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Cello Essentials for Students

Note: The guidelines below were originally written to be read by the parents of school-age music students. Most of the same concepts apply to adult students, but if I had tried to write the guidelines in such a way as to address both students and the parents of students, some of the sentences would have had to turn sharp corners. If you're an adult student, you can probably figure out how it all applies to you.

Playing Every Day. The student should be encouraged to play the cello every day. Even absolute beginners will benefit from playing 10 to 15 minutes every day. It's much better to play every day (even if it's only for a few minutes) than to try to cram a week's worth of practicing into one evening. In fact, the latter could do more harm than good. Most students should expect to spend at least 1/2 hour per day practicing.

The student needs a room in which to play the cello that is quiet and private. The TV should not be audible from the music room. Other household noises (such as vacuum cleaners and especially power mowers and leaf blowers) should also be avoided. Other members of the household should be asked not to wander in and out or interrupt the student while the latter is playing music.

The bow should be rosined several times a week. Apply rosin with short strokes to the hair near the frog, being careful not to chip the rosin cake by hitting the metal edge of the frog. Then apply rosin with longer strokes to the full length of the bow.

Care of the Instrument. The cello and bow are delicate, and can be damaged by improper care. Please observe the following:

The bow should be loosened at the end of each playing session, and tightened for the next session. Over time, forgetting to loosen the bow will damage it. I will show the student how to do this properly.

The cello, bow, and fingerboard should be cleaned after each music session using soft, clean pieces of cloth. Clean the cello by rubbing gently with the dry cloth: Water is bad for the cello, but alcohol-based cleansers are much, much worse. You should never try to clean the cello with any type of liquid.

Ideally, the cleaning cloths should be of two different colors, so they won't get mixed up. One piece is for wiping the fingerboard after each music session (or before or during, if it feels sticky). The other is for wiping the rosin dust from the cello and bow stick after each session. The reason you need two pieces of cloth is because you should never wipe the fingerboard with a cloth that contains rosin dust. Doing so will make the fingerboard extremely sticky, which will make playing difficult.

If the cello has a hard case, cello and bow should be kept in the case between music sessions. It's not necessary to do this if you have a soft case, because a soft case provides less protection. If you have a soft case you'll need to find a place to keep the cello where it will be safe from being knocked over by children and small animals. (This is true whether or not the cello is in its case.)

When removing the cello from a soft case, it's a good idea to remove the bow first. When putting the cello back into the soft case, put the bow in the case after the cello. In other words, the bow should never be in the soft case when the cello is not, because the process of moving the case could conceivably break the bow.

The cello should be kept tuned properly at all times. Do not loosen the strings the way you do the bow. Tuning is discussed below.

Strings do break from time to time, and usually when it's least convenient, so please purchase an extra set of strings and keep them handy. If a string breaks and you aren't sure how to put on the new string, call me. We'll arrange a time when I can do this for you. You should never remove all of the strings from the cello at once; this will cause the bridge to fall, and repositioning it properly is difficult.

If you have a soft case, please use care in removing the case and putting it on. Over time, scraping the zippers along the edges of the cello will damage the cello.

When the cello is not in its case and is not being played, it can be laid on its side on the floor. (Do not lay it on its back.) If you lay it on a rug, please be careful to raise and lower it vertically. Sliding the cello along a rug can cause the exposed edges of the wood to catch in rug fibers, which over time can damage the cello. Also, when laying the cello on the floor, even for a minute, you should always put the end pin in. Someone trying to step around the cello might accidentally trip over the end pin, because it's not so easy to see.

You should never touch the bow hair with your fingers (except near the frog, when the fingers may contact the hair in normal playing position). Avoid touching the cello strings in the area where the bow is applied to them. Even when you've just washed your hands, there is oil on the surface of your fingers. This oil will prevent proper adhesion between the bow and the string, resulting in a loss of tone.

Tuning. It's essential that the cello be tuned properly at the beginning of each playing session. In order to do this, the student needs ready access to a tuning reference. I will help the student learn to tune using whichever tuning reference is available. The student should have one of the following (in order of preference):

1. An electronic tuner.
2. A recently tuned piano (or an electronic keyboard with speakers and a decent piano sound).
3. A tuning fork.

If you purchase an electronic tuner, it should either be a violin/cello tuner or be of the chromatic type (able to sense all 12 notes in the chromatic scale). A standard guitar/bass tuner will not work with cello. Korg makes a good chromatic tuner, and Fender a less expensive one.

Other Equipment. Each student needs the following equipment:

• A metronome. Several good battery-operated models are available; I can recommend the Seiko Quartz model.
• A cake of rosin.
• A music stand.
• A holder for the endpin -- preferably the type that loops around a chair leg, but a "doughnut" is also acceptable.
• A tuning reference (see above).
• An extra set of cello strings (see above).
• Any cello method books or other published sheet music that are assigned.

If you have any questions or concerns about these items, or about your student's progress, please feel free to discuss them with me. I can be reached at 925-447-2906, or by email at editor@musicwords.net.