Secret Cello Thrill

I have taken a very long and circuitous route to becoming a cello player.

The viola was my favorite instrument as a very little girl, but when finally, after years of begging for viola lessons, I was taken to the rental store to be fitted for my first instrument, I was so impatient to bring it home that I took the 1/2 size fiddle home as is, with violin strings, rather than wait five minutes to let the man restring it as a viola. Thus was an accidental violinist was born.

By junior year of high school, I became aware of harboring a deep envy toward the cellists in my orchestras and chamber ensembles, and that while I liked carrying the melody, and being the concertmaster, I longed to make the rich, sweet sound that only a cello has. I was encouraged to learn the viola, a relatively easy crossover, but at that time, I found had lost interest in it.

Years passed. In 1994, I moved away from all my musician friends and had a baby. I stopped playing the violin altogether.

As a devoted mother, I found myself gradually developing a list of places I would visit and things I would do when the children up and left me someday. More than resuming violin playing, learning to play the cello topped my list.

When my sister-in-law learned of this several years ago, she said "life is short, carpe diem, get a cello already!"

For a brief moment, this made sense. Isaac, my youngest, was still just one, but I went out and bought a cello, hired a sitter so that I could take a weekly lesson, and hired the sitter to return so that I might go to the basement and practice.
Eventually, I decided that it made more sense to wait and see if any of my boys wanted to study cello and would let me learn along with them. That has finally happened, with Isaac, and I am so happy!

I have lately become active as a violinist again, performing regularly in an orchestra and two chamber ensembles as well as my temple band. I'm a pretty skilled musician. But Isaac's cello teacher had never heard me play on either instrument until yesterday, and even though I have claimed to be a violinist, she assumes nothing.

Yesterday was our sixth cello lesson. With the Suzuki method, you learn the music first by listening to it, moving to it and singing with it before you try to play. So, in terms of playing, we have progressed to the point of plucking a three or four note song. Meanwhile, Isaac's working hard to develop his intonation so that he is able to sing on key. To help him learn the melody of a song he has been assigned to sing daily since Day One, his teacher, Miss Nadine, suggested that when we practice every day at home, I should play the song on my violin.

Since we already both have our cellos out for practice sessions, it is actually easier for me (and I would like to think, more inspiring for him) to accompany Isaac on my cello when he sings. I have done this every day with him for a couple of weeks, but then, let him sing the song a capella at his lesson, at which point he has struggled to remember the melody in front of Miss Nadine. She is the kind of teacher who can make a person very nervous...enough that you might forget a song you sang perfectly well on the car ride over.

At yesterday's lesson, when it was time for Isaac to sing, I said to the teacher "please don't watch my technique, I'm just going to accompany Isaac on this", and then I proceeded to play the melody as he sang. Because Miss Nadine is very critical, I tried very hard to play in tune and with a clear, pretty tone.

When we were done, she said to me "Well, clearly you picked the wrong instrument!"

My immediate reaction was to become defensive about my violin skills, but Miss Nadine interrupted me. "I just paid you a big compliment," she said.

"Thank you," I said, chastened.

Miss Nadine is very strict as much about manners as she is about practicing. In both respects, I am supposed to be Isaac's teacher and role model. Try as I might to meet her high expectations, Miss Nadine has found something legitimately to criticize me for at every single lesson, even as she delights in Isaac's dedication and preparedness.

Yesterday, as she went on to compliment my "very lovely" tone, even though I was secretly thrilled, I found it difficult to accept the compliment, attributing the sound quality to my wonderful instrument. So, I suppose that is why I am telling you here, ever so secretly, that I am beyond thrilled to have my son's strict and demanding teacher compliment my cello playing so earnestly. I desperately hope that I may continue to earn her praise.