r/Cello

How do make clean string crossing and how can I cleany lift of fingers during slurs(the string suddenly gets higher) without making a "crack" sound. I hope you know what I mean. For example in bach suite prelude 1 there are many slurs(if played like that), so it needs to be really clean.

Any advice how to practice this or good online ressources?

I bought a Spirocore Tungsten G about two days ago. When I got home, I noticed it was very buzzy sounding. So I immediately took it back to the shop and exchanged it for a Larsen Magnacore G. Got home and discovered that it also was buzzy.

Does it just take a while to settle in?

Hello,

Looking for a bit of advice on "where to start" on Cello with a slightly more unique situation than many beginners.

Background:

• Composer, extremely comfortable reading musical clefs.
• Studied Drumset performance in college.
• Years of piano lessons.
• Play a few different (fretted) string instruments of various tunings.

Situation:

I recently purchased an electric cello (currently waiting for it to arrive) for a game I will be scoring. I chose the electric for sound design reasons specific to the game (though I would definitely love to buy an acoustic in a couple years, the cello has always been one of my dream instruments to learn).

I'm very comfortable on the "making music" and improvising side, but obviously I need to learn some fundamentals. I don't mind reading (in general I love a well written instructional book), but I'm mostly looking for techniques and open to whatever simpler pieces will help me better connect to the music and development some basic fluidity.

So I'm trying to figure out the fundamentals everyone needs:

• I need to learn how to hold a bow, angle it, and move my arm efficiently and how to hold the cello.
• I understand the concept of different playing techniques (arco, pizz, trem, sul tasto/ponticello, etc.), but have no personal experience in playing these and how much pressure I need to apply, angle, etc.
• I know hand positions are a thing, I assume I need to learn those for shifting sections of the cello. The cello I purchased does have markings, but I want to build at least some comfort away from using those and build some foundational skills for future learning.
• I've never played a fretless instrument, so I assume I will need to work a bit on my intonation. I understand fretless instruments generally require you to play ON the "fret" and not behind it as you would on a fretted instrument.
• Extended techniques (artificial harmonics, circular bowing, seagull effect, etc.) are important as those kinds of sounds will be very valuable to me in the score.

So I guess I'm askin two things:

1. Are there any "obvious" things I've missed in terms of basic fundamentals?
2. Are there any Books or Youtube Instructors/Videos you can recommend that would be good for learning that don't bother with how to read notes or what key signatures and those sorts of things are? I'm aware of Tonebase, but I would only ever buy the lifetime subscription and currently it would just make sense to spend that money on in person lessons.

I'm in Los Angeles and considering seeking out a teacher for a couple months, but trying to find someone that understands I'm showing up with an electric cello I plan to run through an amp sim and a granular synthesizer and am not looking at this time for traditional cello instruction is a bit more effort than I think I have in me this week, though I might reach out to USC, UCLA, etc. in a week or two to see if any of the faculty or maybe a grad student would fit what I'm looking for. If anyone knows someone like that I'd be happy to get some contact information.

A giant thank you to anyone that managed to read all of this and extra thanks anyone can help provide some starting guidance.

Omfg this is my last bit of hope I cannot find any good Australian songs to play on the cello. This is for my music assessment at school. And bro I’m not going to play the national anthem. Like if anyone here knows any good music with sheet music pls share or send. My mum says she isn’t gonna pay all that money for sheet music so if anyone could help tysm
It’s ok if not
Have a good day

It’s been a hot minute since I got new strings (oops) and I had totally forgotten how harsh spirocore tungsten G and C are for the first few days or so. They were so tinny/twangy, and only after a few hours of playing are they finally mostly responding like I expect them to. The larsen mediums were pretty much fine from the get-go, fortunately!

I was even starting to think that maybe they had changed the composition without my realizing and that I needed a better bow or something…if the same thing happens to you, just keep playing and it’ll get better!

One of my friends from the band really wanted to play the Canon by Pachelbel. It's a recorder band, so I looked for an arrangement for recorders. I agreed to play the bass line for them.

I'm a violinist, and I played it on my beater violin which has octave strings. But it's... it's something else. It's the most boring thing I ever played. In the end it sounded good, the others were happy and enjoyed it, so that should be enough, no?

It was a one-time project for fun at the summer camp, I probably won't play it ever again. After this experience I bow to your ability to play this thing. And if you can do it with a smile on your faces, then you're really awesome.

Played now for some years with the stickers for the finger position on my student cello. Transferred now to a better cello and don’t want to use stickers again. How can I make this transfer smoother? My teacher did not understand at all that it takes a bit time to adjust. I am an adult learner (50 years old).

What do these symbols mean (circled in red)? I assume the arrow inside parentheses is an extension symbol and the bracketed numbers are probably optional finger positions, indicating a shift instead of an extension, but I'm not certain and couldn't find anything online.

Suzuki Cello School Volume 2, Piece 9, Theme From \"Witches' Dance\"

Related to this, I'm unable to stretch my hand far enough for the extension while keeping the rest of my fingers in 1st position despite having fairly large hands. This is probably because I'm an adult learner and have never done an activity that stretches my fingers apart before (current unassisted flat spread of my hand from tip of pinky to tip of pointer finger is 7 inches). Should I practice the extension or just shift? I feel like I will be stuck on this piece for a long while if I try to play it with the extension.

I need urgent help! My daughter has an audition for a youth orchestra in 2 days. She was away from her cello for half of the month due to an international camp. When she came back yesterday, she practiced for about an hour and a half. This morning when she practiced again, she developed a blister on her left index finger. I put couple layers of the Rock-Tips on her finger and her teacher said to wrap it in a cloth bandage (just the sticky part).

My daughter said the cloth bandage made her finger too slippery on the fingerboard. What does she need to try next? Her teacher is having her clock in 5 days of practice into 2 days (so about 5 hours total). I'm afraid her blister on her finger will get worse and it will be worse right before her audition.

Going forward, no out of town trips/camps right before her auditions. The camp situation was organized and decided back in January so it was a big mistake on my part.

TIA for any help!!

So, I experimentally retracted the floor destroyer and held my cello with my legs like in the baroque, and it was surprisingly comfortable

Is it just me, or are there other people who also hold their cello like viola da gamba?

I played violin for about 6 years as a kiddo. I cannot read music anymore.

Cello has always been my dream.

Im old enough now that I can buy one for myself and possibly afford lessons.

I really want to buy a cello as a gift to myself, but coming from violin I’m intimidated.

The few times I attempted cello the reverberations were just… too much? Does it get better or I’m just being weak sauce?

i love practicing with other people in the room, but it gets very noisy... what, in your experience, is the best practice mute for quieting down?