“Just let me find my note…”

This week started with a mission to get comfortable with the fingerboard of the cello, and took a bit of a turn (in a great way) the more I got into things.

Day 1: A great friend of mine has been working on learning the violin and we decided to get together to create some music! This was a tough reminder of just how much I’ve forgotten since I’ve last played my cello 6+ years ago. I found myself pausing constantly to figure out where I should be on the fingerboard, which led me to set a goal of practicing that this week.

Day 2: My husband and I learned that we will need to spend quite a bit of time in Calgary over the next few weeks. Now, I can bring my cello with me, but they are quite finicky in the cold and I’m not willing to take that chance. This presents a new problem: how am I going to practice without my instrument?

I figured that since I was working on finding notes on the fingerboard, I could use a different object to practice finger placement. Through searching online for “practice cello neck” I came across these Pocket Guitars that people can use to practice when they are on the go. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything like this for the cello.

However, I happen to work with a very generous and wonderful colleague named Gerry who knows his way around a 3D printer. I asked him if it was possible to 3D print a cello neck and the base of a bow, and voila! My practice cello was born the next day!

Day 3: I added tape to mark my positions on the practice cello neck so that I can practice finding notes!

Now it was time to find some tools to help me practice. I found this beautiful image on The Cello Companion to eventually print and hang in my practice area, but I also found so much more than that!

The Cello Companion is a website that is loaded with resources that will help me! I found this specific page that shows different stretches to work on to help maneuver the fingerboard. As someone who has VERY small hands, I have often wondered if I should have purchased a 3/4 size cello because I do find it difficult to reach the notes. This is something that I can work on with my practice cello that will help me get used to the big stretches.

Here is an image from the page that talks about the Stretch Position.

This website is one I will definitely be returning to.

Day 4: This day had me panicking. In an attempt to scrub the floors, I propped Johann in his case standing up in a corner a little too quickly. The wheels slipped on the floor and the case fell to the ground. NOOOO!!! I checked on the cello but it had fallen very, very far out of tune.

There are two ways to tune a cello: with the fine tuners or the tuning pegs. It had slipped too far out of tune to use the fine tuners, which meant that I had to take a look at the tuning pegs. When I first got my cello, I attempted to turn the tuning pegs incorrectly and ended up snapping a string (which came very close to my head) which is terrifying.

I found this video from The Sydney String Centre, which shares how to properly use the tuning pegs at the 4-minute mark:

I don’t know if I would use this YouTube page for anything other than this video, as it seems to be geared more toward violinists. After watching the video, I still decided that this is a task best left to the professionals. I called up my old cello instructor and made a quick stop there for him to work with the tuning pegs.

It turned out to be the right call… even someone with years of experience still gets nervous using the pegs, and he explained that if done improperly, it can also cause damage to the head of the cello. Crisis averted!

Day 5: Time to keep working on the fingerboard! In searching for the best form and technique I found Strings Magazine. There was a great video on this page. I would definitely return to this specific page again, but other than that I didn’t find a whole lot on the main website.

Here is the video I used to get some refreshed ideas on how to position both hands when playing cello:

Like the Sydney Strings Centre, this resource seems to be geared mostly toward violin technique, so other than this specific video and page, I probably won’t be returning.

Day 6: Here is a short video of a song I played before hitting the road to Calgary. I tried to adjust my thumb on the bow in the way that was described in the video above, but it’s easier said than done! That’s definitely something I can work on with my practice cello.

You can also see that I was trying to keep my fingers down on the fingerboard, which is such a challenge for me! I think that working on those stretch positions I mentioned earlier in this post will help this week.

Thanks for sticking with me!