Why CelloBello Needs You Today

As a conservatory student back during the 1970’s, I devoured everything related to the cello, but always came to frustrating dead ends in my research.  If you weren’t at a particular concert, you had missed it forever.  If an out-of-print record or piece of music wasn’t in your school library, you were out of luck.  If you couldn’t attend a masterclass, all you had were the varied memories of others.  If you heard an exciting, brand-new piece on the radio and wanted to see the music, you could spend months trying to track it or the composer down.  You maybe heard of some really hot talent at another school, but unless you traveled there and somehow heard him/her play, it was all just rumor.  Your only peers were those in your school or those you went out of your way to hear.  The cross-fertilization of ideas from top teachers in other schools was non-existent.

That all of this is different today is due to many websites besides YouTube and IMSLP.  The first large-scale website for cellists, cello.org, was formed in the mid-1990s, and is still active (I moderate its chat rooms).  But CelloBello now offers the premier collection of materials for cellists, with new content continually being added and with regular upgrading of design and functionality.  The archived masterclasses and CelloChats alone constitute the single largest repository of contemporary cello knowledge ever assembled, all of it free to anyone on the planet with an internet connection.  But there are all of the other sections, blogs and essays on a wide range of topics with top professionals, précis of new repertoire, historical essays, job postings, etc.  And still more is coming; in 2018 CelloBello will add a section on books related to the instrument, and one geared towards secondary school teachers, giving them resources to get the best out of their students.

Young cellists, of course, take all of this for granted; most websites we use are free, and no one solicits us for funding. But although CelloBello founder Paul Katz is based at the New England Conservatory and a lot of the videos take place at NEC facilities, the site gets no institutional support; everything you see here is donated by the contributors themselves and/or paid for by voluntary contributions from users.  This is a unique site, both for aggregated and original content.  I would have emptied my small bank account to have had access to such a plethora of resources back in college.  But just as with public TV, it’s hard to persuade people to support something they assume will be there anyway.  Without our donations, CelloBello won’t.  The new content (particularly videos) is costly, and the site will wither on the vine if it cannot fulfill its mission.  If you play or love the cello, you should seek to expand knowledge and opportunities for all.  What goes around eventually comes around.

Robert Battey is a DC-area cellist, teacher, writer, and clinician.

His principal teachers were Bernard Greenhouse and János Starker, and he holds performance degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and S.U.N.Y.-Stony Brook.  Bob’s career has included stints in professional string quartets and principal cellist of numerous orchestras, as well as many recitals and concerto appearances throughout North America.  In 2016, he performed the complete Bach Suites in a single concert at four different venues.  He has served on the faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, S.U.N.Y.-Potsdam, and the Levine School in Washington.

Bob specializes in working with adult amateurs, and his widely-used text, “500 Sight-Reading Exercises For Cello” is dedicated to that demographic. He has also published an edition of the Sevcik Op. 3 Variations with modern cello fingerings.  He founded the Bach Cello Suites Workshop with Zuill Bailey, is Music Director of the Gettysburg Chamber Music Workshop, and has taught at Cellospeak for many years, all of which are dedicated to amateur musicians.

A prolific writer, Bob’s articles and reviews have appeared in the Washington Post, in STRINGS magazine, and in various ASTA newsletters.