The Cellist’s Journey #1 Making the Cello a Part of Your Life

Become aware of your intention. Dare to be confident in yourself. Be in it for the long run.

It often starts with a dream.

Maybe the dream is simply about wanting to produce the sound of the cello, or maybe it involves a specific piece of music that you would love to be able to play yourself. The dream could be to join some friends in a group, or in an orchestra. Or maybe you're making your own songs and you'd love to record some cello for them yourself.

Whatever it is, there's something in you that draws you towards the cello. From this point, you'll be thinking about the ways to proceed in order to get started with the whole learning process.

But there's something very important that I would like to address first.

I've seen many come to me for their first lessons, and I've seen many drop out after a short time. There are many things that can get in the way, making you feel over-whelmed and stressed out, or lose faith in your ability to achieve your goals.

You probably have a job, household chores, family and friends. I'm not going to assume more about you right now, I'm just going to emphasize the importance of intention and dedication.

I'd say you're more likely to achieve what you want, if you have an intention of making the cello a part of your life from now on, rather than hesitantly booking a trial lesson to try and see if you're so-called talented and musical.

The latter intention is based on an idea of not being born to do something, while the former intention is grounded in an acceptance of who you are and that the only thing we can do is to tune in to the present moment.

The words 'talent' and 'musicality' are not worth pondering at all actually. They usually don't do us any good, they mainly sow uncertainty in us and are pretty useless, in my opinion. We are who we are, and labels are just words we've made up.

My point is, become aware of your intention. Dare to be confident in yourself. Be in it for the long run.

That's where dedication comes in.

Dedication to the process of cello practice.

I don't mean you have to practice every day for long hours. The amount of practice you do is personal, based on your unique circumstances. Some like to stick to the same routines every day, while others have a less predictable everyday life. Some like to do their practice in the morning, others in the lunch break, others after dinner. Some like to practice a little bit every day, while others prefer longer sessions in the weekends.

Taking up an instrument is such a beautiful, human thing to do. We have been making music for many thousands of years, the oldest instruments that have been found so far are over 40 000 years old. Hunter-gatherers all over the world have independently of each other been making music. It's just something we do.

If the cello speaks to you, it can become the thing you simply do.

In our time, there's such an urge to improve fast and get results as quickly as possible. It can be easy to forget that learning the cello doesn't mean constant measurable improvement. Again, playing our instrument is just something we do.

What happens though, is that a development unfolds as a result of doing something over a long period of time.

Cello playing is perfect for you if you can fall in love with the practice itself.

When you let go of the urge to improve, you can be fully in the present moment, be with whatever you're playing in the moment, learn to become aware of how your body so easily tense up, learn to breathe while playing, and of course, to really listen.

In this way, cello practice can be a break from all the language we're drowning in, it can be a way for us to reconnect with ourselves, to reconnect with the senses and with the value of beauty.

That being said, cello practice will often be far from beautiful, well, depending on what you perceive beauty to be. This is another obstacle I see particularly among adults.

Some just don't like the way it sounds when they play, and so they tense up and play very carefully as if everything will sound better, or at least a lot quieter and apologetical.

But the truth is, cello practice is often loud and rather unpleasant to listen to.

When we practice we don't want to play within our comfort zone all the time, we want to explore the outer edges of our comfort zone so that we can get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

When we practice we also repeat a lot, we play out of tune, we repeat again very slowly or in different rhythmical structures... Go and visit a music conservatory and stand outside the practice rooms for a while. It'll likely be a frustrating experience as a listener.

But I find that there's also beauty in this, no matter how things sound.

I find the process of cello practice beautiful in itself. If I come to my practice room with a troubled mind, I always feel more at peace when I leave.

I feel like my everyday life is putting a lot of strain on my mind, that our culture is extremely fixated on the mind. Cello practice is for me a way to balance this, to feel like a whole being again.

The widow of George Harrison was asked what the secret to a long marriage was.

She said, "Don't get a divorce."

Those who appear to be successful in their music making, are those who didn't get a divorce. Obstacles will show up, as purely technical challenges on the instrument, or injuries, or a lack of motivation, or struggling to find the right teacher.

But don't divorce your instrument straight away. You might overcome the obstacle, resulting in a relationship that becomes stronger than it was before.

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