Dotzauer Day 15: Zen and the Art of Consistency in Cello Playing

10 April 2018 Utrecht 'Practise only on days you eat' Shinichi Suzuki Today I am in something of a strange place. I woke up in the wee small hours with a migraine, failed to recognise it as such, so let it run with paracetamol for another hour before I realised I would need something stronger, …

Advertisement

Dotzauer Day 14: In Praise of Bazelaire

9 April 2018 Utrecht   I begin with a few variations on the D major scale, with a repeated rhythm for each note, á la Suzuki. I quickly realise that I simply can't play where I want to on the string without getting a lot of harsh bite so I decide instead to try to …

Dotzauer Day 13: On Suzuki Method and Listening to the Inside of the Cello

8 April 2018 Utrecht   I've never studied Suzuki method, but I've been intrigued ever since I heard the criticisms of it (some of which sounded just plain racist), when growing up as a musical teenager in Western Australia. The gist of the criticism seemed to be that it produced automatons, who couldn’t read music. …

Dotzauer Day 12: On Competence, Confidence, and Compromise

7 April 2018 Utrecht   ‘Give your child the gift of being expert at one thing’ Shinichi Suzuki   I am noticing a change in myself these days, and in a way, it's a change back. The great musical pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki wrote 'Give your child the gift of being expert at one thing'. Although …

Dotzauer Day 11: On Practising in Miniature

6 April 2018 Standlake   Amateurs practise until they get it right, professionals practise until it can't go wrong. Julie Andrews   I begin the day with new inspiration: yesterday I drove to Cheltenham, to the house of a friend, where I spent several hours playing piano quintets, and talking about life and music, and …

Dotzauer Day 10: On the use of the metronome in practice

5 April 2018 Standlake   ‘Keep time! How sour sweet music is when time is broke and no proportion kept! So is it in the music of men’s lives. I wasted time, and now doth time waste me’ Shakespeare Richard II Act V Scene V   Bearing in mind what I learned about bow changes …

Cello Resources/References etc. as mentioned in the blog.

This list will be updated as other sources are mentioned. Studies and exercises: Duport: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/DUPORT-21-ETUDES-CELLO-by-Duport-Jean-Louis-EDT/9780769271019 Feuillard: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Daily-ExercisesTagliche-UbungenExercices-Journaliers-by-Louis-R-Feuillard-composer/9783795795030 Stutschewsky: https://en.schott-music.com/shop/violoncello-technik-no32085.html Rick Mooney: Double Stops for Cello https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Double-Stops-for-Cello-by-Rick-Mooney-author/9780874877618 Position Pieces for Cello, Books 1 and 2: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Position-Pieces-for-Cello-by-Rick-Mooney-author/9780874877625 https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Position-Pieces-for-Cello-Bk-2-by-Rick-Mooney-author/9781589512054 Thumb Position for Cello, Books 1 and 2 : https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Thumb-Position-For-Cello-Book-1-by-Mooney-Rick/9780874877632 Books about technique: Christopher Bunting: Essay on the Craft …

Dotzauer Day 9: On Conducting Technique and on ‘Authentic’ Performance of Twentieth-Century Arrangements of Earlier Works

4 April 2018 Standlake, Oxfordshire ‘He thought he heard a noise – Ha!’ W.S. Gilbert,  Pirates of Penzance, Act 2 It's freezing in the information shed this morning, and I am wearing an enormous thickly-lined jumper, loose enough to allow my elbows to bend, but a problem nonetheless, because with my arm disappearing into the …

Dotzauer Day 8: Other Pieces, Other Problems to Solve

3-4-2018 Standlake, UK 'She would be in nobody's way, you know' - Lady Catherine De Burgh, Pride and Prejudice   I am in the ‘Information Room’ at Lincoln Farm Park campsite, which is a better option than the games room, with its flashing lights and pinball machines, and less of an attraction to the campsite …

Dotzauer Day 7: On Posture and the Walnut Tree

2-4- 2018 The Walnut Tree Inn, Blisworth   I am writing from the camper van in a campsite in Oxfordshire, This is definitely a superior affair compared to the scene of our adventures in Grendon: hard, gravelled standing,  clean bathrooms with spacious cubicles and running (truly) hot, a laundry, a pool, a sauna, WiFi (which …