Naperville Cello Lessons
The cello has a lot of character and a very large tone. The pieces written for the cello span several centuries and the instrument has even been used in jazz. The strings are the same as the viola's, but they actually sound one octave lower in pitch. It is most standard to sit when playing the cello and to have the cello contact your chest and the inside of your knees for the best stability and control. For this lesson, we will focus on the bow and right hand.
Hold the stick of the bow with your left hand so that the frog is close to your right hand and the bow hair faces the ground. Now shake out your right hand, and keep your fingers curved while approaching the frog horizontally. Place the tip of your thumb so that the right part of it just touches the left part of the frog and the bottom of the stick. Now drape your four fingers over the bow, and keep them curved and slightly separated. With this basic bow hold, you can move on to practice some open bows on your open strings.
Bowing on the open strings is a great way to start your practice session on all string instruments, so the cello is no exception even as you become more advanced. For the first few months, you should keep your bow in the lower half of the bow, which is the half of the bow between the frog and the middle of the bow. Practice different types of bow strokes especially the legato and martele. A legato stroke is essentially a smooth bow change meaning that the bow does not stop moving as you change your bow direction. Don't forget to apply and maintain your arm weight onto the string and to move the bow slowly when practicing this concept. For the martele stroke, you simply apply weight right before playing the note, and then release most of the weight right as you begin moving the bow and you move it much more quickly than you would for the legato stroke. That concludes this lesson on the cello and cello bowing.
-Naperville Lessons, August 2010