Cello 101: Bootcamp for Beginners

In this lecture, you'll find everything you need to know about setting up the cello.

We'll cover:

• Handling the cello and bow

• Endpin length

• Rockstop placement

• Bow setup

• Rosining

• Tuning

• Practice room setup

• Instrument care

You'll get an insider's perspective on everything along the way!

Check out the bonus lecture at the bottom of the course for any resources and tools you're missing.

In this lecture, we'll cover:

• Chair height

• Sitting posture

• Rockstop & endpin placement

• Points of contact with the instrument

Position and Posture make up our First Building Block of Cello Playing. Make this lecture a focus point for your playing, because great posture leads to great sound.

In this lecture, we'll cover:

• Learning the names of the open strings of the cello, which are: C, G, D, and A

• Creating mnemonic devices for those names, going both up and down

Come up with your own devices or feel free to use mine!

In this lecture, we'll cover:

• Shoulder & elbow position

• Thumb & hand position

• Closed and open finger patterns

• The two foundational scales: C and D Major

  
  

In the resources section, you can download the guided run-throughs of both scales.

In this lecture, we'll cover:

• Basics of pizzicato (abbreviated to pizz.), or plucking the strings

• Practice plucking the open strings

• Basics of serial practice

• A guided walk-through of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

• A guided walk-through of Hot Cross Buns

• Basics of rhythm and counting

In the resources file for this lecture, you'll find audio recordings for all of the pieces covered in Assignment 8: Getting Started with Pizzicato.

• The first run-through is at a slower practice tempo

• The second is at performance tempo, and the metronome will count in and then stop as the piece starts

In the assignment after this lecture, you'll find four more pieces to get started with on the cello. You'll also find the middle verse of Twinkle Twinkle. I've translated everything into cello tabs so you can start playing without knowing how to read music!

Record yourself and upload a video file for feedback in the Bonus Lecture at the bottom of the course.

In this lecture, we'll cover:

• Shoulder and elbow positions

• Finger and wrist positions

• Right hand bow exercises

• Arm movement and alignment

All of the exercises for the right hand that we cover in this lecture are listed in the practice spreadsheet in Assignment 9: Build Your Own Practice Session. Do 10-12 per exercise, or until the target muscle gets tired!

In this lecture, we'll cover:

• The elements of a great sound: String Activation, Core and Resonance

• We'll also talk about many famous cellists and singers to use as sound inspiration!

• The difference between down and up bows

• Four different bow strokes, or ways of moving the bow:

  1. Long tones

  2. Bell tones

  3. V hits

  4. Crawls

• Workout analogies for all of the open string variations to help you internalize them

• Right hand variations to use with all of the bow strokes

This lecture establishes the way your bow moves on the string: this is a technical foundation of cello playing called articulation. Articulation types generally have fancy French or Italian names, so we'll go through several of them, both defining and pronouncing them!

This lecture is a play-along practice session for all of our open string varieties, plus right hand variations to really get into building a great sound on the cello.

• Use this lecture as a guide for how to structure your own open tone work

• Use is as a practice session that you can come to back to time and time again 

We'll introduce several important concepts in this lecture, including:

• Metronome work: how to play with a metronome and use it to structure your practice

• Bow distribution, or how much bow you use for every note

In this lecture, we'll cover:

• The definition of Intonation, the last of the Five Building Blocks

• The basics of ear training

• What to listen for

• Exercises for developing pitch

• The importance of adjusting

• Working with a tuner

• Using drones

Check out the bonus lecture at the bottom of the course for a link to the tuning app I love and use in my own practice!

A course extra! Listen to my responses to some frequently asked questions, and add your own in the Q&A section for the course.

In this article, you'll find links to every resource we've talked about throughout the course - and many more!

• Contents:

  1. Submit files for feedback

  2. Book with me

  3. Suggested tools and resources

  4. Hello Cello merchandise

  5. Social media handles

  6. Free resources

  7. Get in touch