THE LEFT HAND

Putting down my bow for a moment, I direct my attention to my left hand. I turn my cello around and look at the fingerboard. Some of humanity's greatest creations lie there waiting to be played: the Bach suites, the Beethoven sonatas, Bloch's Schelomo. I know they are there because a great musician like Yo-Yo Ma could take my cello and play them for me. All I have to do is learn to put my fingers in the right place. But how?

I run my fingers up and down the fingerboard, feeling how straight and smooth the strings are -- no curves, no bumps. Yet when I begin to play, I have a different perception; as soon as I reach 5th position, I enter some sort of forbidden zone -- as if I must reach into a deep chasm to find the notes. This is ridiculous. The only difference between the upper and lower parts of the fingerboard is that the notes become closer as I play progressively higher. I come to the realization that I have been a victim of the notion that 'higher is harder.'

But how are my fingers going to 'remember' where to go, unless I remind them? Scales! If the great musicians need them, I certainly do.

I play a few notes on the A-string in first position and look at my left arm, noticing that my elbow is low. I will not be able to reach the C-string if my elbow stays in this position. And if I need to go into 5th or thumb position, my arm will hit the body of the cello. The only way to avoid these potential hazards is to lift my elbow into a comfortably elevated position when needed, or better still, save myself some work by keeping the elbow up at all times.

I play some notes in thumb position and marvel at its simplicity. There are only three commonly used fingering combinations for the first three fingers: 1) Whole step between 1st and 2nd and whole step between 2nd and 3rd; 2) Half step between 1st and 2nd and whole step between 2nd and 3rd; and 3) Whole step between 1st and 2nd and half step between 2nd and 3rd. Add the thumb, and the basic combinations only double. With this knowledge I can figure out how to play any combination of notes; I only need to know the intervals between them. Finding the best fingering is another issue, but consciousness of these simple truths makes playing in thumb position much easier. And if I know the required configuration for the notes to come, I can shift directly into the required finger combination.

Except for chords, cellists play notes in a series; each note has some connection to the notes surrounding it. If I am not conscious of these relationships at all times, I will not prepare mentally and physically for notes to come (this applies to both hands). By keeping my right arm high, I am preparing for notes that will occur on other strings. And by keeping my left arm high, I am preparing for notes in higher positions. Preparation may also involve adjusting my arm position, how I sit, how I rotate the cello, and so on. This requires experimentation on a case by case basis.