I found an image on the internet and felt a desire to copy it. My copy is a simple sketch drawing but reminds me of one of my cello teachers who told me about caressing and embracing my cello or literally thinking more in terms of hugging it when playing.
I've already posted about the anime and drama Nodame Cantabile which has reminded me of many things I had forgotten over the years. But for me its fundamental impact was about our attitude to music and our love for its own sake and its relationship to technique. Mediocrity is unworthy of music and in fact any aspect of our lives. We need to embrace our lives.
Many years ago a cello coach on a music holiday said to me It's such a shame that someone with such musical ability is handicapped by their own technique. That comment really rocked me very hard and I went back to having cello lessons soon after.
I'm very interested that cellist Paul Tortelier in his book with David Blum noted that "when some of my students succeed in correcting poor technical habits, there is a change in their interpretation. They become aware that their interpretation has been mediocre as well as their technique." Tortelier, who was a great teacher of technique, said the proof of a good technique is that you don't have to practice long and that you can play when you become old. In fact I seem to remember him also writing that 30 minutes of good practice was equivalent to running 5 miles. I seem to be in a loop saying again that good technique and soul touching music are linked.
I remain saddened that so much in church seems mediocre 1/ lacking technique i.e. proficiency on the instrument, 2/ lacking practice i.e. absence of ensemble playing , and 3/ lacking inspiration i.e. the music fails to touch the soul. A few weeks ago, my good friend Evy was visiting and she shared frustrations about 3/ and I about 1/ and we didn't even get to 2/. As I write this blog, I have discovered the deep spiritual symbolic link that the music/cello and life have for me.
Tortelier noted that the father's hands in Rembrant's painting The Return of the Prodigal Son resemble the hands of a cellist. (see my earlier post)
"... they are not identical. The left hand is larger and more tense, while the right has a calm, almost spiritual quality. Now although I am righthanded, my left hand is in fact larger; it is in immediate contact with the strings, and is more tense and energetic ... My right hand is less developed physically because the fingers have less individual effort to make... [being the pivotal link between bow and arm] One hand is that of a workman, while the other is that of a priest."Of course music and cello together with life and the spiritual life are symbolically linked for me and the insights are important. We need to put some work into our spiritual lives, in attitude embracing life itself, in developing technique/skill, in order that we may truly live lives to the full.
Command them to do good ... as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 1Tim 6;18-19
