor skills come back quickly. Fine motor skills take much longer.
My left hand fingertips hurt. Yes, pressing down on the strings is painful. Looking forward to the callus developing.
I blame the cello for playing out of tune. Because, you know, it’s never my faultJ.
My rental cello and bow are nice, but are rental instruments. I played with my big brother’s cello when I was young. Such a wonderful cello! Looking forward to getting my own cello.
What I learned with the Suzuki method was good. How Sara is working with me is excellent. She works with my strengths and weaknesses – A lot of weaknesses :-). But at least I don’t have to re-learn the basics.
My middle aged eyes make it difficult to read music some times. Regular notes and harmonics look the same. Maybe I need to buy music in large print.
And most importantly…I absolutely love it! I loved playing cello when I was young, but I have a new appreciation for it now.
The Cello Journey 