Cello Video Lesson: Cello Tips for Beginners

Hello, this is Joseph Mendoes with a video for VirtualSheetMusic.com. Today I'd like to talk about a couple of tips for beginners, actually. This is tips for teachers to teach a young child how to play the cello. That first lesson can be kind of a scary thing. I know we all have our little tricks and things to help the student to make some good sounds on the first day, but this is also directed towards the amateur musician -- the adult amateur -- who wants to take up the cello. Maybe he plays piano already or maybe he plays nothing, who knows. He really wants to develop his abilities on the cello and start to explore that instrument. So these are just a couple of tips for really anybody of any age. They work just as well for just about anybody.

The first one has to do with really making sure that the student is very, very familiar with the basics actually, the extreme basics. I mean like actually getting the cello out of the case and how to do all of that properly. That's something that occasionally gets overlooked. I know occasionally I overlook it with the first lesson of a student. I'm so excited to get them to make great sounds on that first day that I completely forget about the more difficult aspect of actually-- that daunting aspect actually, of getting the instrument out of the case. It's very kind of a scary thing. Especially since most beginners are starting with a soft case. So what I usually recommend, especially if they're tiny, is that they just get the case-- they put the case and the cello and everything on the ground and just try to get everything out of it that way instead of... If they're older I recommend that they stand up, actually and get the cello out of the case. It's a little bit easier there. Or of course to have a parent help them. That's one of those things I try to remember, actually.

Now as far as-- There's three tips I'll be giving you. That's really the first one, is to really go over those things because the... Sometimes when a student is at home during the week, they have problems with those kinds of basic things or they forget to tighten the bow or they don't know how long the end-pin is supposed to be. There's all those kinds of things that can happen. So to go over those kinds of things right from the very beginning and to stress them really helps to relieve that tension of, "What do I do with this thing that's sitting in a case? What exactly am I supposed to do with it?" Now once we have it out of the case and we've taught them how to sit, which I think I just covered in the posture video. You can go back and look at that one. Once we get that far, I think it's important then to really familiarize yourself with the strings. So what I like to do is I like to play a little game with my students and it's just kind of a little memory game. I'll put my bow off to the side, here. We don't use the bow quite yet. I try to get them to memorize where the strings are and their names.

So we have the C-string of course, the lowest one. The G-string, the D-string, and the A-string. So I give them all sorts of patterns. The first way I give it to them is I give them a pattern using just the letter names. So I'll say, "C-C-G-A." They'll have to go something like that. It helps them to memorize that way and then also I do a different way, I actually play a pattern and sometimes if the student has already studied piano or a different instrument or something I'll give them something like a little bit more of a tricky rhythm like I'll put in some little eighth notes or things like that. Something like... Something like that. They really seem to enjoy that right from the very beginning. Whether it's adult amateurs or whether it's a four, five-year old who's picking up the instrument for the first time.

After that, actually before we even work on anything with the left hand, then I have them actually pick up the bow. Now I don't remember going over this in the bow fundamentals, I know I think I've done a couple of videos on the bow. I can't remember what I've done actually. Not without going back and looking at all of it. Actually I have them start with holding the bow here at the balance point. I find the balance point for them and I have them hang the bow just between their thumb and their middle finger just like that. Then we just kind of lay the other fingers on the stick, usually I want the pinky to be up there like that. I think that's kind of a helpful place for us to start. Where it goes from there, who knows. But I think that's a good place for it to start.

Then we make some circles. Interestingly enough I don't think I've ever had a student, I don't mean to sound like I'm boasting here... But I don't think I've ever had a student not make a beautiful sound with one of these circles right from the very beginning. They usually... I have them start on the D-string and then they play a circle like that. In fact sometimes I have them go all the way past the hair so we hear a little bit of the actual wood hitting the string. That's not really bad for the bow so you don't have to worry. Just a little bit like that and then making these big circles. I don't know if you can see that on the video there. They usually make that beautiful ringing sound. Then of course they want to try it on all of the strings so I let them do that. We stay at this bow, actually for a certain amount of time.

Then really the third tip is starting to talk about the left hand. Now as far as beginners go this really is the issue of tape. Whether to tape up here. It's not really controversial, for some people it is. I generally try to avoid the use of tape, actually, but it really depends on the student. Some students really do need the tape. It'll be obvious to you.

In fact after the first day, this particular student is going to need that visual aid to start off with. But really even those students need that visual aid, they can't hear... For example they play a D like this and then they really can't find the E. They have no idea where that next note is supposed to... What that next note is supposed to sound like. Like they haven't ever played piano or maybe they're very, very young or in some cases that's where I'll use a piece of tape. Usually I'll just use maybe two pieces of tape at most. One for the first finger, one for the fourth finger. I know some people use three or even four and then they add all sorts of things. I think that this actually can be a problem. Now it is a little bit more difficult to begin this way even for a really, really good very, very talented beginner. It is a little bit more difficult, but the benefits that I've seen from it over the long term are that... I mean for example -- again it seems like I'm boasting here -- but it's not unusual for me with a beginner to even in the first month for them to be able to play through a very simple piece using the left hand fairly well in tune, just after a month. I find that this method of not using the tape, while those first couple of lessons can be pretty rough, the student starts to get the sound of it in their ears better and that's really what we want to build.

We want to build a knowledge of what the finger in the right spot sounds like. That's really the most important thing. Not what it looks like. Of course if they're constantly looking like this it really pulls their body completely out of position. They can't have their elbow in the right place, the bow angle usually goes really wacky, and there's all sorts of things that happen like that. So that's why I would experiment first without tape with pretty much every beginner to really see if it's something that they're able to do. Because if they are, and I've found that not a strong majority but at least a healthy majority of 65% or so have good enough ears from the very beginning to be able to distinguish enough where they need to put that first finger and then they're able to find the other notes from that. This really builds that hearing from the very beginning which I think is really critical. If you rely too much on the eyes, I think it's a big problem.

So anyway I hope you enjoyed this video and there will be many more coming. I look forward to doing these videos for many months to come and you'll be hearing a lot more from me definitely on a wider variety of topics. Again please, if there's anything that you want me to do a video on just go ahead and submit that in the comments section below the video on the VirtualSheetMusic.com website and I'll also say that if you're watching this on YouTube make sure you visit the VSM, the VirtualSheetMusic.com website. That's where I'll be able to see your comments. I don't have time to go around checking all the YouTube comments and also I don't know how to reply to those. So the comments I can reply to are on the VirtualSheetMusic.com website. So you can register there, log in, and also view all of the comments that everyone else has written. I usually try to write as extensive of a reply as time allows so that usually is a way for me to flesh out what I said in the video.

So once again, this is Joesph Mendoes for VirtualSheetMusic.com, and thank you for watching this video.

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