| Author |
Subject |
rossm001
Registered User
(3/13/01 11:09:53 am)
Reply |
Visual
vs. "feel" intonation
I have been lurking here for awhile
so I thought I'd emerge and join in. I have been playing
cello
for 2 years. I am 47 and have spent most of my musical life as a
classical guitarist.
I now play cello in 2 univeristy orchestras
- Duke and University of North Carolina and I really
love it.
I recently discovered a curious problem that I have not seen
anyone here discuss. I think
I've made pretty good progress on
the cello in my 2 years and I play with relatively
good
intonation. I have always played with eyes on the music
and/or conductor and only occasionally
look at the fingerboard. I
have been working on the C major Bach suite and I play several
of
the movements from memory and here is where the problem
starts. While playing these without
music and watching my left
hand my intonation which was good suddenly was atrocious.
I
realized that my visual take on where notes are on the fingerboard
does not connect with my
"hand memory" of where they are and as
son as I look away from the fingerboard it vastly
improves. Has
anyone else experienced this? Is this just another aspect of playing
that one needs
to learn? Don't play from memory?
Thanks
and hello to everyone, Jeff Rossman
|
MaryK
Registered
User
(3/13/01 12:04:02 pm)
Reply
 |
Re:
Visual vs. "feel" intonation
Hi Jeff, welcome to the land of
Cello Chat posters!
My quick-and-dirty reply is to suggest
that you not look at your left hand. So much of what we do when
playing cello is "muscle memory," that it might not be surprising to
be thrown off by a visual component, especially if you haven't
played cello all that long.
Cheers,
MaryK
|
sarah
schenkman
Registered User
(3/13/01 6:10:36 pm)
Reply |
Re:Visual vs. "feel" intonation
Why would you be looking at your
left hand? Find something else to look at.
|
lblake
Registered
User
(3/13/01 10:09:56 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Visual vs. "feel" intonation
I agree with the others - yes,
that's completely normal, and the solution is to never look at your
left hand.
(I'm at about the same stage, but I also played
for about 6 years as a kid, and I remember determining the same
thing back then.)
Welcome to the board! 
|
mcello
Registered User
(3/14/01 8:31:34 am)
Reply |
Don't
look at your hand
I think I would have a neck ache if
I tried to look at my hand. I have students who attempt this and I
try to get them to stop as quickly as possible. If you need to look
at your hands, use a mirror during your practice time. Good luck and
thanks for posting!
|
Sasha
A M
Registered
User
(3/14/01 1:46:06 pm)
Reply |
its
good to know anyway
try playing in front of a mirror, so
you can see and get used to the visual feel of your playing. gerhard
mantel recommends in one of his books slow practising looking at a
"paper fingerboard" with the names of the notes on it, with relative
distances. it is useful to know what note youre olaying and what is
the distance to the next.
i would say, for a teacher it is
very good to know the fingerboard also visually - correcting pupils
becomes easier...
sasha
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