//The Cello Lesson Comedy Show (2)//

How to devise fingerings (1)
Posted by Locomotive Music (2020)

Typical start of my cello lesson looks something like this:

Me: I don’t understand your video. First position, fourth position, seventh position? Don’t know what they are. And who cares?!
Teacher: Sigh…

This actually reminded me of the first major blowup during my lesson years ago. At the time, I had been struggling for weeks with the Minuet from Bach Suite No. 1 that was laid out in one of the commonly used student books. No matter how hard I tried, it never sounded right. Then a lightbulb moment popped up. I dug through my pile of CDs and shuffled one into the laptop. At my next class, I slammed a printout onto the music stand.

Me: Why didn’t you tell me?!
Teacher: ?
Me: (Pointing to different notes on the printout using my bow) Why didn’t you tell me one can do THIS, THIS and THAT!
Teacher: …
Me: (Twisting my left hand and fingers on the fingerboard) And one can actually do THIS and THIS!
Teacher: ……
Me: (Waving my arms) THERE IS NO FREAKING RULE! Do you know how much time I had wasted?!
Teacher: Err…  I didn’t know you would reach this point so soon.
Me: (Death Stare) 

Mischa Maisky’s 1999 release of the Bach Cello Suites CD contained a CD-ROM with the CD-Pluscore technology at the time. You can read more about what this program can do from the references below. The coolest thing is the program contained the score edited by Maisky, all the phrasing and fingerings. So what have I learned? Use the most efficient and effective way to produce what you desire. Other than that, no rules. I have now incorporated this thinking into my warmup routine, navigating different notes across the fingerboard using different fingers, twists and turns. This has helped me feel the differences when a note is played using different fingers, and to learn the relationship between a note and its next-door neighbors and distant relatives. Maybe someday in the far away future I will be able to devise my own phrasing and fingerings.