After ten years, my Russian teacher at Leiden stopped teaching. I was dreading the search for a new teacher in the Hague region, because in those ten years I had learned more than in all those years before. In the end, you need a teacher to keep you motivated and to study every day to master another beautiful piece.The Internet is not always my favourite search place, but I got a good suggestion to take a look at: Vivaldi Music Lessons, and that turned out to be a golden touch. That is how I came to Carla. With this attitude I came to Carla for lessons. In short, with high expectations and my previous teacher as reference material. The first lesson, an introductory lesson, was more of a test if you feel comfortable with him/her and whether there was a match from both sides, because you want to be eager to listen to you teacher and on the other hand, you have to be motivated as a student to study well.
In the end playing the cello is a serious business!
She asked me to bring the music that was on my desk. So what I was studying at my last lesson with my previous teacher. That was a nice starting point and you didn't have the feeling that you had to deliver a top performance, because after all it was the piece you were learning with all the doubts and questions and difficulties still in it and which you certainly hadn't mastered yet. This is how I came to the lesson. The structure of the lesson is usually technique (left hand, right hand) and musicality (how do you approach phrasing and what do you think when there are dilemmas or tackle high positions and guard the purity. In short, very similar to how I had lessons before and I always have the feeling that I am making progress. Sometimes I doubted myself and asked her if I would ever be able to master the piece. Yes... ...I'm doing just fine, she said. And she is right. Sometimes I take pieces to lessons that I have to play in an amateur orchestra and it's nice to get professional help to master those parts as well. What I'm still looking for is to play with someone occasionally.
Fred v.d.B