MelBay Practice for Performance (Book) for Cello and Related String Instruments
MelBay Practice for Performance (Book) for Cello and Related String Instruments
Practice for Performance provides a rare and intimate view into a very thoughtful and successful performer's personal toolkit. Set in the context of his own personal history of growth as a performer, cellist Daniel Morganstern (principal cellist for the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York) displays rare honesty in discussing the problems that faced him at various point of his career, and the ways to solve them. The discoveries sensibly unfold in a fascinating account of experiences with many notable artists whose comments and examples shaped the author's thinking. These ideas are not to be found in any other treatise on the subject of musical preparation. The examples in this book, both musical and non-musical, offer a foundation to help evoke instinctive musical responses in the mechanical processes of playing the cello, and have been advantageously applied to other instruments as well, including voice.
Introduction
- I. How I Studied the Cello
- II. Scales
- Trilling double stops, shifting, and fast moving scales
- The E major scale with added helper notes
- Two diverse rhythmic patterns
- Scale of D. C. Dounis to develop forte pressure and endurance
- Incrementally faster scales
- Long tones & bow changes
- III. Creating a Context
- Play from beginning to end
- Conception and execution
- Using syllables
- Rhythm and tempo
- Sound and bow arm development
- Melody and accompaniment
- Orchestral applications
- IV. Non-Contextual Practicing
- Practice forward and backward
- Practice fast music with breaks
- Accent shifts
- Listen for the chord or tune produced by the first of three or four notes
- Feel the string through the bow
- Use bilateral transfer advantageously
- Pay attention when things are going well
- Practice one fifth lower to intensify tone
- Always warm up on slow pieces
- Practice in rhythms
- Intonation
- Use a tape recorder
- Use the process of association to improve intonation
- Relate the ear to the most stable notes
- V. Extra-Musical Aspects of Performing
- The psychology of performing
- Be prepared
- Give yourself permission to fail
- Show up
- Career development
- Credibility and visibility
- One final thought
- VI. Musical Examples
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Cello Concerto Antonin Dvorak Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A Minor, D. 821 Franz Schubert Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 Richard Strauss Un Ballo in Maschera, Act III No. 7 Giuseppe Verdi Suite No. 5 in C Minor, Fugue J. S. Bach Suite No. 5 in C Minor, Gavotte I J. S. Bach Suite No. 5 in C Minor, Gigue J. S. Bach Ariadne auf Naxos Richard Strauss La Sylphide Etude No. 26 (Forward and Backward) Popper Variations on a Rococo Theme, Variation I Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Sonata in E Major François Francoeur Etude No. 4 Popper Etude No. 12 Popper Variations on a Rococo Theme, Variation II Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme, Variation IV Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Trio in B flat Major, Op. 99 D 898 Franz Schubert Etude No. 6 Popper Etude No. 6 Popper Sonata No. 6 in A Major Luigi Boccherini Un Ballo in maschera, Act III No. 7 Giuseppe Verdi Trio, Movement II Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Lucia, Finale Gaetano Donizetti