Merry Christmas to Me - A New Cello!
My
new cello is AWESOME! I received it on Saturday, and although it is
taking a bit of time to find the notes (no note helpers -- stickers or
lines to show me where 1-3rd position is), I love the sound and the ease
of playability. In fact, I just purchased two new cello books that
should help improve my technical ability and performance.
I am renting this cello from SharMusic.
I went with their SharWay plan, which costs me $60 per month. This is a
brand new Chinese cello - a Franz Hoffman Prelude. It is a good student
cello -- beginner level. Cellos are expensive to purchase, and this
cello is priced on the low end (retails for $750). I can pay the balance
of the cello off in 6-9 months or I can trade up for a better cello (I
don't think I will do that, but you never know what will happen down the
road!)
Cellos
range in price from $500-$5000 (and up) for beginning to advanced
student cellos. I have been looking for a new cello since 2010. I have
priced a number of them, and I have read reviews, listened to cellos
being played, and factored in the costs to determine exactly what I
could afford to invest in this hobby of mine. I have played on two
cellos so far. My first cello was given to me by a friend of my
father's. He had an old Kay cello that he bought from someone about 20
years ago. Kay cellos were very popular in school orchestras in the
1940-1960s. My Kay is dated from about 1950. It is a laminate cello and
sounds pretty bad. I replaced the strings once, which helped a little.
The cello itself was very easy to play, and for that, I am thankful. I
learned quickly, and I progressed to the point where I was able to begin
Suzuki Level 3 books. However, the sound quality really bothered me,
and I knew that it was time to get a better cello.
I
was going through a difficult time financially, so purchasing a new
cello was out of the question. My teacher gave me her Cremona cello to
try out. She had bought it off Craig's list a couple years back and
never could play it. I put new strings on it, and I played it for about a
six months. It had better sound, but it was more difficult to play. I
took it to the luthier in town, and I spent about $175 dollars getting
it repaired (new bridge, sealing cracks, etc.) In all, the quality
improved, but it became more difficult to play after the luthier worked
on it (LOL!)
In
fact, as time went by this cello refused to play without excessive
rattles and buzz noises. I constantly crossed strings due to the fact
that the fingerboard was set too high on the cello when it was first
made. No wonder my teacher couldn't play it! I struggled with it for
almost a year, and I started to feel as though I would never be able to
play well. I stopped practicing blaming the cause on school and work
when really it was that the cello was so bad I couldn't play or enjoy
it.
Three
weeks ago, the Lord put the idea of getting a new cello on my mind. I
don't know how it came about, but one day I just got this feeling that I
should go check out cellos! I went to Southwest Strings
first, and I inquired about a used Yuan Qin cello. I had priced this
cello a while back, and I liked it a lot. It sounded nice, and I read
that it was a very good student cello (retails for $2500). I was going
to invest in it - make payments on it - but then my work life took a
turn and with the monthly cost around $150, I knew it was out of reach
for me. I didn't want to spend that much each month so I put it off. I
then saw that they had a used one for sale listed at $650. I thought
that this might be the cello for me. I asked and was told that it was
not a good cello (nice of them to be so honest) to purchase. It had a
number of cracks and it needed a lot of work.
A
week later, I was surfing the net, and the Lord prompted me to check
out SharMusic. I went over to their website and browsed around. I didn't
really see anything, but I clicked on their rental program to see if
they rent nationally. As I read about their rental program, I found
myself clicking on the cello link. Next thing I knew, I had rented a
cello from them. I could have purchased (rent to own) a more expensive
cello, but since I am only working part-time and going to school
full-time, I decided that $60 per month was doable for me.
The
cello arrived on Saturday. It was well packed, and when I took it out
of the box, I was delighted with the color (deep red-brown). The A
string and peg were off, so I had to put it back on myself (good thing I
have changed my own strings before). It took a while to warm up, but
now stays fairly in tune. I only have to adjust the fine tuners each
day. Hopefully, after a couple weeks of playing, the strings will stay
in tune.
I
am pleased with the sound quality -- it is a step up from my Cremona
cello, and it has no wolf tones, rattles or buzzes. It is also smaller
than my Cremona, even though it is a standard 4/4 cello. I love the
finish - antique varnish - and I think the overall quality is good. Mind
you, I am not a performance major. I wanted a good sounding cello to
play with my small chamber group, and perhaps some day, play in the
church orchestra. I am not looking to solo or become a professional
cellist. I enjoy cello -- it relaxes me -- and I love the fact that I
can play an instrument (after believing for nearly 47 years that I was
musically-inept!)
I
consider myself to be an advancing intermediate cellist (technically
speaking), and probably an advanced beginner when it comes to
performance. I panic when I perform so I don't do it, and I don't like
the pressure of performing. I can play in my group, but even then I
often miss notes and I will freeze up if the music goes to fast for me
to keep up. My goal for 2014 is to return to my technical level of
progressing intermediate (where I was in early 2012) and bring my
performance skill up to Intermediate. My long term goal is to be
accomplished. Accomplishment has various meanings, and different
performers will view it through their own lens. In my case, accomplished
means the ability to play any piece of music well. For me, that means
with technical precision. I am not musically gifted, so to speak, so I
am not a passionate player. I am technically good. This is my skilled
area -- it was the same when I studied art (painting and drawing) -- I
was never gifted creatively, but I could practice the discipline with
great precision. Therefore, my goal is to be accomplished and to be
able to play any piece of music well. This would mean that I could play a
piece of music assigned by an orchestra director (at my church) or I
could play the cello part in a small group or in chamber.
To help me perform better technically and stylistically, I have created this repertoire for cello study:
Etudes and Scales
Klengel Technical Studies, Vol. 1 by Julius Klengel
I
read several reviews and this book is suggested for advancing cellists
who need to strengthen fingers and who need to develop familiarity with
the fingerboard. I can play in 1-4th position, some 5th, but not
consistently. I am solid in 1-3rd, 4th on the A string. I struggle more
with 4th on the D-C strings.
There are two volumes of this technical study book. Once I master volume 1, I will move onto volume 2.
Schroeder Foundational Studies
I
have been working through this book for about a year now. I am slowly
progressing through the selections. They get progressively harder and I
am stuck between 26-32. There seems to be a big jump in skill so I am
hoping that with Klengel's book on fingering and scales, I will be able
to progress further in Schroeder. There are 3 volumes, and this series
is supposed to provide the advancing cellist with enough material to
last a life time.
I have volume 1 only, and I am thinking it will probably be a couple years before I can finish this book and move into book 2.
Schroeder Cello Method
I
have volume 1 and 2 of this series. I started learning to play cello
with volume 1. This book worked for me. Not sure why because I have
heard that some people do not like it. I was able to teach myself cello
(initially) by working through the scales and using the Internet. I love
the etudes in this first book. They are easy to play and give the
beginning cellist the feeling that they are playing "real music." I have
some other beginning study books (Mooney for example) that are easy to
play (geared for children) but boring. I completed book 1 already but I
cannot move into book 2 because it focuses on Tenor clef and I am still
working on solidifying my knowledge of bass clef. Still, I hope to
complete book 2 at some point in time.
An Organized Method of String Playing by Janos Starker
I
read about this book on a cello website today. I ordered the book from
Amazon, and I am hoping that it will do what the author promised (mind
mapping the fingerboard to help with understanding all the note
positions). The cello website where I found the reference said that this
book would help you understand the cello, the fingerboard, and note
placement. I am keeping my fingers crossed!!
I
think this is my greatest need right now (after getting a better
cello!) I need to "see" the notes in my head and to know where they are
on the fingerboard. I still struggle to remember where the "target"
notes are (thanks to Rick Mooney's book on targeting notes -- the one
thing I learned from his series). I now know that in 1st position on the
A string you start with B and end with D (with C and C# in between --
the dreaded C#). On the D string, you begin with E and end with G (G#
being one of the most used notes on cello -- is right next to the fourth
finger position). On the G string, you begin with A and end with C, and
then on the C string, you begin with D and end with F. The sharps,
which always get me, are now mentally cemented in my mind. My hurdle for
January is to find the notes: D, G, C, and F (fourth finger) without
going flat or sharp. I had a smiley face sticker on my old cello to
remind me where to put my pinkie. I am going non-stickie on this cello,
which means that I have to learn where to put my finger every time
without that visual cue!!
Cello Music Selections
I
am very happy playing etudes. Weird as that may seem (most string
players do not like etudes -- according to my teacher who has been
teaching violin and viola for years), I love these short pieces. I like
that I can work through an etude and learn it well. I get frustrated
over longer pieces, and etudes give me enough to chew on before I get
bored. I don't really have any music selected right now. My cello
teacher will give me parts to play for chamber, and I will be meeting
with her every Sunday before our chamber group to go over them. I am on
my own as far as lessons though. My teacher retired and moved about 45
minutes away from my house. She still has her small group come out and
play on Sundays, but she is not teaching lessons anymore. She will go
over the pieces with me to make sure I understand them. I struggle with
time signatures and tempo mostly. Once I play through them once or
twice, I am usually good to go. I am good at sight reading, but I cannot
read super fast to where I could sit down and play through a piece on
the fly. I can so long as the piece is not too difficult or too fast.
Down
the road, I am thinking of working through Popper's High School of
Cello playing series: 15 Easy Studies, Opus 73 and Opus 76. I would like
to be able to say that I played through this series at least once in my
life time.
Other
than Popper's books, I would like to tackle Suzuki Book 4 at some
point. I need to finish a couple of the harder pieces in Book 3
(Humoresque and La Cinquantaine). I really want to play Breval's Sonata
in C Major. This is on my list of want to play pieces along with Bach's
cello suites. Dreaming...just dreaming.
