Day Two - Easy and Hard

I've now had two practice sessions with my cello.  Some things are actually pretty easy.  For instance, if you want to play the F# (F sharp) that's on the fourth line of the bass clef, all you have to do is press your left hand ring finger against the D string (in the right position, mind you) and pluck (or bow) with your right hand.  So simple.

What's not so easy thus far is when you want to play that F#, then play the open D string, and then back to the F#.  The "open" D of course means that you need to remove all your fingers from the string to play it.  Then you have to put your third finger back in exactly the same place on the fingerboard - without looking - which is the trick.

Student celli (or cellos, whatever you want to call them) have these nifty white stripes on the fingerboard where your fingers are supposed to press to make certain notes - very helpful, since a finger that's off by a few millimeters can make the note off-pitch.  Granted, it's hard to put your fingers exactly on the white stripes if you're not looking at them and instead looking at, you know, the sheet of music you're trying to play.

One day, I assume, my fingers will simply "know" what shape they're to be in.  But not today.  Today I find myself cringing when the F# sounds more like an F minus.

Still, after only 2 sessions, I'm actually surprised that I can make "music" already.  Ok, I admit that I'm still amongst the likes of Jingle Bells, Old MacDonald Had A Farm, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but hey - it's progressive.