Welcome to Shifting!
Third position is a great place to start shifting. Place your 1st finger where your 4th finger would normally go on the A-string. Your 1st finger is now over D. Check your 1st-finger D with the open D to make sure you are starting with the position in tune. Spending two minutes each day repeating the notes in this position will help you to become more comfortable. You can play along with the video at first to make sure you are in tune.
Start with separate bows as shown above. Once you have the finger pattern comfortably in your hand, advance to two notes per bow, then four, then eight. The aim is to build mastery of the finger pattern by accelerating the number of notes per bow but continuing to encourage the use of full bows — frog to tip — even as the left hand speeds up. This develops independence between the hands, big full tone, and forces the player to become comfortable using all three quadrants of the bow.
Pro Tip
You don’t need tapes for every note you play. Whether you realize it or not you have been playing extensions both forward and backward without tapes and now you are likely playing third position with only the 4th finger tape, now under your first finger. I recommend you NOT add any additional tapes to help you with these upper positions. Soon we may remove tapes all together. They are a crutch you won’t need forever!
Let’s review the healthy habits that will come with us through all our scales:
- Keep fingers down – as you ascend the scale don’t lift the finger you just played when you place the new finger. As you descend place all 4 fingers and then peel off the fingers one by one.
- Check cello posture – scales are when we can be most mindful of our posture. It is where we build the foundation of all our playing. Feet flat on the floor, cello between your knees, touching at your sternum, sitting straight up, shoulders relaxed.
- Check bow path – watch your bow. Is it traveling straight across the string (t-bow)? Is it midway between the fingerboard and the bridge (forte-freeway)? Has your bow hold collapsed? Is your bow thumb bent? Are you touching the stick between the first and second knuckle of your index finger? Is the hand pronated?
- Check your left hand – is thumb bent (making a “C”)? Are your fingers arched? Are you contacting the string with the fingertips? Is your thumb staying with 2nd finger as you extend backwards? Do you have a straight EWP (elbow-wrist-pinkie)? Is your elbow out like a kickstand?
- Check intonation – verify your intonation. Play with the video, use a tuner, watch your hand in a mirror to check that you are on the tapes. Don’t assume, verify.
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