My Baroque Playing: Less and Less Broke

It probably wasn't such a good idea to not have breakfast this morning--I was somewhat grumpy when I arrived for our DePauw Baroque Ensemble rehearsal. But my mood quickly improved as I played consistently in tune. As I've written before, one of the main challenges facing anyone who plays both "Baroque" and "modern" string instruments is that each exists in different pitch universe. For a long time, when I'd play the lower pitch level of Baroque cello, something would short-circuit in my brain. I'd find it so hard to hear in that pitch level, and would play quite sharp, thinking I was flat (because I was flat in A 440 terms), or would become just hopelessly confused.

This week, the low pitch just seemed normal. Ah, life does get better sometimes.