I’m curious about the archetypes of the second-ELI crowd: some of us are self-redeemers, some of us completed our projects last semester and realized that we were about halfway done, and most of us can no longer imagine a life without a Google Drive tab open on our browsers. Some of us have perfected our strategies by now, and some, like me, thought we had but might need a few more tries. Back in February, I was sure that after struggling with my first portfolio, I’d have all of the kinks worked out for Spring 2015. My most important realization had been that, contrary to what I’d decided in the fall, completing an ELI on something that’s already a big part of my life isn’t necessarily a bad idea. Exploring an interesting topic that’s only entered my consciousness recently is a great way to branch out in my interests, but it’s also a big risk: I’ll never be really sure if it’s going to hold my interest all the way through to the end of the semester until there’s not much room for change. That’s why the best piece of advice offered to incoming ELI students every year is “choose something you’re passionate about.” I’d elaborate “choose something you’re willing to wake up at 4 in the morning to write about, and something that you’re sure you’ll be willing to wake up at 4 in the morning for three months from now.”
When this finally hit me last time around, I wrote in my journal: “I realized that it’s tough to be an ELI student and a person who’s very immersed in cello-related things at the same time, especially when those two things have nothing to do with each other… I realized that combining the two stressful things in my life into one stressful thing will make my life up to 50% less stressful, right around the time that I realized I know very little about music theory and that knowing very much about music theory will improve my playing dramatically. So I’m doing an ELI on music theory [and cello] next semester!”
I touted my epiphany as a Room 309 success story for the first month or so of this project, and I really was doing well; I even kept track of my hours. Then other homework, SATs and college hunting, non-ELI cello obligations and, not least, sheer laziness got in the way of my progress and I had to admit to myself that I was behind again. My mantra now is that my trajectory is far better than last semester--all that’s left is to buckle down.
So far that trajectory includes learning about music theory from my cello teacher-come-ELI mentor, as well as about how the mind hears and perceives music in relation to theory; exploring how this knowledge can improve my technique and understanding of the pieces I’m playing and looking at how proper technique is designed both to produce the best sound and to best utilize the body; and then applying what I’ve been working on to learning the solo cello piece “Hungarian Rhapsody” by David Popper. Learning this piece will also include research into Hungarian music and culture so that I can play it more accurately. Although I’ll admit I need to “get a move on,” I can definitely say that what I’ve been doing so far--even things as basic as rhythm studies, since I’ve never had as in-depth a lesson on them before--has had an impact on my playing. I’m determined to get far, far more than stress out of the remaining weeks of my junior year, and so I’m excited to find out how much more I’ll see my abilities benefit before my presentation, which is going to involve a performance with any luck.
But why stop then? Looking beyond the notes in the way that I’ve been learning to do this semester is something that I hope I can keep doing throughout my life as a cellist. What I don’t hope to remain is a procrastinator, and there’s no better time to break myself of the habit than 60% of the way through a second ELI. It’s nose to the grindstone, and fingers to the keyboard, and thumb to the harmonic (knuckle over the string!) from now on, but it’s going to be worth it.
~Clare
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