Total Immersion

Cello practice is starting to seem like a full time job this week. I want to get all the orchestra pieces to sound the best I can (based on my present playing level) for the concert next month, so I've been focusing exclusively on these and have placed Suzuki Level 4 on hold for now. Lately my lessons have been based entirely on my orchestra music, with me compiling lists of questions in advance and marking sections to review with my teacher.

Mostly I've been working on The Karelia Suite by Sibelius which I think is well worth the investment of time and effort. Besides being a beautiful piece of music, it's chock full of technical material. A few weeks ago I bought the study score, which was a great learning experience in itself since I'd never even seen an entire score before. I've spent countless hours listening to the recording and following along with the entire score, then marking cues and other helpful hints onto my cello part. It all makes a lot more sense to me this way, and has taught me a lot about listening.

Recently my stand partner and I got together a couple of times to practice. She has a lot more playing experience than I do, but I was able to answer some of her questions about theory, and also help her to read the tenor clef sections of the Pavane by Faure. We were also able to work out some bowing details with our principal cellist when we had sectionals last week at rehearsal. So, for the most part, things are progressing, but there's still much work to be done.