we are small muscle athletes
One of my pupils recently asked me if there’s a type of exercise that is beneficial for us cellists. Hm. I had to think about it.
Needless to say (though I’ll say it anyway), to move our body is essential to our health and well-being. Whatever type of exercise you like, do it! Now, general physical exercise aside, let’s focus on cello playing.
What I’m teaching is to shift away from gripping and applying pressure, over to making use of the surprising weight that we have in both of our arms.
I asked my friend and colleague in Amsterdam, Wilma Pistorius, who is a certified teacher of Alexander Technique in addition to being a cello teacher. She replied to me that
It's all about falling and hanging (weight) and not pushing or squeezing (muscles). Unfortunately it's not quite as simple as doing muscle-strengthening exercises; instead, I would invite people to explore and experiment, and see what they discover.
Experiment how, you’re asking? I like to ask myself what is necessary for me to do? in order to play a particular phrase. First I take the bow and place it on the string. What is necessary for me to do with my bow in order to play the given phrase? Then I take the left hand and play the phrase only with that hand. What is necessary for me to do in order to execute the notes? That’s my take on Wilma’s suggestion.
Of course, strength in our fingers is developed as we play. We are small muscle athletes! To train these, playing etudes (taking frequent breaks to avoid any injury) has been the most effective for me. I love the Popper studies but it doesn’t matter which ones you play as long as you enjoy them and see the point of it all. We don’t want to be thinking “this is boring but I’ll do it for the sake of x, y and z”. No. We want to enjoy this life that we have. So keep exploring until you find the etudes that you like. Bunting. Lee. Dotzauer. Feuillard. Piatti. Or make up your own exercises. All you have to do is to repeat a minimum of 2 tones at various speeds and rhythmical patterns and voilà! you made yourself a strength exercise.
The Bach Suites are also excellent for developing our small-muscle strength. Playing page after page of eighth-notes, I feel I need a break not after long.
To conclude, Wilma writes
In short, I'd say that it's more important to have relaxed and responsive muscles rather than strong muscles. If someone wants to do something body-related to improve their cello-playing, I'd suggest some yoga, as that generally improves the mind-body connection and makes the body more relaxed in general.
When we relax, we produce more sound. It might feel counter-intuitive, but play a crescendo while applying more pressure as it gets louder. Then, play a crescendo while relaxing as it gets louder. Did you notice a difference?
tl;dr
Strength is developed as we practice, so it’s on the whole more useful to focus on relaxation while we play in order to make use of the weight of our arms rather than to tense up.
