Bach's Cello Suite No. 1

[Zandit75]

I've just learned that the Bass Trombone Solo for this years Tasmanian Solo & Party competitions will be Bach's Cello Suite No.1, movements 1(Prelude) & 4(Sarabande)
The version we are playing is the free version from Doug Yeo's website.
Any tips or hints on what to look out for? Recommended exercises etc to get me in the right frame of mind?
Thanks in advance!

[Burgerbob]

Listen to it. Know how to sing everything. Stay relaxed... since it's for cello, you don't get any time off the face or to breathe. Good breathing is paramount.

[Zandit75]

Listen to it. Know how to sing everything. Stay relaxed... since it's for cello, you don't get any time off the face or to breathe. Good breathing is paramount.

Agreed, no rest what so ever. I've had a listen to several versions on Youtube, but there is some variation to the music from Doug Yeo's website.

[Burgerbob]

Interpretation is also a huge part of it. Just playing the notes on the page in tempo is a good way to put a judge panel to sleep, not to mention yourself.

You'll have to find your own voice in the suite, which I think is most of the fun.

[BGuttman]

Also: not to be played Blastissimo.

[hyperbolica]

Intervals exercises and intonation are important. Also, don't tongue them really hard, try to make use of natural slurs and alternate positions when they make sense. The biggest thing is the phrasing. Mark the music with big phrase marks (slurs and breaths). Listen to recordings of cellist and wind players before really deciding on the phrases.

It may be helpful if you can mark the music with chord changes. This an help you determine the best phrasing.

These shouldn't be played metronomically, which you will hear in the recordings, but you should avoid always taking the easy way out.

Don't perform it faster than you can play it cleanly. Practice building speed in phrases, and this is one place alternate positions can be helpful.

[baileyman]

Perhaps if they had been rescued from oblivion by a great trombonist and recorded to acclaim, then cellists would be trapped into that initial interpretation, too.

[paulyg]

The Sarabande can be incomprehensible to play and listen to, or it can be crystal clear- the difference lays in whether or not you lead the phrases to beat 2.

I just took a look at Yeo's arrangement and something stuck out to me- those phrase markings are NOT in the originals. Dispense with them. The "dotted" phrase markings seem fine and useful, but those two-bar groupings make not a whole lot of sense.