Ack. Has it really been this long since I posted?
Well, a few lessons back I reached a milestone in my fledging cello career: my first shift. Needless to say, I've got a long way to go to get comfortable with it.
However, if there's one thing these months of cello lessons have taught me, it's that what seems impossible today will be easy (or easier, anyhow) down the road. I remember vividly playing "Good King Wenceslas" out of my daughter's cello book and thinking, "They really want me to hold down all 4 fingers on the D-string and be able to pluck the A-string and have it ring? That's nearly impossible." Of course today I do it without a second thought.
So, despite the fact it's going to take a lot of practice to learn smooth shifting with correct intonation, I'm not despairing about it. My diligence in practice will determine how long it takes to go from "impossible" to second nature.
