How To Play Cello with Focus, Flexibility and Freedom.
A Guide To Playing Without Tension & Pain.
By MEA, The Creative Cellist Updated: Aug 12th, 2021
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
Bob Marley
In 3 decades of playing the cello I’ve come to understand that while listening to music can be a balm for the soul, learning and maintaining your cello skills can be a difficult and sometimes painful process.
Most cellists have experienced or will experience tension, pain or injury in the course of their career. If left unchecked, these problems can grow and ruin your enjoyment of your craft or even end your career.
Many cellists believe that the answer to this problem is MORE practice but this can make things worse. Hiring a teacher to help is a great idea, but many teachers don’t have the skills to understand your challenges and lessons can be expensive.
Physiotherapists, coaches and programs like Alexander technique or Feldenkreis are often expensive and don’t address your cello specific problems.
Like:
- Arthritis
- Tendonitis,
- Injury
- Poor posture
- Muscle Stiffness
- Fatigue
- Aging
- Bad habits
- ADHD or Focus Problems
- Lack of Creativity and Inspiration
- General tension
If you are an adult cellist, beginner, intermediate or teacher, the secrets below will put you on the right path
The best part about the methods I am going to share with you is that you don’t need to spend a lot of time practicing. These techniques can be applied easily and will get results quickly.
If you really want to play like Yo Yo Ma or your favourite cello player you need to make a commitment to nurture your mind and your body and approach practice in a holistic way.
These methods are research-based and will change the way you think about practice. The following guide will show you 3 ways to improve your focus and endurance while decreasing pain and tension,
Secret 1
Just Breathe! How to use your breath to quickly reduce tension
Research shows that when you breathe deeply your muscles fill with oxygen, your heart rate slows down and your brain produces pain suppressing endorphins. YAY!
Use this knowledge to your advantage by taking every opportunity to breathe as you play.
For maximum benefit, slow your playing down and sync your bowing to your breath. Just a minute or two of slow breathing before you play and another minute or two playing slow long tones before you practice that difficult piece will make a huge difference to how you feel when you play.
It’s best to breathe at the end of every phrase and when there is a musical rest. Try exhaling when you shift (move up the fingerboard) for your most relaxed shifting ever!
Secret 2
How to increase your even if you’re a complete beginner, have physical limitations or are recovering from injury
You may feel that you are too new, too injured, too misshapen or too undisciplined to improve your cello playing endurance. Think again!
The secret to becoming a tension free cellist is not to punish yourself. If you enjoy playing scales and studies keep playing them but if they are making you tense and hurting your muscles then stop for a while and try something different
One way to improve your playing endurance is to stretch and strengthen the muscles involved in playing and then play very small chunks of music very slowly. You can also consider adding improvisation to your practice to take the pressure off and just play freely. Your body and mind will thank you!
Think like an athlete.
3 tools I recommend to every cellist are a set of dumbbells, an appropriately weighted kettlebell and a grip strengthener for your hands. As well, consider investing in a “fascial release” tool like a hard foam ball to work on specific areas of pain.
Consult with a doctor before beginning any course of exercise particularly if you are recovering from injury. That said, You will be amazed how even 5–10 minutes of lifting, gripping and fascial release each day can improve your playing endurance and reduce pain in problem areas for cellists like your lower back, shoulder and neck.
Secret 3
How to design your cello practice for maximum fun AND efficiency so you have more time for the rest of your life
When I was in university, I spent hours a day in a practice room. I wish I could say I learned efficient practice techniques there, but it wasn’t until I started teaching adult beginners who had little time to practice that I really started to stream-line my practice methods.
If you only have a few minutes a day, you need to learn how to use that time wisely if you want to make lasting progress
The best practice method I learned is called “One Point Practice”.
It takes its premise from brain science and education theories supported by many studies. The human brain isn’t a great multitasker. When faced with too many conscious tasks, it dilutes its attention and all the tasks become harder.
If our attention is diluted during practice we can become frustrated and want to give up. However, when we pick a specific focus even for just a few minutes, we can make tremendous progress and avoid frustration
Tasks become automatic so we can direct our attention to another area. Our abilities gradually layer on top of each other until we are able to do very complex tasks quite easily.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you are working on the first few bars of Bach’s Suite #1 in G Major. While you practice you are thinking “Get the notes right! Get the bowing right! Get the tone right! Get the rhythm right! Get the dynamic right!
Sound familiar?
Next thing you know, nothing is right, it all sounds terrible and you feel like giving up. Next time you come back to this piece you remember how “hard” it was and you tense up just at the sight of it.
But if you use One Point Practice” you pick one aspect of the music only and work only on that, ignoring everything else. So, in the case of the Prelude, we might choose to learn the notes of the first 2 bars. That will be your only goal. We don’t worry about tone, bowing or rhythm. When we are confident we know the notes, we add the next element and so forth.
Eventually you are able to play the two bars perfectly with all the necessary elements. An amazing side effect of one point practice is that once something is learned, it sticks. You won’t have to learn it again. You learn things better and faster using this method.
If you want to learn more about playing with focus, flexibility and freedom, check out my course, CelloYoga™️. Here you will find hours of specific advise and support for all your cello related issues:
Visit www.cellogo.com for more details.
