Lean Against My Heart: Life with My Cello
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The First Notes

8/6/2013

 
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Seven weeks ago, on June 25th, 2013, at the age of 41, I took my first cello lesson. That night, my teacher told me to lean the cello against my heart, and from that moment on, I was hooked. Playing the cello really is like interacting with another human being, and when I play, I forget everything else, particularly when a miracle occurs and I play the notes correctly. 

Playing the cello is not easy, especially for an adult beginner. I am still learning the bass clef, and I have a mild form of cerebral palsy which makes it hard to coordinate the muscles on the left side of my body. My fingers don't always do what I want them to do, and sometimes my left knee slides behind the cello instead of staying by its side. Apparently I also have inflexible wrists, and my bow hold is not as relaxed as it should be, but I am no longer in pain after I play, so I know that I am making progress. At the moment, eighth notes are my nemesis, so I pretend that they don't exist. 

After seven weeks of playing, I still sound like a chicken on life support, but patience is a virtue. My chicken has recently started breathing normally at around every third note. So far, I can play part of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by heart. I can play something that more than vaguely resembles White Sands and Grey Sands, and I added Hot Cross Buns to my repertoire last night.

I started this blog as a way to keep me motivated when I get frustrated, and as a way to combine my two loves: writing and cello. I don't know exactly how this will evolve, but people seem interested in my experiences with the cello, so I thought I'd give blogging a try. When I am not practicing the cello, working, or volunteering, I write fiction. If you'd like to read some of my stories, see http://www.esmeraldasnest.com

Stay tuned (ha ha) for other posts on my adventures with the cello, such as How to Drive in a Traffic Jam With a Cello and Pray That You Don't Have to Stop Short, and more. 




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Rosemary
8/6/2013 08:00:46 am

Alexa ~ As an adult who also decided to learn to play the piano, I can fully understand your joy and frustration with learning a new instrument at a more 'mature' age. I had thought about cello, but since there was already a rather large, unused instrument sitting in the living room, I decided to go with the piano. There are many times I become frustrated when my head and my hands cannot seem to work together no matter how hard I try, but I find that if I walk away and try again later, it always gets better. I am attaching a link to an article that I recently found that confirms some of my feelings about learning something new at this age: http://www.creators.com/opinion/mona-charen/cello-notes.html

A few nights ago as I was sitting in the living room listening to my 12 year old play princess songs on the piano (and realizing that even after only a year of lessons, she will soon pass me in skill), what a wonderful thing it is to have the house filled with live music. Her piano lessons have lead to an appreciation of classical music and interest in a new instrument, the flute.

Music is just an amazing thing and I am so glad that you had the courage to do this. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the journey.

Alexa
8/6/2013 08:07:58 am

Thank you, Rosemary. I'd love to hear you play the piano sometime.


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    Author

    Alexandra Kontes is a writer and a beginner cellist. To read some of her fiction, please see Esmeralda's Nest.



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Lean Against My Heart: Life With My Cello, copyright 2015, Alexandra N. Kontes

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