I brought my four-flat version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and my treble clef version of "Gesu Bambino" to my lesson this week. My teacher gave my a few fingering improvements on them both, but all in all she was very happy with my playing of both pieces. I am feeling good about them, and still haven't transposed the Bambino to bass clef. Hmm, maybe I can actually read from treble clef now. It's probably better to play from the score anyway, so I know where the vocalist is.
The organist has said that the vocalist likes to sing freely not according to any strict tempo. Fine by me. A fiddler once told me, at a fiddle session, that I was holding out some notes too long. He said he could understand why, because they sounded so beautiful on the cello. :-) I took that as a compliment, though I could tell he was frustrated because I wasn't playing the tune (Star of the County Down) the same way he was.
He was playing 3 quarter notes per measure. I was playing dotted-quarter, eighth, quarter in certain measures, so yes, my first note was more drawn out than his, though not because I was mesmerized by the music, but because I was playing the standard version of the tune. In a typical fiddle session, the person introducing the tune gets to play it the way she or he wants to, so I eventually won that discussion. I will apply the same logic to Gesu Bambino. However the singer wants to sing it is fine with me (so long as all three of us can all stay together).
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We're doing an orchestrated version of "Gesu Bambino" for our holiday concert this year. It alternates 5 times from one flat to 4 flats. (I don't consider 4 flats to be very cello friendly.)
Fiddle sessions sound very laid back and fun. Neat etiquette regarding the person introducing the tune.
My Gesu is much easier. It is in 1 sharp, moves to 2 flats and back to 1 sharp.
I asked my teacher if she thought 4 flats for O Little Town made it more passionate. She said she was not aware that F minor was supposed to be a passionate key. She thought maybe it was in 4 flats to accommodate the horn or other instrument (I am playing from a multipurpose score). However, when we played it, she said it was a wonderful key for the piece. I think I am using 4 or 5 positions in this short,simple piece, so it is a good exercise in moving around the fingerboard.
Have fun with your concert!
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