Prologue

There is hardly any cello playing during my cello lesson with Teacher. Most of the time, we just chat. Sometimes it turns into a debate, not just about music but anything. I often call this a psychotherapy session but a less expensive one. And I suspect that Teacher sometimes finds it amusing to see what load of crap will be coming out of my mouth next.

//The Cello Lesson Comedy Show (1)//

Stop or Go?!

During the early days of my cello study, Teacher tried to teach me the basic bow stroke:

Teacher: “Go.-Stop. Go.-Stop. Go.-Stop…”
Me: “Go.-Stop. Now what?”
Teacher: “Go!”
Me: “But it stopped already!”
Teacher: “Gather energy then GO!”
Me: “But it stopped already!!”
Teacher: (moving my arm) “GO!!!”

Well, that led to one of the darkest hours of my cello study, which is another story to tell some other day. Then recently (many years after that lesson on bow stroke) I got a lightbulb moment.

Me: “I finally figured out what was wrong with your Go-Stop Go-Stop logic.”
Teacher: (with one eyebrow going up) “Oh? Do tell.”
Me: “It’s not Go-Stop Go-Stop. It should be Stop-Go Stop-Go.”
Teacher: (now both eyebrows shot up) …
Me: “With Stop-Go, there is a forward dynamic to the next Stop-Go and so on. And remember Piatigorsky said ‘The tiger before he jumps, he stops.’? So this Stop-Go Stop-Go pattern matches what he said.”
Teacher: “That’s a creative thought.” (Translation: “What a wacko!”)

To this day, neither of us has budged.

Piatigorsky, Master And His Class, with the U.S.C. Cello Master Class in 1972.
Posted by Emanuel Gruber