***This post is mainly seeking cello practice advice - Gottagopractice suggested I post a blog entry about my experiences with daily practice so far - so unless you're interested in that, you may want to skip it.***
Right. For those still reading, I've been at this cello endeavor for about three months now. I still like my cello. I still like my teacher. I've upgraded my bow. I've got the hang of bowing and fingering, which isn't to say that I'm stellar at either of them, just that it no longer feels awkward to do either of them. Reminds me of learning to knit, actually, but I'll stick to the point (ha!) and not go there.
I have no illusions that I sound anywhere close to good right now. The long-term goal, of course, is to get better and play music that makes me and my ears and my fingers happy from accomplishment. And when I say long-term, I mean over the course of the rest of my life, until my life gives me a mighty good reason why I should stop playing.
The best way to get better at this, so far as I can tell, is practice. I've had several discussions with my cello teacher about practicing. It's not enough just to finger the notes and bow on the strings repeatedly, he says. An effective practice means you do both properly so you develop the muscle and ear memory to know when you're playing it "right" - when it sounds "right" in your ears and feels "right" under your fingers.
In the first few weeks, I tried practicing for an hour every day, and my cello teacher shook his head at me when he read through my practice journal. As a beginner, that's too much strain on your hands, he said. I need to build up the hand muscle strength first, or it will all be for naught if I develop carpal tunnel or cause a muscle or tendon injury.
So I cut down the daily practice to a half-hour in the morning, and a half-hour in the evening. While this is easier on my hands, I can't say as I notice much improvement in my playing (not that hour-long practices improved it either). My teacher usually gives me at least two short pieces to practice each week. Right now, these pieces are fundamentals - string crossings, scales, and ar-peg-g-ios, mainly (whenever I hear or see "arpeggio" I think of the song from The Aristocats - at 3:00).
When I'm learning one of these new pieces, or if I find a particular section in a piece to be difficult, I try to break it down into measures, and focus on playing each measure better. I will also practice the fingering separate from the bowing at first, so my fingers get more familiar with the note pattern, which helps my attention to not be spread as thinly when I combine the fingering with the bowing. This makes practice slow-going, and often, I don't really feel as though I've gotten very far or have enough progress to present at the next lesson.
I have a lesson once a week. Between lessons, I don't have enough time to practice the pieces until I can play them perfectly - one can only accomplish so much in daily half-hour blocks of time. My teacher has mentioned beginning "cello ensemble" to me several times now, but I know I'm not ready for that. Only one of my cats can stand to hear me play at the moment, and it's just as well that I'm single because my current playing ability would likely be grounds for break-up.
Perhaps I am making it all too difficult. Perhaps I'm expecting too much of myself. After all, I'm not taking lessons for any kind of class credit. Honestly, I'm doing it for therapy more than anything, after years of serious bouts with panic disorder. "Work less, play more" is what my doctor advised. I may not ever play in a famous concert hall, but that doesn't mean I can't learn to play well, does it?
Perhaps I'm a super-slow learner/accomplisher. However, I would think that after each practice session, I should be at least a hair better, yes?
So how do you cello players out there in interwebtube-land approach your practice sessions? How often do you practice? What do you practice? How do you practice? How do you know if your practice session was successful?
Bring it on. I'm truly interested and would love advice because I want to get better, and I do not want to waste practice time nor have it turn into yet another chore on the to-do list. "This is supposed to be fun!" as my cello teacher says.
