Cello Masterclass

By Jackson:

 Sometimes it's nice to hear a fresh perspective on your playing from someone other than the teacher you see every week.  I invited Mr. Law to teach some of my students in a master class setting.  It was really fun!  He is excellent with the kids and shared some excellent pointers.  I especially liked it when he reinforced something the kids knew I'd asked them to do, or heard him ask someone else to do it.  I'm looking forward to a week and a half of this at Suzuki Institute this summer.

Nicholas is finding the right note to begin his piece, and matching it with an open string.

Mr. Law asked Thomas to stick out his tongue while he played Chorus from Judas Maccabeus.  It was very interesting to see it go back in when he came to a tricky sting crossing.

Here Brynne is hearing about tunnels and how we need to play with tall tunnels so the notes inside can ring.

Mr. Law told a funny story about a girl at Michigan State where he studied cello who walked around with poofy hair on the left side of her head.  This was because she'd been getting her fingers stuck in it while playing the cello.  Grace needed to play with the neck of the cello closer to her head.

This is the story that inspires the feeling behind the notes in Two Grenadiers.  "I don't want to go to work"  That's because he has to lob grenades and it's quite dangerous.

Will got to keep some dimes for keeping his feet in the right place (on the dimes)!