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I am having a hard time doing smooth string and bow direction changes on my cello. None of my cello instructors has covered this. My new instructor is covering all these details that were overlooked with my others lessons. It is like learning the cello backwards.

We are going to start dealing with dynamics and smoothing out the Scherzo I have spent almost two weeks on. I have been trying to smooth out the slower smoother part in the middle. My bow direction and string changes make it very choppy. I was hoping to smooth it out a bit before my lesson. 

I have looked online and watched videos, read information. Still have issues. I always seem to have that choppy sound with bow direction and string changes. Heck, I have that section memorized, I know the note coming up. I seem to hesitate. That is what it feels like. I do it slower or faster, same result. 

Any suggestions? Maybe I don’t have enough confidence? Maybe I am second guessing my finger placement of the next note? If it is second guessing, why does it happen with open strings where there is no finger placement? Maybe, there is something with the bow I need to be doing before a bow direction or string change? It sounds like there is something I should be doing when watching and listening to videos, but I haven’t been able to duplicate.

This was never covered with my violin lessons when I was getting them, either. That is not surprising since the first cello instructor and my former violin instructor were the same person. It was just a half hour of playing time. Finally, I have an instructor who is dealing with this. I am just trying to get a somewhat smoother bow direction and string change before my next lesson this week.

Thanks for any tips.