Category: Practicing

Practice, probability, and the zombie apolcalypse

3/16/2018

I might have a thing for zombies.

"Practice until you get it right" couldn’t be more wrong!

Watch my new video below to be sure you aren’t inadvertently bringing about your own doom with this crazy idea about practice...

Perhaps what I say in this video will seem like common sense to you. If so, you're one of the lucky ones. All I know is that I wasted an entire decade of my cello life playing instead of practicing--and I don't want you to make the same mistake!

Want more guidance on this topic? Check out my previous blog post: Practice: A Gift to Your Future Self

Let me know how your practice is going in the comments section below. Happy practicing!

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Attacking Chicken Attack

6/6/2017

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by Erica Vacare

Erica is a student of Nan's who rediscovered the cello as an adult. She enjoys biting off music in small chunks, like a turtle eating a piece of fruit.

“Have you seen Chicken Attack?” asked my friend Chris.
“I don’t think so,” I replied.

I opened the YouTube link he sent. “Looks like a kung fu movie,” I thought. “Wait, did that chicken just turn into a ninja?! Oh my god. Now he’s fighting that guy. And this music is awesome.”

I informed Chris that this was the best thing I’d ever seen, and listened again. And again. I was hooked. After the fourth play in a row, I glanced across the room. Surprisingly, my cat did not look perturbed in the slightest, despite the continuous stream of yodeling coming from my laptop. I clicked the video a fifth time, and pictured how it would sound on the cello. I had to try it. A couple of Google searches later, I was the happy downloader of a straightforward-looking transcription. I printed it out and set it on my music stand.

The first thing I noticed was that the notes on the staff looked higher than Snoop Dogg. No problem, I could just move things down an octave or three. My mind wandered to my cello lesson, which happened to be the following day. I hadn’t played much this week. I pictured Nan, with her usual smile, asking me how my practicing had gone. “Well, I didn’t work on anything except for Chicken Attack,” I would have to confess. How embarrassing. I racked my brain for a way I could make Chicken Attack educational, more respectable. Then I noticed that playing it as written would put it in thumb position, which Nan had conveniently just gone over with me. “Perfect! I’m going to use Chicken Attack as a thumb position exercise!” I declared. My cat seemed unimpressed.

I sat down with my cello (which caused my cat to flee), and set my thumb on the A and D harmonics. I found I could play the beginning of the verse in the hand position Nan had showed me, without having to shift. Sweet. This was going to work well.

I was congratulating myself on my brilliance when my eyes fell on this high E:

Not too scary, though. I knew where that note was, after all: a whole step above my third finger on the A-string. But how to get from point A to point B? (Or, more accurately, point E to point higher E?). I wasn’t sure. “I’ll I just skip all those high Es for now,” I thought to myself. This allowed me to continue for a hot two seconds, until a wild F appeared:

Son of a monkey. If I wanted to play this, I would have to learn how to shift in thumb position. It was inevitable.

I brought the music to my lesson the next day. As Nan and I went over it, it became clear that Chicken Attack would be no mere exercise. It would involve a range of techniques, from basic to advanced! It was the perfect way for a thumb position newbie such as myself to dive right in.

Are you new to thumb position, too? Want to join me? Here are a handful of exercises plucked (sorry) from my practice pad! (Note: the version of Chicken Attack I’m using has been transposed down a fifth from the original, to be a bit more cello-friendly).

Finding thumb position on the harmonics:

Bringing the thumb around in measure 4:

Learning how to move the left hand in an octave structure:

Utilizing technical shifts:

Employing a sneaky pinky move in measure 11:

Chicken Attack used as thumb position training is such a breath of fresh air in the studio! Thanks so much to Erica for sharing it with me and the rest of our cello family. -Nan

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Vibrato, an annotated guide

7/13/2016

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After several years, I have finally finished the sequel to Always Room 4 Cello!

I wanted to make use of a different genre for the next big video project, so when I found myself singing about vibrato to the tune of "Desperado," it just seemed right. Besides, I have found that vibrato tends to be one of the most mysterious and frustrating topics for beginning cellists. It needs attention.

A silly teaser trailer I made for it...

Here's the actual video. I hope you like it!

In an effort to help you "get experimental" with your cello vibrato, the following is a breakdown of the techniques suggested in the song.

The Lyrics

The Explanation

Oh, vibrato, why can’t we get you to happen?
Been doin’ so much tappin’
for so long now.
You’re a hard one
but you’re supposed to be easy,
there’s tension that’s squeezin’ you
but I don’t know how.

I’ll have to try some mini-shifting
or just sliding on a table
or it might be good to move with the opposite hand

You can karate chop your cello
just be sure it’s really stable
or enlist the help of a pretty pushy friend

Oh, vibrato, make sure you start from the elbow
soon you’ll shout out HELL….O
to a nice warm sound
You just shake it, oh shake it
like a polaroid picture
There ain’t no set scripture
except to set your bow down

If you try all this and still use the bow
it’ll change the motion and you won’t know
plus it can cause your whole right arm to want to shake,
But if you tap your cello with your left
and practice the feel of a bow that is kept straight

Oh,vibrato, it could be so super simple
gotta get experimental to find your command
May seem crazy, but it will sneak up and get you
and you’ll never forget--
It’ll feel like shaking your hand.

tappin’: This refers to exercises called "taps" and "sticky taps" explained by Gerald Fischbach in the Art of Vibrato DVD and the Viva Vibrato book series.

mini-shifting: Sometimes it helps to start out with a big shifting motion in the left arm and then slowly narrow the motion until your finger stays in place while your hand and arm still move
sliding on a table: Taking the cello out of the equation can have incredible results!
opposite hand: Sometimes the motion is easier in the right hand--and then you may be able to recreate it more easily in the left.
karate chop: Much like mini-shifts, a chopping motion onto the top cello ribs can be an easy way to get used to the proper arm movement
set your bow down: Practice vibrato motions without the bow at first.
tap your cello with your left
and practice the feel of a bow that is kept straight: When you are ready to try to add the bow, just bow open strings while you move your left arm to tap the cello ribs. This way you can get used to the two arms acting independently and you will be able to eliminate "shaky bow" (when your right arm is inspired by the left's motion to move in conjunction with it).

Get experimental!

What method has worked best for you? Is there some technique you like that I completely left out?

Lets' talk! Leave a comment below--I would love to hear from you.

In the meantime, here are a few videos I really like that deal with cello vibrato in a helpful way. If you don't have much time, watch the first one (top left). The adult amateur cellist in the video speaks very candidly about her frustrations--and offers a logical and fresh approach!