Wow, so helpful. Been revisiting cello in quarantine but stress of sounding rusty makes everything very tense. Incredible insight here that I wish I'd gotten about 10 years earlier!! Thanks very much, hopeful for improvement.
I have a question . I am a passionate amateur pianist . I dedicate most of my time practicing the piano . But I love Cello and started having some lessons. Right now I study around 40 minutes a day more than the recommended by my teacher since I barely started. Is it possible to develop the instrument with 1 hour a day ? Since I have to work I don’t have 3-4 hours to practice cello specially because of my piano too.
I wonder a bit skeptically about how percussive, how noisy the left hand is. In William Pleeth’s book on playing the cello he remarks on the virtues of moving around with fingers like cat’s paws kneading something. Isn’t there something to be said for using as little pressure as possible? Here in this video it’s all whack whack whack. Perhaps this is a difference between American and (broadly speaking) European thinking on this matter? I ask.
You sound like someone who knows their stuff, and admittedly, I am a complete beginner. That being said, I would like to have a go on this comment, mostly to elaborate my own thoughts. I believe what is being taught here is exactly how to produce pressure in a smarter way. We can either squeeze the fingerboard or be nimble with the pressure, making it strong although quick, by "whacking", making it powerful through engagement of the whole arm. The whacking demonstrates the quickness and relaxedness in which the pressure is produced and released, like a cat's paw. Certainly one can modulate how much of a oomph one can put on the whacking, so it is less of a percussion, but the concept would still stand.
Its an over exaggeration for practicing tension release . At faster tempos, you wont hear it , but you will feel it, and it gives strength especially for playing fast passages and long periods without tension. Look into Janos Starker's Organized Method of String playing. There's a method book as well as a video he did teaching the method here on RU-vid. These methods that Paul Katz is teaching here are very based in Starker's (Hungarian) teachings.
