All About My Bow – Cellist Catherine Black

Our bow is our voice. We want it to breathe, speak, dance, sing and emote. This is an infinite subject but we do need to start somewhere! I feel we learn best with clear explanation, demonstration, focus and experimentation.

We will explore in varied ways, how our bow use can become increasingly natural to us – to become truly, an extension of your arm and hand. In going slowly and in detail, you will more truly find your own voice and feel able to express yourself more fully and authentically as a cellist & musician.

This series will build your understanding in stages. Some classes may be repeated too.

The instrument we play is large and physical and we need to know how to use energy well and understand movement because sound follows the movement.

I will send you materials for the class ahead of the day and then afterwards I will send documents that help you consolidate and develop our work. The groups will be small enough that we will be able to work individually too to check things are understood.

Venue: Zoom (waiting room opens at 5.45 PM for tuning)

Fee: £30 per class

Click here to register and get more information.

13 February 17:00 GMT

Secco Recitatives. Those sung/spoken moments in cantatas or operas where so much of the action takes place and where only occasional, single bass notes, with or without figures, are written in support of the vocal line. Over the past twenty-five years, much musicological research has investigated the practice of secco recitative accompaniment by cellists in earlier times, but relatively little work has documented the actual performance practice used by professional cellists who accompany secco recitatives today.

This talk presents the results of an online questionnaire sent to 249 professional continuo cellists worldwide during the Spring of 2020. The survey discusses instrumentation and seating positions within the continuo group, chordal and bassline articulation, rehearsal protocol, self-evaluation and critical feedback. Above all, it documents whether the cellist realizes the harmonies and in what circumstances. The research shows that certain cultural and sociological factors influence continuo group dynamics and are highly predictive of a cellist’s accompanimental practice. Awareness of these correlations permits today’s young continuo players to see their own interpretative choices from a different perspective and perhaps alter the performance practices within their professional continuo groups in the future.

Register for this free event here.

31 July -6 August 2023