cello technique Archives

Vibrato for Adult Learners

For most adult learners, vibrato is going to be one of the hardest aspects, if not the hardest, to learn on the cello. It certainly was for me. As someone who began learning the cello from scratch at age 25, it took me years and years of struggle to figure out that adult learners cannot simply rely on traditional vibrato exercises and call it a day. You also need to address the 800 pound gorilla in the room: excess physical tension. Did I just catch you rolling your eyes? I would have too, and that’s why it took me so long to develop my vibrato to where it is now. You see, there are many other aspects of playing that one can do despite having excess physical tension. It [...]

By Billy Tobenkin|2024-06-25T20:19:59-04:00June 25th, 2024|Categories: Adult Cello Learning, Featured, Playing Healthy|Tags: Vibrato Exercises, Left Hand Tension, Excess Physical Tension, vibrato, cello technique, Adult Cello Learning|

100 Cello Warm-ups and Exercises Blog 20: Thumb Position and the Upper Registers (Part 2) — by Robert Jesselson

In the first part of this series on thumb position (Blog #19), we discussed the basic techniques for understanding the geography of the upper registers of the cello. There are three concepts for knowing the “latitude and longitude” in this part of the instrument: 1. Using nodes and other fixed points for reference 2. Measuring distances: a) understanding and using intervals b) the “Configuration of the Hand” across string 3. Using the basic thumb position, as described above, and organizing the finger spacing with tetrachords We looked at #1 and #2a in Blog #19. Next we will discuss the “Configuration of the Hand.” 2b. Configuration of the Hand Knowing the intervals and distances on one string is vital in understanding the geography of the upper part of the cello. But one still needs [...]

By Robert Jesselson|2024-06-25T20:11:15-04:00February 18th, 2016|Categories: Featured, 100 Cello Warm-ups and Exercises, In the Practice Room, Playing Healthy, Teaching|Tags: Cello Exercises, cellobello, cello warmups, scales, configuration, thumb position, tetrachord, cello technique, CelloBlog, Robert Jesselson|

100 Cello Warm-ups and Exercises Blog 19: Cello Geography Part 5: Thumb Position and the Upper Registers — by Robert Jesselson

Blogs #15 and #16 discussed the geography of the lower regions of the cello. In sorting out the “latitude” and “longitude” in this part of the instrument the main organizing principle is the knowledge and use of positions. We identify the positions by the location of the first finger on the string up through Seventh position, with “normal” and “extended” variants throughout. When the first finger is playing the A in seventh position on the A string the thumb is still behind the neck—so this is still considered neck position. Seventh position is a significant place on the cello, because it divides the string into two equal parts, and as a result we find the A harmonic there as well. After seventh position, the thumb is used as a [...]

By Robert Jesselson|2024-06-25T20:12:47-04:00February 8th, 2016|Categories: 100 Cello Warm-ups and Exercises, In the Practice Room, Playing Healthy, Teaching|Tags: thumb position, cello technique, CelloBlog, Robert Jesselson, Cello Exercises, cellobello, cello warmups, scales|

100 Cello Warm-Ups and Exercises Blog 6: Balance Exercises Part 2 — by Robert Jesselson

In Part 1 of this blog on finding balances, we discussed the large body balances which are useful in playing the cello. As Elizabeth Morrow wrote in a 2007 article in the American String Teacher journal: “Balance is a necessary component to arriving at maximum energy efficiency with minimal effort, a sensation we interpret as relaxation”. Next, we will explore some of the balances involved in using the bow. I prefer to use the term “bow balance” rather than “bow hold” or “bow grip”, because “holding”or “gripping” implies using muscles. Just as we prefer to use the term “arm weight” rather than “pressure” in describing the way to produce sound, the words we use influence the way we think about what we are doing. In our “bow balance”, the thumb [...]

By Robert Jesselson|2023-11-30T17:41:36-05:00September 27th, 2015|Categories: 100 Cello Warm-ups and Exercises, In the Practice Room, Playing Healthy, Teaching, Videos|Tags: cello technique, CelloBlog, Robert Jesselson, Cello Exercises, Cello Warm-Ups, cellobello, Right Hand Balance|

THINKING IN A NEW WAY—Overcoming Habits (Part 6 of 6): Putting it All Together — by Selma Gokcen

"You get away from all your old preconceived ideas because you are getting away from your old habits." —F.M. Alexander We come to the end of this six part series, having touched on various aspects of cello technique, bringing the principles of the Alexander Technique to the most basic work of balancing the instrument, then using the bow and the left hand. Once this basic work is accomplished, the next stage is to take a new piece of music and to begin to work with it for a few minutes each day. Instead of aiming for the goal—which is to get the piece learned and which can produce all sorts of accompanying reactions—we can take away the goal entirely, and use those few minutes while we work on the piece [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2023-11-13T13:21:02-05:00March 11th, 2013|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Beyond the Traditional, Playing Healthy|Tags: reactions, automatic, cello, physical pleasure of playing, Selma, balancing the instrument, cellobello, place of silence, thinking, breath flowing, music, Preconceived ideas, musical expression, conceptions, Experience, pressure in the sound, freedom, evaluate, phrasing, psycho-physical, cello technique, exploring our habits, re-training of musicians, muscular tension, framework for self-study, Alexander Technique, refining sensation and awareness, nervous system, fundamental knowledge, Gokcen, self-study, Six Part Series, inner composer, movement, subconscious patterns of learning, Thinking in a new way, bow, lasting value of Alexander Technique, working with music, aiming for a goal, tension, left hand|

Raising the Arms (Part 2) — by Selma Gokcen

A wheel needs a central point of contact, an axis, in order to turn and spin. One never loses touch with one's central point—the spine—as one moves through life. But society today has lost that core. It has no idea where it is going. - Svami Purna When I was well into my studies as a young cellist, I became fascinated with the question: How does one raise the arms to play? My naive mind wondered: is there a wrong way and a right way, and how does one distinguish between the two? I read a great many books on cello technique and for years I asked this question of my teachers. It seemed to me to be a very important gesture that most people took for granted, and my [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-09T01:35:06-04:00May 7th, 2012|Categories: Alexander Technique for Cellists, Performance, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: music, Selma, Preparation, gestures, Awareness, cello technique, Primary Control, sound production, injury, energy, connection, Alexander Technique, cello, Gokcen, cellobello|

Passing It On — by Brant Taylor

A few weeks back, I was having a post-concert drink with my friend and colleague Joshua Gindele, cellist of the Miro Quartet, and the conversation turned to teaching. Though we are both associated with ensembles that perform dozens of concerts every season, teaching the cello is an important component of both of our musical lives. (Josh teaches at the University of Texas at Austin, and I teach at DePaul University.) Discussions on the general relationship between performing and teaching often give rise to interesting questions, some without straightforward answers. Many performers teach even though the skill sets required for good teaching and good performing are far from identical. If great teaching is something that is learned, when and how are the skills acquired? If a performer is a big star [...]

By Brant Taylor|2017-08-08T01:49:47-04:00February 20th, 2012|Categories: Bernard Greenhouse, Interpersonal Relationships, Janos Starker, Teaching|Tags: Development, Taylor, Quartet, Janos, inspiration, Awareness, Starker, Teaching, performance, cello technique, cello, Gregor, cellobello, David, Piatigorsky, Katz, perspective, Popper, music, Bernard, Paul, Brant, Greenhouse, Experience|

The Rules — by Brant Taylor

A while back, I accepted an invitation from my good friend Pansy Chang to teach her cello students. Pansy teaches cello at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She was taking a sabbatical for a semester and wanted to make arrangements for her students to receive lessons from different teachers in her absence. I had a very enjoyable time meeting and working with the cellists in Oxford. It is always enlightening—and sometimes highly entertaining—to observe the various posters, photos, educational degrees, cartoons, and other items which adorn the walls of teaching studios around the world. Among many other things hanging on the the walls of Pansy's studio, I noticed a piece of paper which I immediately knew could occupy a prominent place in my studio as well. Titled simply "The Rules," [...]

By Brant Taylor|2017-10-22T22:46:19-04:00September 15th, 2011|Categories: In the Practice Room, Self Discovery, Teaching|Tags: posters, Technique, University, Teaching, improvement, vibrato, cello, instrumentalists, cellobello, lessons, Brant, concepts, Practice, finesse, Taylor, cello technique, rules, continuous vibrato, education|