·:[ CelliMuse ]:·
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Cello!

I love cello. I love my cello even more. For those of you just tuning in, I’m 33 and began learning cello on my birthday this year – my gift to myself. I upgraded my little Chinese cheap cello (it was a GREAT beginner instrument, btw) to a German made Bonn Dolcea Orchestral. The difference in sound quality is tremendous! I didn’t think I’d be able to tell much, but I sure can and now I understand what a musician is talking about when they say an instrument is “dead” or “alive” in their hands.

It took me absolutely forever of playing on the D string to finally “get it” about how to move my fingers so I can play other notes, E, F, F#, and G. But you know the really cool part of that frustration time? It’s over! And, I’ve got a good basis for the A string, which I am now playing as well.

I’ve come a long way just since Monday, since I’ve now got the D string’s notes (in first position – yah, I don’t know, either, but I’m sure I’ll find out later) and I’ve also got A string’s notes! D, E, F, F#, G, A, B, C, D! I have enough notes now to graduate from playing Mary had a Little Lamb to playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star! Laugh all you want, but that’s hard to play on a cello when you’re starting to learn a whole new instrument, how to read music, bowing, sitting, keeping good tone, etc…

I was on page 21 of “All for Strings” Method book one. Now, I have new songs! Wheee! So, what songs can I play now?

1. Mary had a Little Lamb
2. Hot Cross Buns
3. French Folk Song
4. Ode to Joy by Beethoven – yah, I didn’t know it, either. That is, until I played it.
5. Norwegian Folk Song
6. Lightly Row
7. Jingle Bells
8. Two of Us
9. Bohemian Folk Song
10. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
11. Scotland’s Burning – bad title! You’d think the English would be more sensitive!

Eleven songs! Wow. I didn’t realize I had that many. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is the hardest of the lot, though. I know, that really sounds funny, but it is! It’s played like this:

Open (no fingers on the string) D string
Open D string
Open A string
Open A string
Index finger on the A string
Index finger on the A string
Open A string for two counts
Index, Ring, and Pinky fingers on D string
Index, Ring, and Pinky fingers on D string
Index and Ring fingers on D string
Index and Ring fingers on D string
Index finger on D string
Index finger on D string
Open D string for two counts
Open (no fingers on the string) D string
Open D string
Open A string
Open A string
Index finger on the A string
Index finger on the A string
Open A string for two counts
Index, Ring, and Pinky fingers on D string
Index, Ring, and Pinky fingers on D string
Index and Ring fingers on D string
Index and Ring fingers on D string
Index finger on D string
Index finger on D string
Open D string for two counts
Open A string
Open A string
Index, Ring, and Pinky fingers on D string
Index, Ring, and Pinky fingers on D string
Index and Ring fingers on D string
Index and Ring fingers on D string
Index finger on D string for two counts
Open (no fingers on the string) D string
Open D string
Open A string
Open A string
Index finger on the A string
Index finger on the A string
Open A string for two counts
Index, Ring, and Pinky fingers on D string
Index, Ring, and Pinky fingers on D string
Index and Ring fingers on D string
Index and Ring fingers on D string
Index finger on D string
Index finger on D string
Open D string for two counts

That’s our well known, easy to hum or sing, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, as played on the cello. Of course, I didn’t say anything about keeping your bow perpendicular to the strings, playing only on one string at at a time, not loosing your place in the music, interpreting the note into the finger position, getting the position of your hand up top in the right spot so you don’t flat or sharp notes, sitting up straight, moving from string to string with both hands at the same time, or keeping the right pressure on the bow – YIKES! There’s a lot to remember with this little bitty song! Lol.

In any event, I got it!

And now, a something new and interesting… Quiet Moon Shining is learning to play Cello, too! Who is that? Well, I can’t reveal the identity of QMS, but let’s just say that QMS is younger than I am. QMS’s first lesson was Monday, where the assignment for the next three weeks is to get “straight bow,” to play on only one string at a time, and we’ll work on tone quality, too. QMS is very interested in playing the cello FAST so we’ve a lot of work ahead of us. QMS mirrors much of my first thoughts about how to play cello. Move the bow and make it fast. Isn’t that what YoYo Ma does? ::grins:: No. But that’s what it looks like to a beginner or someone who hasn’t tried it out yet!

The other interesting thing about learning to read music is the amount of Italian you have to know. All the terms are Italian. Perhaps it’s also time to pick up a little more of Italian than just Allegro and Pianissimo?