In the start of my master research, the way I used to practice a standard cello wasn't corresponding to my end goals. I became extremely frustrated with my practice and I used to feel emotionally hurt when someone evaluated my competence as a cellist only by my ability to play in tune and fast. Those qualities are not the ones that I personally believe to be constructive, since they praise the myth of the great artist (MURANI, 1975). I felt personally fighting with this standard with the development of my music and Knurl.
For the course of 2 years, I resumed cello classes with Rene van Munster in order to learn how to rediscover practice into my standard instrument and possibly apply findings into the creation of Knurl. The end goal is to learn how to create a healthy and into my current instrument, exploring its features, focusing and creating discipline for its musical elements. I am convinced that learning how to properly practice would contribute immensely to my musical development and the instrument design.
During the year, a few exercises suggested by my teacher and collected from the research from Susan Williams [32] had me realize my standard behavior to not determine one goal per exercise, focusing on one task per time. We spent the first months adjusting body position into a comfortable one, and determining one goal for each exercise (perception, flexibility, expression, motorial movements, etc.). We also explored those qualities into Knurl ergonomy, Rene gave me a lot of feedback about each design feature that has been developed in the course of this research. We experimented its feautures and discussed their advantages and disatvantages for the musican's focus, performance, well being and creativity. The rotation system is one feature we did talked a lot about, since it offers some flexibility in the musician's spine and body movement.
