Posted by Andy (Andrea...) on May 20, 1999 at 11:02:46:
In Reply to: Re: When I decided that cello was just InCREDIBLE! posted by Sodium on May 19, 1999 at 11:38:57:
Im sixteen.
hey Theo.. I have moments when I feel like Im so far behind. when I look back at my beginner years when i didnt take it seriously or i didnt work hard enough I bet a little annoyed.... My philosphy about cello is that I have to make all these little steps and accomplishments to go anywhere I cant just wake up one day and be Jacqueline DuPre (but wouldnt that be nice) even the most talented ppl though had bad days and days when they didnt want to work or when they played so horribly they thought they could never be what they became. Honestly I dont think anyone ever just wakes up one morning..
So you want to play like Rostropovich? best of luck. You know though, we both have years; I mean we dont have to accomplish anything right now... But I too put immense pressure on myself. You wouldnt believe how much work and improovement Ive done in the last 9 months since ive decided my love for cello. I heard that one of the teachers here in Montreal, Yuli Turovsky, I think, started a student at 19 who became a soloist. And here I am sometimes complaining that I didnt start cello serious early enough to be a soloist... secretly I too want to be a soloist...
I guess my letter is a little all over the place....
Because of how intensly i went at it from September until March that at the begining of march i started to have pain in my left wrist when i play. thank god my teacher is so incredible because when it started to show even a little she had me slow down. unfortunately though my problem seems to be quite bad... i can only practice for 15 minutes a day and even then it's like, five minutes bow arm, five minutes just left hand work... now my problem at the root has 3 causes.. my previous techer didnt pay much attention to some important things with my technique in my right arm, Im tall and i grew very fast so my ligements and stuff are "loose" and I put incredible amounts of pressure on myself; which i dont regret because i prooved to myself alot of things.
I guess if there is a point to my letter theo, its that you shouldnt worry about not becoming Rostropovich and therefor failling. Just love cello (maybe this is where i should jump in and take my own advice, huh?) as long as we both work hard and try our best (within expectable limits) when we get wherever we are going, wether it be soloing for the London Phyl. or the neighbourhood teacher we'll know weve done our best and theres nothing to be ashamed in that....
I hope this all mkes sense, its hard to tell because this little box does some funny things when youre writting in it and its hard to know what youve written...
some time... Andrea
ps. Im sorry to have presumed some stuff about you... maybe i just needed to project some stuff of my own on someone to project it back at me, or something...