How To Fly Your Cello Archive is a group of seventeen recorded lessons designed to offer the student daily technique and warm-up time with a coach – doing the athletic part of our musical training with guidance, the way it’s done in sports. This new model of a fifteen-minute daily workout with a progressive and review sequence of activities will build the technical ability of students at any level, adding and integrating new information while keeping acquired skills fresh.  The fifteen-minute class is designed to be of interest and use to cellists of all levels; there are activities for the beginner young or older, and for the accomplished player who wishes to revisit and refresh foundational techniques.

How To Fly Your Cello is available to any cellist anywhere. If you benefit from this class, please spread the word! Lisa is available to give workshops based upon your cello studio or cello club interests. Please enjoy.

If you wish to make a donation, you may do so on Venmo at: @Lisa-Liske or on Paypal at: Lisa Liske-Doorandish, communitycelloworks@yahoo.com.

1:01 #1   Release

“What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.”  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

rolling the bow, releasing shoulders; trying something the “wrong” way; bowhold knee to bow; rocking the bow on the shoulder; ripples and waves – fingers and elbows; left arm alignment; left arm release and ski jumps; 1st position ringing tones; steering wheel elbow.

1:02  #2 Release

shoulder shrugs; free bow swing; left arm drop and slide; ripples and waves with spider fingers, pat the dog, and elbow elevator; bow as a line for left and right arm alignment; 1st and 4th position ringing tones; steering wheel elbow; Drops; bow hold and letting go awareness.

1:03  #3   Release

Drops; Waves with spider fingers, pat the dog, elbow elevator; ski jumps; bow hold pick up and let go awareness; 1st and 4th position ringing tones; steering wheel elbow.

1:04  #4 Release

Paolo Pandolfo and the gravitational force of Planet Cello; Drops; Waves; slides; the breathing body with tip and frog, nut and rosin zone – opening and closing the shoulder blades; up-bow crashes; releasing the bow; Navigating Planet Cello with ringing tones in 1st and 4th positions; steering wheel elbow.

2:01  #5  Resonance

“Let the beauty you love be what you do.”  Rumi

Finding your voice; clearing space and time; tuggy, floaty, pushy tone; the string is round; 8th position ringing tones; left arm and hand balance around the string; steering wheel elbow.

2:02  #6  Resonance

Finding your voice; one beautiful tone; tuggy, floaty, pushy tone; the string is round – figure 8’s; up-bow crashes; left arm around the string; Ringing Tones in 1st, 4th, and 8th positions.

2:03   #7  Resonance

Connecting with beauty; tuggy tone with arc of the elbow for release; ringing tones in 8th position with steering wheel elbow; noodles; the threat and promise of scales!

2:04  #8  Resonance

Tuning the whole system; one beautiful tone; the whole body as a giant ear; arc of the elbow; ringing tones in 12th position – the harmonic frame; noodles; the threat and promise of scales!

3:01  #9   Weight, Speed, and Placement

“The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work.  To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation.”  Ezra Pound (1885-1972)

Tuning; time, sound, the inner landscape; becoming an artist; one beautiful tone; arc of the elbow with drop and roll and raise and roll; scales in 1st position with no extensions – handshapes and steering wheel elbow; weight, speed, and placement – elephant, cheetah, philosopher; the five Grooves.

3:02  #10  Elephant, Cheetah, Philosopher

The snail as a mascot; tuning, Groove 3; becoming an artist, one beautiful tone, Groove 3; arc of the elbow with drop & roll, Groove 3; ringing tones in 12th position, Groove 5; 1st position 1-octave scales with no extension, Groove 1 with a baby elephant on the bow!

3:03 #11 Weight, Speed, and Placement

One beautiful tone; the artist of sound, time, emotion; anchor position notes and the grooves; steering wheel elbow; F major scale and the “aha!” shape.

3:04  #12  Weight, Speed and Placement

Take the time; the Tree of Cello Technique – it’s not just the mechanics; one beautiful tone, one feeling tone; anchor position notes and the grooves; 8-1-8; the “Aha!” handshape and F major, B-flat major scales; thinking in patterns; the steering wheel elbow.

4:01  #13  Seeking the Bowhold

Aristotle:  “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

One beautiful tone, one feeling tone; 8-1-8, steering the bow; left hand – thinking in patterns; backward extension; forward extension; blob hand; E-flat Major scale; finding the bowhold “cup” from the kneecap – the natural bowhold.

4:02 #14  Seeking the Bowhold

The natural bowhold from the kneecap; drooping and flexing to find neutral alignment; watch the thumb; presenting the bow as a gift to the hand – the 1st finger joint line; weighing the bow in the fingers; the thumb – soft, wiggly bump; The King Sits On The Silver Throne.

4:03  #15  Seeking the Bowhold

The natural bowhold; Little Miss Muffet; the pillow at night; Ants In the Bowhold; pouring toward the tip; the Weight and the Lever; straighten and curl; the bow arm as the artist, the right as the craftsman.

4:04  #16  Seeking the Bowhold

Bowhold finger flexes; the pillow at night; tug-o-war;mousehouse; fishing pole; crossing gate; wag the tail on the dog; spider fingers; straighten and curl; thumb as snow plow; contact points on the thumb; down-bow and up-bow bowholds; contact point focus

5:01  #17  Seeking the Bowhold

Bowhold finger flexes; one beautiful tone; one feeling tone; tug-o-war; fishing pole; crossing gate; wag the tail on the dog; spider fingers; up-bow and down-bow bowholds; tapping/butterfly bowhold; smears