CelloScool

15/02/2024

Kia ora tatou!
Come and see our show in the Wellington Fringe!
My son Lukas and I deliver an action packed, dynamic piece of theatre about the darkest hour in German history.
I researched and wrote it with the help of both my sons and my family overseas.
All scenes are strongly based on actual experiences of my father and my grandparents.
Is our humanity forfeit in a time of hate and lies?
There’s time for conversation after the performance. Lend your ear! Have your say!

29th of Feb is the opening night, with 2 further performances on the 1st and 3rd of March.

https://fringe.co.nz/show/what-did-you-do-in-the-war-daddy?fbclid=IwAR2oJ_8Y9putjfhtQX2pa0Q13xyGZYs_r5jmY0XJ-0mVo_YtCtKWif7vDeY

"What did you do in the War, Daddy? . . A bombshell revelation triggers a father and son to conjure up their ancestors and confront them with hard questions.

12/12/2022

Help!! Scales!! 😫!!

Hey, if you don't like them, don't play them! 😀!!
Are they actually music?
Not really. And if you don't enjoy playing them, if you zone out, feel bored or disconnected, they can even negatively effect your playing, make it more mechanical and less musical!

But if you want to - or have to - play them, be expressive, be musical. Feel the surge of the ascent and the descent, connect with the rich tone of your cello!
And - scales have character! We typically only play major scales and maybe three variations on the minor scale, but there's lots of others out there, all with distinct personalities. This can also wake us up to rediscover the distinct character of the scales we typically focus on. Let them come alive!

One extra tip :
Start the scales from the top, not the bottom.
The handshape for each position you will pass through will be complete on the descent and therefore more stable and organic. On the way up your handshapes often build up as you go. Particularly for beginners the first finger has the tendency to lock in the thumb right below it, which compromises the hand and the other fingers.
But after a good descent you can consciously revisit these complete handshapes when you travel back up again and avoid this problem.

In conclusion:
Scales can be a good learning device because they allow you to focus very deliberately on many elements of your playing, especially intonation, handshapes, speed, shifting and tone.
But this can be done by other means too!

Innovative cello teaching.
I take an individual path with each student.
30 years of experience.
Pos

05/12/2022

When you don't feel like practicing 😡!....... Practice grumpily!
Put the music on the stand grumpily
and play grumpy open strings
and then start on your first piece carrying on playing grumpily! Express yourself!
It will wear off..😉.. It feels good not to push away how you feel, to let you feelings flow. They won't stay the same! 😊

08/08/2022

Quick hint for shifting:
Typically we need to shift from the starting note, a 'safe place' to a less familiar one, the end note. In practice turn it around. Make yourself really comfortable in the less familiar position. This is now your new base. Then quickly visit the original starting note and go straight back to the end note.

23/11/2021

...and here some thoughts on shifting - not conclusive, by all means!

23/11/2021

Kia ora tatou!

I have decided to make shorter clips with tips and tricks for curious cellists and other interested parties. This way they are easier to make - and easier to watch! (-:

30/08/2021

Kia ora, Cellists!
This is about how to get into improvising and about a fun way to use improvising for practicing skills and tricky passages.
Listen to it with your cello so that you can start right after - or even while it's still running!

25/07/2020

Kia ora, Cellists!
It can be daunting to look at a new piece of music with lots of sharps, flats, dotted rhythms, awkward shifts... Here I want to show you how, with some forethought, it can boil down to become quite manageable!
Let's take a famous example: the beginning of the second movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony...

19/04/2020

...and here's the short version:

19/04/2020

Kia ora Cellists!
I find that extensions are often a hidden source of trouble, though it's really easy to sort them out. One clip is designed for younger players and one is very short and to the point. Both can be useful, if you want to get control of this technique.
Check it out!

08/04/2020

Kia ora, Cello friends!
This is how I teach vibrato to my students.
I like to break it down into this series of simple steps.
Maybe it helps you too!😊