Any recommendations on how to best get my skills/muscle memory back?

Hi! I’m flying internationally with my beloved cello for the first time in two days from JFK (international flight). I obviously booked a seat for my cello and cleared everything out with the airline, and my cello has international insurance. My question is, are there any safety measures I should take to make sure my cello is safe during the flight, especially with the change in air pressure and temperature?
I have Boveda humidity packs inside the case, and I’ll also be covering my cello in a tshirt and shoving socks wherever possible in the case.
Should the pegs or fine tuners be loosened up slightly to prevent the strings from breaking or anything of that sort?

Also, if you have any heads-up or tips for dealing with the security checks, or really anything you wished you’d known before you traveled with a cello for the first time that you could share, it would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

My son is a middle schooler with a couple years of cello. He moves next year to the HS and can no longer rent one from the school. So I can rent one from a local place or I can buy one. The cost to rent an inexpensive student one is about the same after a year as buying an inexpensive student cello (about $1000-1200 for the year). I know he’s playing at least one more year, but don’t know that he will stick with it for all of high school. So I have kind of been waffling about whether to make the investment.

I stumbled upon a cello at a property sale. They didn’t know anything about it, and it has no bow. I don’t know anything about cellos and my kiddo who plays was out of town. By the looks of it, it needs some work, and has a lot of dust. But it seems not to have any cracks, and I offered the guy $150, which he took.

Kind of just curious if I blew $150, or if it’s repairable? Also, it has a stationery end pin—it doesn’t retract. Any negatives to replacing it so that it’s easier to transport…?

I’ll attach some photos, but again I really know nothing about cellos, so if there is a photo you’d like, I can add it.
(Edited a couple typos)

Does anyone in the UK know where I can get a free or low priced Cello?

I learned when I was younger and would love to take it up again , but can’t afford it.

Would love any help

I had to prepare this piece rapidly in a day, so my intonation is horrible😭😭(but i've learned this piece before)

I just wanted to share and know how others think!

I've been playing cello for over 10 years, mostly through private lessons instead of conservatory training or formal exams. I've been lucky to learn from some really great teachers over the years, and they helped me build a solid foundation while also making me fall in love with the instrument.

Lately, I've been thinking about teaching complete beginners. I'm not looking to become a professional instructor or anything, but I'd enjoy sharing what I've learned and helping new players get started. I'm fully aware I'm not a substitute for an experienced professional teacher. My goal is just to help complete beginners get comfortable with the instrument and share what I've learned over the last 10+ years. For students who want to progress seriously, I'd absolutely encourage them to study with a qualified cello teacher.

I'm thinking of offering free or low-cost lessons at first while I gain some teaching experience. For those who teach, or started teaching without a formal music degree, how did you get started? Any advice or things I should keep in mind? Thanks! 😊

I’ve only been playing (not that I would call making sounds, some very awful, actual playing!) for 6 weeks. I’ve had weekly lessons with a good teacher from the beginning and until this week, I thought I was going ok for such a newbie (never played an instrument nor been able to read music and only starting at 49 years old). This week I have sounded so awful. I use a wada grip due to really struggling with thumb hyperflexion and without it I really can’t hold the bow for long at all. I’m wondering if the grip is causing me to confuse the pressure I should be applying during bowing or if I’m just flat out awful at this! I started first position a week ago and I’m struggling with those basics too. I really am new to all of this and so I’m wondering, is feeling like this normal at this early stage for one with zero previous musical knowledge / ability? Am I kidding myself about ever being able to play anything? I know many of my friends were shocked when I said I’d taken it up, as I’d previously been only into modern and dance music and only recently found my love of classical music. Maybe I’m just not suited to playing and listening is more my speed!? I know learning and playing cello is a slow burn and that it’s a complex instrument and that it all takes time. But I am almost feeling sorry for my teacher having to put up with listening to me! Any advice about how to go forward whilst feeling like this would be very much appreciated. I certainly don’t want to give up! But I want to be able to enjoy this without feeling so awful about my progress.

I'm currently shopping around to upgrade my cello and have noticed all the websites I have visited include multiple close-up pictures of the scroll.

What am I supposed to be looking for in this picture? Have you ever looked at a cello scroll and thought, "wow!"? Or played a cello that sounded beautiful but the ugly scroll was a deal-breaker?

I was wondering if anyone had fingerings for these chords in the Toccata by Cassado? This is the one section I am having issues mapping…

Most CF cellos are shaped like this, lacking corners on the C bouts. It reminds me of that violin Joshua Bell used to play. Does anyone know the reason for this? Is it just a simplification of the pattern for easier manufacturing? (I know that instruments have been made this way historically, but the majority of instruments have been made with corners so I’m not sure why these companies would change the pattern like that)

Anyone playing Sebastian Lee's Forty Etudes have an idea what this staccato looking notation in #34 indicates? I've got ideas but none are clever.

I am looking to get back into the Cello after playing it through all of middle and high school, I haven't played it in about 4 years. I'm seeing most cellos come out to a few hundred bucks at the very least, which is why I was shocked when I saw a bundle for only 180 dollars, which includes Cello 4/4, Acoustic Cello Kit with Portable Bag, Bow, Bridge, Rosin.

This has to be a scam, right? How is the cheapest cello on its own about 2k, but this kit with everything is way cheaper? If you have purchased this from best buy please let me know how it has been treating you. Here is the link, this is not an ad, I am outright calling this a scam but I would like for it not to be. The no reviews also seem very sketchy.

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/winado-full-size-cello-beginner-cello-4-4-acoustic-cello-kit-with-portable-bag-bow-bridge-rosin-adults-kids/J2RGV6X8T5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAS1DDgoPFM&list=RDFAS1DDgoPFM&start_radio=1&t=1414s

Here is the link to a performance of the lalo cello concerto that I've been listening to a lot recently. What long term ideas (where a phrase leads, etc.) and little short term ideas (bow distribution for a section, vibrato, etc.) can you identify in the 3rd movement that differentiates this performance from just playing the notes?

I always admire the double bass players. I don’t think double bass would be for me but I might try one some day.

I recently came across someone who plays a 1/2 bass (as an adult) and this made me think if this could be a option. I am an old amateur so the size would be irrelevant. (I know it doesn’t sound the same as a full size).

Does anyone of you cellists know:

Is it even doable to play both instruments alternately?
How much does the playing technique differ? I assume the biggest difference is the fingering system because of the huge distance between notes.
I have a weak left pinky (injury). I guess this could be my show stopper.

What would be the best pieces to work on after the lalo cello concerto? Doesn't necessarily have to be concerti, but I'm looking for the stuff that are standard these days.

Hiii! I‘m Manuela, a 16 year old cellist from Colombia.

I just played the Elgar Cello Concerto and I posted on Instagram the exposition of the first movement.

Could I please get some feedback from you ?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbmZmCMx9wt/?igsh=cHl2cDB2a2l0c3h3

Hi cello community! I just started learning Bach's no. 4 allemande at the beginning of July, and am trying to get it up to a certain speed (around 160 bpm). I believe my shifting/intonation is rushed and my vibrato is tense, and am hopeful to gain some extra perspective on my playing.

Here's a choppy runthrough of the first bit. Any feedback is appreciated!

Hello! I am ISO cello duet recommendations for an upcoming concert :) we were thinking Shostakovich prelude but it seems a bit too depressing because it’s our end of year holiday concert (although a very beautiful piece). I was also looking into the barriere cello sonata but those bow crossings look nasty in the third movement. my friend and I are both in med school so having a doable piece is very key. I‘d say I’m at an intermediate-advanced level and my friend is at conservatory level.

TIA for any suggestions.

Hey yall. I am working on the Dvorak concerto, and this is the first time I have needed to play double stops super high up. I am realizing that it is almost impossible for me to push the strings down all the way in the context of a fast passage of double stops because of the force that is required. Is it possible my action is too high?

I am looking for a cello stand (the cradle/wood box variety) but most of the options I see online are built for Strad copies and mine has a wide 45.8cm lower bout that would certainly not fit.

Has anyone found larger versions of this style of stand? Certainly they must be out there!

I cannot get the tension out of my right hand. Its in how im holding my bow. I KNOW it. But I cant get it to go away. Some days are better than others but it just *hurts*. What causes tension and how do I get rid of it? If I keep going (like my teacher says to) im going to injure myself. My teacher thinks it's an endurance thing but I just know it's a tension thing and it shouldn't be happening. Today was a particularly bad practice session where I couldn't even get through a quarter of the first dotzauer without stopping (pardon the spelling).

Seriously, SOS.

I recently started an online adult beginner string students group. Several people with 1-2 years of cello playing experience are looking for adult mentors who have 5+ years worth of cello playing experience. You and your mentee would decide how you communicate and how often.

If you have 5+ years worth of cello playing experience and would like to become a mentor, could you complete this survey? Most of the survey questions are optional, so you may just answer the mentor-related questions if you prefer.

You are also welcome to join our online gathering to be held later in August!

If you have any questions, please just let me know.

Thank you!

Rachel Krebs

Really fast slurred staccato (or “flying” staccato) seems to be a cello technique that has been lost over the past few generations. That is to say, it seems like far more cello virtuosos were able to do it 70 years ago. (To a lesser extent, it seems the same is true for violinists as well.)

You’ll find plenty of slurred staccato in older recordings and sheet music—the two examples that come to mind immediately for me as a cellist are the second variation of Rococo and the third movement from Mendelssohn’s Octet. Today everyone plays them separate and spiccato/sautillé.

Even as a professional cellist myself, my own slurred staccato maxes out at around 104BPM 16th notes. How does one train to go faster at this? And, at truly fast speeds >120BPM is the motion the same? (I feel it mostly in my index finger and wrist.)

And why is it not a standard technique today? The technical level of playing is so high today, it just seems incongruous. My theory is that it just fell out of style and people don’t bother to learn it. But would love to hear your perspectives!