[cellobello virtuosity expression mastery]
[Tschaikovsky Rococo: Var. #1 & 2 (Bow) with paul katz]
Beautiful. Very nice, very nice. Okay.
Want to take that now and go to variation 1?
Your bow doesn't look—we just concentrated on bow structure.
Well your bow doesn't look totally under control.
It doesn't feel under control.
- What does it feel like? - It feels like I'm just kind of going like that.
- Oh. Yeah. - I should probably stay on the strings a little more.
But if you want to come off the string you shouldn't be forced out of the string.
So I think the reason that you feel that—you're more comfortable when you stay on the strings. Right?
- Yeah. - Yeah, I can see that.
I think it's because it's in your bow grip.
In other words, pull the bow up in the air. You want to have a bow grip
that when you're off the string the bow feels balanced and comfortable.
All right. So if it feels sort of clumsy in the hand and this is pulling you down or something such as that,
that's not going to be good. So with—and you want to—
So to put it another way, when I watch you doing these strokes,
you don't have enough flexibility or involvement with the fingers. So—
See this is swingy. That gives us some length to the note.
But every, every beginning is controlled by starts from the fingers.
All right, good. That's already better so if we have a little more time I might adjust your bow grip,
but I think let's talk about how to practice the stroke for right now.
So I like—let's take these because they're easy and we don't have to worry about the left hand. Right?
Yeah, it's just to learn the stroke. So here's what I'd like you to do.
A little bit under tempo.
I want you to get the control of the strokes so you can make a crescendo and diminuendo.
All right, so start soft and light.
Right, all right.
Right. So when you practice that way, then you will have control of the strokes
so you can make shapes and dynamics. Otherwise it starts to sound like an etude. Right?
So you want to do a lot of shaping.
Okay, how about the same thing
with the string crossing.
Right, right. So the third note particularly should be light.
Ba-da-up-up.
Right there.
So I want you to know what you're doing well too.
This—that note has a little lift.
And that note a restart.
And the crossing comes—the whole arm takes you across.
Crescendo.
Louder, louder, ba-da-ba.
And light, think light as you're getting—good.
That's a good way to practice.
That's a little bit too big a motion but you can feel it. Right? That's—yeah.
Good.
Right, good.
So I would say practice the variation that way and let's see where it takes you.
I think maybe ideally that you want to look for a bow grip where your fingers have more control.
Your fingers are kind of laying on the stick.
And you're still playing very well, but you would have even more control of the stroke
if your hand was—if you really felt that your fingers were holding the bow rather than—
So should the fingers be moving, or is it coming from—?
The fingers do move, yes, because the fingers bite particularly with their note.
So more like I have.
Yeah. Like if you took this wallet from me and just take a look at it and turn it around in your hand,
examine it. Okay, so what I want you to see is how your holding—
the way you hold my wallet is with the pads of your fingers. Right?
- Right. - Yeah, because the human hand,
that's the way we control anything. We don't—you didn't take the wallet like that.
You didn't take the wallet with your fingers falling off the bottom.
So if you can find something like that where your fingers actually have a reason to be—
right—yes. Feel the—yes I think you may want to come up a little bit higher like that.
And there's more to talk—we can do that at another lesson.
But I think in general that's the way the human hand controls things is not too deep down.
Want to do the next variation?
Sure.
Okay good.
The bottom of the run
that's the muddy part. That's the part that's not going to be clear so—
You start on the string and then you pop out later.
Can you start off the string with a real spiccato?
Sorry.
Like this, so let's do this one.
Sorry.
Right so louder and getting more on the string.
Good try that feeling in the scale.
That's getting there. Yeah.
Right, okay. And I just want to say that you're doing the stroke very well.
A lot of people are trying to do it—
they try to bounce out here in the middle.
Right? But this passage is a little bit too slow for that.
So what you're doing being in the lower part of the bow
is good. So can you describe for me how your arm works for that stroke?
It's like—it's a little past the balance point.
Lower than the balance point.
Or yeah.
So that's good. So what you're doing is your arm is swinging this way.
Right? Because you're doing a bounce stroke that's in the—this is an important principle.
If you're doing strokes in the lower part below the middle of the bow,
right, you almost swing your whole arm.
Okay? Then the fingers here being flexible get the bite.
And if you think of fingers coordinating with fingers,
it's easier than trying to just do the whole arm. That's too hard.
So this needs to swing, but this, fingers coordinate with the fingers.
Does that feel a little bit different? Did you feel a little bit more fingers?
Yeah, I've never thought of it like that with—
Yeah because that was very well coordinated.
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