Monday, January 22, 2007

Cello toys

Whoopee cushions. I know Silly Putty sounds bad, but really, PFS. Playing the 'cello is a serious pursuit.

Here are photos of my recent acquisitions. Much easier to explain this way.

The "sitting cushion" looks like a Frisbee from the top, but you can see the little feet around the bottom edge. Unless you're into some kind of spikey buttocks massage, I would recommend sitting on the smooth side.
It works really well for filling in the indentation and backwards slope of the cafeteria or office-style chairs many of us have to put up with in rehearsal spaces.

Here I have divided the "egg" of s.p. into approximate thirds. I used one small third to make a little saddle over the top of the bow in the middle of the frog.
This is how the s.p. looks after it is flattened into an oval, about 2 mm thick, before being placed on the stick.
A quick bow hold to show you where the s.p. falls under my hand, approximately. It's just there to add friction, so it doesn't need to be a specific thickness (just not too) or very accurately placed.
This is what happens when you try to perform any activities involving Silly Putty in the vicinity of a kitten.

5 comments:

Guanaco said...

Can you put up a link for the exercise disk? How thick is it? Is it air- or liquid-filled?

BTW, we enjoyed the cat-playing video you posted a few days ago. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for those illustrations. I'll never again confuse a spikey buttocks massage device with a whoopee cushion.

gottagopractice said...

Guanaco, it's called a Core Disc from GoFit.net, air-filled. I picked it up at Target for the same price quoted there. T- had suggested a childrens' ball, deflated to sitting thickness, as recommended be a Feldenkrais teacher who happens to live in Alaska. All Target had were basketballs, which would probably be fine, but I saw this heavy-duty model and went for it.

And PFS, after all that I *had* to try it spiky side up. What a disappointment. I noted no difference, perhaps because I have sufficient endogenous padding. Or maybe my sweats were too thick.

Anonymous said...

Darn. But at least now we know the cusion is reversible.

Anonymous said...

Silly putty! Brilliant! I don't have the thumb problem you do, but with large hands, my grip can be a bit of a challenge. This just may help.