I guess it was Heifetz who said that "after 1 day not practicing, I know. After 2 days of not practicing, the critics know. And after 3 days of practicing the audience knows."

I had to take a day off on Saturday to be the mom taxi for the various kid-related activities around town. No time to practice. I thought I was solid on the fingerboard after my circle on Friday. Today, I spent 15 minutes just trying to find my first finger spot on the C string, first position. Sigh. 

I played through the circle of fifths, for the first time in a very long time. I'm also working on Popper, Piatti, Bach...it feels GREAT. My new cello is...well, I don't know what it is yet!! We're definitely in the "getting to know you" phase. I was told that once it settles, it will have great stability (typical of the Silvestri and Vuillaume of this era). I'm also playing on old strings, and some adjustments to the fingerboard and neck have been suggested. I'm taking my time and enjoying life at the moment (smelling the roses as it were). 

So, by playing through the circle of fifths, I discovered that A major is harder than I thought and that my B's don't suck after all. I have never been satisfied with my B's and F's - any of them. Just couldn't get them in tune and/or sounding good consistently. Turns out, it wasn't my fault. Fancy finding out that something so little, yet so formative is not true. Here I have thought of myself as a cellist who doesn't quite have the intonation thing down - while that may be true, it doesn't have to do with the reasons I thought! Goodness know how many hours I have spent trying to get those darn notes in tune...