Untangling your Hands
As cellists, our hands must perform vastly different movements from each other, all at the same time. One must be heavy while the other light, slow while the other fast, push while the other pulls. No wonder we often confuse the two and lose the purity of weight, speed and legato in either one!
In this 4-class workshop, led by Michael Tweed-Kent, cellist and Feldenkrais teacher at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, you will discover through the Feldenkrais Method how to untangle your hands so that they can perform their unique roles independently. The result? Your hands will act in greater harmony with each other and you will act in greater harmony with your cello.
Begin Your journey
Topics will include
- sandwiches and animals applied to both hands
- passively moving arms in same AND opposite directions
- clarifying roles of each hand in articulation and tone
- coordinating hands for fast passages, string crossings and chords
- eliminating unintentional portato in the bow
- fitting many notes on a long bow without strain
- smooth shifting regardless of bow direction, speed, weight or stroke
Class 1
Weighing the difference
So often the weight of one hand corrupts the weight of the other. A light shift gets stuck in the mud of a heavy sound, or a heavy sound gets drained of its juice by a light shift. So how to add weight in one hand while removing it from another - all with passive arms? The answer(s) lie in multi-dimensional, multi-directional shaping of ourselves to support each hand’s unique needs at any moment. Soon you’ll be sinking and floating simultaneously.
Class 2
Tasting the Texture
Just as fine cooking contains multiple textures in one bite, fine cello playing contains multiple textures in one note. Often one hand must be soft and smooth while the other hard and crispy. If the purity of either hand is lost, the music becomes a mush of blah - neither articulate nor legato. So how to have both at the same time? Get ready for a textural hand-differentiation explosion!
Class 3
Gauging the Speed
How to move our hands in opposite directions, at varying speeds, all with passive arms? It’s a brain teaser no doubt, but entirely within our reach. Once we find it, our shifting gets easier (and more accurate!) regardless of our bow placement or direction.
Class 4
Mixing the Elements
Real cello playing is a two-handed, hot mess of ever-changing, often-conflicting weights, speeds, directions and textures. So how to unify all these elements into a simple, functional, harmonious whole? The key lies in the simplicity of the string.
Class 5
Review and Preview
In this final class of the year, we'll look back on the entire Cello Fundamentals course and look forward to the next chapter in our ever-unfolding journey of learning to play with our entire self: Internal Spaces: Torso, Breathing, Mouth and Nose. Get ready for a celebratory review/preview of cello Feldenkrais delights.
Topics will include
- sandwiches and animals applied to both hands
- passively moving arms in same AND opposite directions
- clarifying roles of each hand in articulation and tone
- coordinating hands for fast passages, string crossings and chords
- eliminating unintentional portato in the bow
- fitting many notes on a long bow without strain
- smooth shifting regardless of bow direction, speed, weight or stroke
Begin Your journey
