Day 2

Day 2 was a bit different.  My family decided to go see one of the only Puffin breeding grounds in North America.  It was about an hour offshore and the boat left at 7 am, meaning they had to be up on the way to the dock by 6:15.  That also meant they had to drop me off at about 6:10.  So, I had 3 hours to kill before class.

Here's one result from the Puffin trip:

Anyway, my initial plan was to sit on the porch of the SummerKeys building.  However, after sitting there for a moment, I thought, "what the heck am I doing here?"  I couldn't practice there (there was someone asleep upstairs), and there was nothing to see (the sun comes up VERY early in Lubec, being the easternmost point in the US).  So I tramped down to the waterfront and sat on bench.  I played pizzicato scales while watching the fisherman go out for the day (I wasn't about to actually bow out there in front of regular citizens).

Anyhow, here was my practice / time killing spot:

When the SummerKeys sessions started, day 2 started much as day 1, with our group cello class.  However, we split into two groups, each going with a different instructor.  We talked a lot about posture with Joachim and how to remove tension from our playing.  

In my individual lesson, we went over some right-hand dexterity exercises and discussed different ways to make scale playing more useful, such as changing up slurs, or even taking a rhythm from a piece you're working on and use that rhythm for each step of the scale.  None of that is earth-shattering and it had been suggested before by my normal instructors, but the discussion really hit home that I was not doing myself any favors by strictly playing quarter-note scales.  This is going to be an intense area of focus for me in the future.

It was also discussed how beautiful bow strokes come out of a circular motion, rather than being completely linear.  It will take some to integrate this thinking into my bowing, but I definitely can hear a difference when it's demonstrated.

I'm trying to use my 3-4 hours of practice a day to my advantage.  I really hope it shows when I get home.

We also started our coached ensemble work this evening.  I'm paired with a pianist (Rosemary) and a violinist (Alice).  Poor Alice, who is also a beginner, has the toughest part, so it's been difficult for her.  Somehow I lucked out and got a super easy part.  However, there's been plenty for us all to learn in trying to make our piece come together well.  We're working an hour a day with our coach (Charles).  

Since I had awoken at 5 am and done 3 cello classes (counting ensemble) and probably a good 6 hours of practice during the day, I was dead tired by the time we got back to the cabin.  Like, I fell asleep on the couch within 20 minutes, tired.  And when I woke up several hours later, I simply dragged my tired self upstairs and went to bed.  What a day.