Cello Life Blog Archives - Cellist Jonathan Simmons

The Secret Life of Cello Strings: Harmonics for Cellists

The Secret Life of Cello Strings – what a title!

This indispensible book by R. Caroline Bosanquet begins with a foreword by Janos Starker who calls the book “both amusing and amazing” – high praise from such a master of the instrument. The book breaks down both the notation and explanation of harmonics so that anyone from beginning cellists to seasoned professionals can benefit from it.

Why study harmonics?

Harmonics allow us to map the fingerboard. See this previous blog post that explores the use of harmonics as one of three landmarks that aid us in shifting and thoroughly mapping the fingerboard. Demystifying where the harmonics are on the cello and what notes sound when we play them aid us as we navigate everything from the neck positions to the stratosphere of the possible pitches on the instrument and everything in between.

In an effort to make the book more applicable to visual learners, I have created a video tutorial to the pieces in the book. Here is the introduction video with some more information.

What does the book contain?

The book breaks down technical and acoustical language like “nodes” and “partials” to help explain where the harmonics are on the string and why they produce those high pitches.

Lest you be daunted thinking that harmonics are beyond your ability to understand or play, the book breaks down harmonics so that even the harmonics in second and third position are covered.

Most cellists learn the octave or halfway harmonic first, but there are a host of other harmonics across the instrument. Harmonics have the unique quality of getting higher the further they are from the center string. That means that certain notes can be found in multiple places on the same string. Number 4 in the book entitled “Changing Places” demonstrates this concept nicely in the video below.

See additional demonstration videos at this link. The full first chapter is available as of this writing, and new videos will be added weekly.

If you would like to purchase your own copy of the book, you can find it here. I would love to hear your feedback, so feel free to write a comment below or through the contact page on the website.

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Strategies for Speed

January 30, 2021 by Jonathan

Equipment, Pedagogy, Practice

Once we master the notes and rhythms of a piece, the daunting challenge awaits of speeding up the piece to performance tempo. This process often consumes a large amount of time and can often be frustrating when we get stuck at a certain tempo. Many times it feels like the piece will never reach full tempo. Let’s look at the appropriate time to begin speeding up a piece and three strategies to help overcome the tempo roadblock and truly master playing quickly.

The first questions we must ask are, “At what tempo can I play the hardest part accurately?” and, “What is my goal tempo?” Too often we do not know what tempo we have already achieved or which parts tend to fall behind if we were to check with the metronome. (As a side note, all of these activities require a metronome, so if you don’t have one GET ONE. If a tempo is not indicated in the sheet music, listen to some recordings, or seek your teacher’s advice on a suitable and realistic tempo. Once you have ascertained a baseline tempo at which you can perform all parts of the piece or movement accurately and consistently, we will build from there. Here are three strategies to use in gaining concert tempo.

Speeding Up - Metronome - Cello Life Blog

To Gain Speed…Bump Up the Metronome

The most commonly used strategies in speeding up music is to simply bump up the metronome a few clicks per minute. If you can play the piece, hard parts and all with the metronome at ♩=60, you can probably play it at ♩=65. Continue increasing the metronome a few clicks at a time until the music goes by so fast that you can no longer play accurately. At that point, slow down the metronome by a few clicks and continue getting comfortable at your maximum speed. Don’t simply speed ahead and accept mistakes. Find your comfort level and be prepared to push that level the next time you sit down to practice.

Two things to note:

1. Don’t get frustrated. If you hit a maximum speed and cannot overcome it, take a break and come back later.

2. Don’t expect the same level of proficiency the next time you pick up your instrument. Forgetting happens quickly. It is not unusual to feel like you are starting from the same slow tempo for several days in a row. With daily practice, you will be able to speed up the piece, but it may not happen the first (or second, or third!) time you pick up the instrument. This is normal, so do not be alarmed if (when) this is the case for you.

To Gain Speed…Add a Note

The Add a Note strategy gives the right hand practice at tempo while the left hand slowly adds the notes. Here is a short example of the Add a Note strategy at work.

First pick one of the hard spots which tends to be difficult playing quickly compared with the work as a whole.

Speeding up Hungarian Rhapsody - Cello Life Blog

David Popper Hungarian Rhapsody

Notice that we start with a short segment, as this strategy works best when used with small portions of music.

To begin, we will take just the first note and play it with the rhythm of the passage, straight 16th notes in this case. The metronome should be set significantly faster than you can play the passage comfortably, even up to final performance tempo.

Cello Life Blog - Jonathan Simmons - Add a note for speed

Step 1

As you continue, simply add one note at a time until you are playing the passage as originally written.


Step 2 – add the 2nd note

Step 3 – add the 3rd note

To Reach Concert Tempo…Practice Rhythms

In addition to Add a Note, we can speed up the music by playing all the notes yet altering the rhythms. These rhythms work best in perpetual motion passages like the one above, but can be applied to many different types of rhythmic passages. Different rhythms are applied to simple meter (where the bottom number of the time signature is 2 or 4) and compound meter (where the bottom number of the time signature is 8). Here are examples of the rhythms to use in order to speed up passages in each of these meters. Let’s first start with the passage from Hungarian Rhapsody as an example.


As written

The first practice rhythms we could apply are dotted figures. Make one note long and the next note short at a quicker tempo than you could play all the notes as written. When written out, these practice rhythms would look like this:

Practice Rhythm 1 – Dotted Note First

Practice Rhythm 2 – Dotted Note Second

Once the first two practice rhythms are mastered, move on to playing more notes up to tempo. In the next practice rhythms, only one note per beat is altered. By this point, you are already playing three out of four notes at or near tempo!

Practice Rhythm 3 – First Note Long

Practice Rhythm 4 – Second Note Long

Practice Rhythm 5 – Third Note Long

Practice Rhythm 6 – Fourth Note Long

Now onto compound meter. Music in this meter being divided into an odd number of three, different practice rhythms must be employed. Two of the three notes can be sped up at once. The following example show three possible practice rhythms.

Rhythm as Written

Practice Rhythm 1 – First Note Long

Practice Rhythm 2 – Last Note Long

Practice Rhythm 3 – Middle Note Long

Gaining speed is an ongoing process, but these three strategies of employing the metronome, adding a note, and utilizing practice rhythms can help speed the journey along. For more great tips on practicing, a wonderful resource is the book Practicing for Artistic Success. Many more techniques for speeding up music can be found in the book.

I hope you feel more ready to begin speeding up your music having read this post. Happy practicing, and let me know how it goes!

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Rules I Break (Part 2 of 2) – Right Hand

December 15, 2020 by Jonathan

Pedagogy, Right Hand, Technique

In last week’s blog, we addressed a few ground rules often taught to beginning cellists along with some instances in which those rules should be broken. The right hand similarly has some rules that need to be broken in certain instances. Today we will address two of those.

Right Hand Rule #1: Straight Bow

Playing with a straight bow is crucial for a clear, consistent tone free of scratch in the sound, but if you watch great cellists, you will notice that they do not play with a straight bow 100% of the time. Why is this? As helpful as a straight bow can be for producing a homogeneous tone throughout the whole bow stroke, a straight bow is not necessarily the best way to produce a broad range of tone colors. Watch this video in which Thomas Mesa demonstrates the 10 bow lanes on the cello and when he plays with a crooked bow on purpose.

In addition to the excellent advice Mr. Mesa gives, angling the bow helps move the bow across the bow lanes. This exercise that I learned from Natasha Brofsky entitled “The Snake” is helpful in exaggerating the usefulness of the slanted bow. You can use this exercise to work on either keeping a consistent tone with a slanted bow or allow the change in your bow’s contact point to vary the tone.

Rule #2: Bent Right Thumb

Many string players liken the fingers on the bow to shock absorbers, a very accurate and relatable analogy. Shock absorbers must be free to move in order to be effective. Similarly our fingers must be free to adjust and not be fixed in one rigid position. In other words, there is no one correct position for the thumb.

Like many others, I was first taught that a bent thumb was more relaxed and that a straight thumb was more tense. After all, just feel the thumb muscle with the thumb bent versus straight and notice how the muscle feels more supple and soft when the thumb is bent.

However, music does not require a constant state of release but rather a fluid balance between tension and release. As a broad over-generalization, the thumb should be more bent at the frog than at the tip. Many of us need all the help we can get to reach all the way to the tip, and straightening the thumb moves us that much closer to the end of the bow.

See this previous blog post for more suggestions on reaching the tip. The role of the thumb is too detailed to cover in one blog post, but suffice it to say that a flexible thumb is more desirable than a thumb conforming to a single position.

What have your discovered about the right hand that is different than what you were first taught? Leave your ideas in the comments below.

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Rules I Break (Part 1 of 2)

December 7, 2020 by Jonathan

Left Hand, Pedagogy, Practice, Technique

Beginning cellists learn all sorts of necessary ground rules as they begin learning the instrument – how to sit, how to hold the cello, where to place the hands, etc. These rules are useful for establishing healthy habits for playing, but strict rules do not necessarily take into account the variety of techniques needed to play the infinite variety of music cellists are called upon to perform. Below are a few of the of the left hand rules that I break with the next blog post will focus on the right hand rules.

Rule #1: Left Thumb behind the neck

I first learned to place the left hand by putting the thumb directly under the other four fingers on the strings.

Cello Life Blog Jonathan Simmons - Left Hand Rules

Many times, this place is as good as any for the thumb. However, by no means is it the only place the thumb can stay. The thumb can move to either side of the neck for various reasons.

Moving the thumb to the left side of the neck can help combat a squeezing thumb, especially on the two higher strings. Squeezing becomes much more difficult (though not impossible) when the thumb would be squeezing to the right rather than up against the opposing fingers.

Cello Life Blog Jonathan Simmons - Left Thumb Rules

Practice moving the thumb to the left side of the neck when you feel the urge to squeeze. Learning to use arm weight instead of thumb counter pressure to hold down the strings will relax the left hand allowing you to play more freely and for longer periods of time without fatigue.

In addition, resting the thumb on the right side of the neck can also serve to our advantage. For example, when playing on the C string, you may find moving the thumb to the right side of the neck is helpful. Students often arch the wrist in an effort to reach the lower strings without touching the upper strings. Resting the thumb on the left side of the neck in this instance would only exacerbate the problem by keeping the wrist further from the neck than it could be.

Negative Example

Instead experiment with bringing the thumb to the other side of the neck. This allows the entire wrist and hand to come closer to the notes that the fingers need to reach.

Cello Life Blog Jonathan Simmons - Left Hand Rules 1

Rule #2: Thumb over 2 strings in thumb position

In thumb position, many students are told to keep the thumb over two strings. Many cello methods including Rick Mooney’s book Thumb Position for Cello advocate this habit. In general, placing the thumb over two strings is a beneficial habit to adopt. However, certain circumstances can require removing the thumb from one string or the other in order to play the music, especially for cellists with smaller hands. Two examples of this are open strings and large stretches.

An extreme example of open strings used while the left hand is in thumb position can be found in the Ligeti Solo Sonata. In the following section, the thumb can either rest on one string, the D string, or can come off both strings.

Personally I anchor my thumb on the side of the fingerboard to provide a reference point for the rest of the hand while raising all of the fingers during the open string notes.

For cellists with small hands, everything we can do to reach another centimeter is necessary on the instrument. Take this stretch in the Ligeti Sonata for instance.

With my small hands, I have trouble reaching the major seventh from A up to G# with the thumb over both the A and the D strings. When I place my thumb only on the A string, the elbow is able to come around just enough to enable the extra reach up to the G#. Large stretches sometimes necessitate breaking the rule of resting the left thumb over two strings in thumb position.

As you are practicing, experiment with what rules might need to be broken. Endless curiosity is a must! Let me know what you discover.

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What I Learned Listening to 119 Recordings

November 17, 2020 by Jonathan

Inspiration, Listening, Musicality

One of my graduate school professors shared his strategy for preparing for auditions. Before setting foot on stage, he would listen to 20 recordings of every piece he prepared for the audition. This inspired me to commit to the same level of preparation for my own auditions. Although I had already listened to some of the pieces on the audition lists dozens of times, I decided to begin again and follow through on his challenge. The experience was transformative beyond words. Below I will share what I learned along with my personal favorite recording of each piece. As a side note, you may notice that 119 recordings is not divisible by 20. Although I did listen to 20 recordings of each and every piece, the final recording I heard was terrible. Instead of ending on a sour note, I just left the final recording out of the count! Without further ado – What I learned Listening to 119 Recordings.

Live recordings are magical.

An irresistible energy permeates live recordings. I found myself unusually drawn to live recordings despite their occasional flaws. However, certain live recordings were so excellently performed that I assumed them to be studio recordings until the rounds of applause began after the final movement. In fact, several of my favorite recordings out of the 20 recordings per piece were live recordings. For example, one of them was Natalie Clein’s Haydn C Major Concerto. These live recordings held something special that no studio performance could replace – a charismatic zest and vitality that I crave for my own performances.

The ensemble makes or breaks the performance.

Although I was primarily listening to the solo cello part of recordings, all the other instruments are indispensable. My jaw was on the floor hearing the pinpoint accuracy of Les Dissonances and Xavier Phillips playing the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1. The cellist was wonderful, and the orchestra was outstanding. Conversely, I nearly turned off an older recording of Schelomo not because the soloist was uninteresting, but because an out of tune oboe player ruined the spirit of the piece. Notably, the particular recording was not a live performance but was rather a studio recording.

I’m not the only one who plays out of tune.

Speaking of intonation! Some immediately recognizable cellists have recordings that are severly out of tune. This may seems harsh, but upon looking up reviews of the recordings, I found that critics agreed when a recording contained noticeably sour intonation. It reminds me of a story that Steven Isserlis tells in which he was listening to audition tapes for Prussia Cove with another jury member. Isserlis had slipped in one of his own recordings just for fun under a different name, and surprisingly did not make the cut for his own masterclass! Of course intonation is not everything, although it is perhaps more highly valued today than at any time at history. I still do feel better knowing that I am not the only one who plays out of tune, on occasion!

I’ve barely scratched the surface.

Listening to approximately 2,197 minutes of music has only whet my appetite. Each time I hear a piece again, I know better what to listen for and how to better appreciate the piece. I saw many recordings that I would love to listen to beyond the 20 I had originally planned. The more I listen, the more I hear and am amazed by all the variety and nuance that each performer brings to their individual performance. And now for a list of favorite recordings of each piece with soloist:

J.S. Bach Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008 – Ralph Kirshbaum (If I had to choose just one recording. Thankfully there are a million more from which to choose!)

Ernest Bloch Schelomo – Steven Isserlis

F.J. Haydn Cello Concerto in C Major, Hob VIIb:1 – Natalie Clein (Live!)

György Ligeti Sonate– Luwig Quandt and Alisa Weilerstein (I can’t choose just one! Matt Allen’s live YouTube recording comes in at a close second.)

Alfredo Piatti 12 Caprices, Op. 25, No. 7: Maestoso – Richard Narroway (Live performance and tutorial!)

Dmitri Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 107 – Xavier Phillips (Live!)

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Surviving Life as a Small-Handed, Short-Armed Cellist

November 7, 2020 by Jonathan

Left Hand, Pedagogy, Right Hand, Technique

String players come in all shapes and sizes. Some violinists look like they were born to play the double bass, and other people like me seem so small that they should be banished to a partial size instrument into adulthood. If you are in the second category, I feel your pain. Although we must come up with solutions to the unique technical challenges that we face, playing a large instrument is not impossible even for petite individuals like myself, a short-armed cellist.

As a side note, this is not to say that adults should never consider a 3/4 or 7/8 size instrument or a shorter bow in some cases. Some physiques may require this. Be sure to seek your teacher’s advice on instrument setup (endpin length, angle of the instrument, etc.). Likewise students who are not yet fully grown should seek their teacher’s input before moving to a size that may be uncomfortably large. In this blog I simply hope to share several ways I have found to overcome the challenges that come with being a small-handed, short-armed cellist. Let’s get started.

I can’t reach the tip of the bow!

With arms seemingly too short to play at the tip, what can we do to make use of the whole bow? Simply raise the right elbow up and out. Here is a video demonstrating the difference elbow height can make.

The technical difference could be explained in great length, but suffice it to say that to use the whole bow, the whole arm needs to be involved. Video recording yourself and playing in front of a mirror are two ways that you can check whether you are truly using the upper arm to fly your elbow up and out into the correct position.

In addition to the above video, try the following exercise by David Finkel to “make the bow feel short.” He demonstrates another excellent way to achieve the desired result.

I can’t spread my fingers far enough in first position!

Even cellists with larger hands can find themselves with this problem. Beginners who start with tapes on the cello’s fingerboard can visually see that their hands do not spread wide enough to leave the fingers on the tapes. With every out of tune note, the ear also reminds us that the fingers are too close together. I suggest two methods to remedy this.

First, explore a slanted left hand. In general, cellists fall into two camps when talking about hand shape – (1.) square, fingers falling perpendicular to the fingerboard, or (2.) slanted, fingers falling perpendicular to the floor.

Square Hand Shape

Slanted Hand Shape

For those with large hands, my experience is that either the square or slanted hand shape can work. However for those of us with smaller reaches, the slanted hand shape is preferable. The following video demonstrates why.

Just a note, no matter what hand shape works best for you, be sure to align your arm so that you never hyper-extend the base finger joints.

Hyper-extended index finger base joint

Even with a slanted hand shape, you may find yourself still unable to reach notes. In that case, consider another alternative. The truth is, you only need to be able to reach one note at a time. The three fingers not actively playing notes, do not necessarily need to stay on the tapes for those notes. So long as the current note is in tune, you can rest the hand with the fingers close together moving the fingers apart just in time to play the next note.

Bunching Fingers

In this way, the fingers can walk across the fingerboard fluidly with each note seeming like a position of its own. Here is a video showing an example of the fingers “walking” in first position.

I can’t reach extensions with my left hand!

This common issue is address at length in another blog post here. In addition to everything written there, I have one additional piece of advice for the forward extension – drop the wrist. Watch this video to demonstrate.

So often cellists leave the wrist immobile for the forwards extension, but as was mentioned in the previous blog on extensions, the forward extension involves both a forward shift and a backward extension. To some eyes, the wrist may not seem to move at all, but rather the arm looks as if it is moving. Dropping the wrist is perhaps more of a sensation than an action. In other words, perhaps there is a feeling of dropping the wrist even if the actual movement occurs at the elbow.

Short arms and small hands should not prevent you from playing the cello! I am just one of many cellists to prove that point. I hope this post has been helpful in giving you some tools to survive as a small-handed, short-armed cellist. Happy practicing!

For more information on surviving life as a small-handed, short-armed cellist…

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Six Things Recovering from Performance Injury Taught Me

October 24, 2020 by Jonathan

Health&Wellness, Left Hand, Right Hand

Repetitive strain injuries plague far too many musicians, and I was one of them. These injuries tend to come at the most stressful times, before big performances and auditions, and last far too long. In my case, I was barely touching my instrument for five months leading up to graduate school auditions. Although problems did not go away immediately after auditions, I learned some valuable lessons that today allow me to play without pain. Here I hope to steer you toward some resources to help you achieve every musician’s goal – playing pain free.

WARM UP

Let me begin by saying that I am not a doctor and am not qualified to give medical advice. Medical professionals such as physical therapists can help you determine steps you can take to avoid drastic measures such as surgery. One of those steps is warming up. My initial conception of warming up for cello was playing scales, and although scales are excellent for opening our ears, they are not enough. Perhaps you have heard musicians compared to “small muscle athletes.” With that in mind, we should warm up the same way athletes warm up, by stretching! I have recently begun to use a variation of these stretches from Kansas City Symphony cellist Allen Probus. Here is a demonstration along with his encouraging story of overcoming injury.

HEALTH & FITNESS

Being unable to do what we love to do for extended periods of time may be the result of physical pain, but such trauma can also result in emotional pain too. Lacking motivation to take care of yourself physically and mentally can result in poor diet and lifestyle choices that set back the already lengthy process of healing. Give your body every chance to heal by eating healthful food, staying hydrated, maintaining fitness without taxing already overstressed muscles, and getting adequate sleep. As I took care of my body I noticed improvement not only physically but also in terms of clear thinking and positive mental outlook.

REST

As much as I hated to admit it at the time, resting was one of the most effective steps I touch to recovering from injury. The advice of medical professionals was a minimum six to eight weeks of rest, in my case. They defined rest not as reducing playing time but as staying away from the instrument completely and avoiding taxing activities for the injured muscles. One professional familiar with musician’s injuries pointed me to a book entitled The Musician’s Survival Manual that included a chart for beginning practice again after an injury. Imagine my surprise upon seeing that the first days of practice consisted of only 10 minutes of practice – two five-minute practice sessions separated by an hour of rest! Now that I practice and perform regularly, I still add times of rest between practice sessions as often as every 15 minutes of practice.

Understandably not everyone has the ability to go without playing for any length of time, especially when they provide their living through performance. I am very grateful for the cooperation my teacher and school with helping me find the road to recovery. Seek the help of professionals in finding the best way to rest in your unique circumstances.

MEDICAL EXPERTISE

I eventually ended up using a thumb brace which was just what I needed to avoid stressing my injury during daily activities. However not all medical equipment is created equal. I will not post pictures here, but if you so choose, search “thumb brace” online. You will notice that some products correctly orient the pinky is a straight line with the arm, and others align the thumb in a straight line. The second alignment, known as ulnar deviation, will not help in recovery, but rather would stress the body by holding an unnatural position for extended periods of time. Please check with a medical professional to find the right products for you.

ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS

Thankfully my journey through a performance injury did not result in the need for surgery, but along the way many types of alternative treatment did help. Chiropractic, electrotherapy, and massage therapy were all helpful in themselves, and along the way I learned better how to care for myself through the advice of therapists and doctors.

In addition, I also discovered Silicone Cupping through the recommendation of a colleague who was working through similar injury issues. Although you may not be familiar with cupping, the technique is becoming more popular in sports. Watch previous summer Olympic games, and you will notice that swimmers especially often have red circles across their bodies. This is the result of cupping. Cupping can be used at home with the guidance of a physical or massage therapist.

INSANITY

Insanity has been defined as “doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” No matter how many of the above methods you pursue, if you return to your instrument and play in the same ways that put you in pain in the first place, you will likely find that you return to the exact same results, namely more pain. Instead, be proactive. Seek your teacher’s input and advice and explore body awareness through Alexander Technique, Body Mapping, Feldenkrais, and the like. Only through change of technique did I ultimately find lasting relief.

One size does not fit all!

What works for one person does not necessarily work for another, so seek help from competent medical professionals who are familiar with working with musicians. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I wish you well in your journey to pain-free performance.

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All About Eqipment

October 24, 2020 by Jonathan

Equipment

Today’s blog post will be a different sort – all about set up and equipment! I hesitate to write a blog post on equipment because so much cello-centric equipment comes out that seems admittedly “gimmicky.” In addition your instrument and bow are a very personal combination. What works for me might not work for you, and what I prefer may not please you at all! With that being said, the intent of this blog is to both share what has worked for me as well as to thank and promote the shops and individuals who helped me come to my current setup. When I buy a new instrument, I will definitely try out these same accessories to see if they work just as well for me on other instruments. To confirm, none of the shops mentioned in this post have sponsored me in any way. Rather I would like to use this post to show my gratitude for their products and their good service.

Horvat Tailpiece and Carbon Fiber Tip

Horvat Tailpiece

Perhaps the most unique part of my setup is a pernambuco/mixed composite hybrid tailpiece by Damir Horvat of Horvat Fine Violins based in Columbia, South Carolina. Although many carbon fiber tailpieces have flooded the market in recent years, this model is the only one of which I am aware that successfully integrates both the natural look and warm sound of wood with the tone-enhancing characteristic of composite materials. Damir Horvat says “the exact ratio is a little trade secret.” My particular tailpiece is a prototype that I fell in love with after trying several different tailpieces on my cello. Now several models are available with various choices of wood. More examples can be seen HERE, and the Horvat Fine Violins website can be found HERE.

In addition, my tip plate is also carbon fiber!

Horvat Tip Plate

This tip plate replaces the broken original one, and I have no worries of this one will be breaking any time soon, or ever! I did not notice any difference in weight or tone after the carbon fiber was added. It is the first carbon fiber tip plate design of which I am aware.

Pegheds

Josef Teller Swiss Model Ebony Peghed

You may have noticed that that tailpiece does not have fine tuners. Although I prefer fine tuners, I am happy to live without them if the sound benefits. That brings us to another innovation in string technology, Pegheds, a name brand of mechanical pegs. Lest you recall tuning nightmares with older mechanical pegs that used a screw to tighten or loosen the grip of the pegs, mechanical pegs have developed tremendously since those early attempts. My early interaction with mechanical pegs was limited to one friend who used a different brand in high school and loved them, although they were always the last one tuning! More recently however several of my teachers had Pegheds installed, prompting me to consider them. Although many off brands exist, to my knowledge, Pegheds are the top of the line and worth the investment.

Chuck Herin, founder of Pegheds was nice enough to both give me a tour of his shop in Winnsboro, SC and also to walk me through the options of different designs for the head of the pegs. In the end, I decided to keep the heads of the pegs that were currently on the instrument and have them installed on the new peg shaft. Watching the process was fascinating, and procedure requires much less time and painstaking detail than fitting a new set of traditional wooden pegs. To create and install the whole set on my cello took well under an hour! Pegheds ships internationally with detailed instructions for luthiers who may not be familiar with the products, or you can go to the man himself at his Columbia, SC location. The Pegheds Facebook page can be found HERE, and their website is HERE. Note: Pegheds, Inc. is for sale! Contact Chuck Herin with inquiries.

New Harmony Endpin – Cellos2Go

New Harmony Endpin

One final often overlooked accessory on the cello – the endpin. Endpins come in multiple diameters, materials, and lengths. If you are debating switching to a new endpin, consider factors including how long you need the endpin to be and whether you can remove your current endpin easily, or if you need to take the whole unit out. Also consider the diameter of your endpin. They come in both standard 8mm and 10mm sizes, and the two sizes are not interchangeable. Materials vary from composite materials to carbon fiber and denser metals. Some are hollow and some solid.

So why would you want a new endpin? I admit I was skeptical about what difference an endpin would make. However, there was no risk involved when Cellos2Go shipped me several to try for a week. I came out with a New Harmony hollow carbon fiber pin with the sharpest spike known to man! From behind the cello, I really did not notice much difference in sound, but the response of the cello did become much quicker, especially on the C string. That being said, at my first lesson after switching to the new endpin, my teacher looked up as I tuned the first string and immediately asked, “What did you change?” Perhaps the difference out front is more marked than I can tell from behind. Cellos2Go’s website is HERE. I have always had a positive experience with their advice and their customer service. Note: In speaking with Chuck Herin from Pegheds, I found that he too makes endpins! They include “Bronze, Copper, and brass core in a 10mm pultruded carbon fiber sheath…with silicon carbide tips.” Here is a picture of one of his endpins.

Keeping all these innovations in mind, I would like to share a quote to which I often return when tempted to purchase instrument-related equipment. “Amateurs think hardware; professionals think software.” No matter what your skill level, you can overcome the limits of your instrument and equipment; still having nice gear is always an enjoyable experience, to be sure! Happy practicing!

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Slow Practice vs. Slow Motion Practice

October 17, 2020 by Jonathan

Pedagogy, Practice

“Practice slowly.” It’s something we have all heard from our teachers, but all too often this advice comes without demonstration of different types of slow practice or how our practice goals should differ from fast practice. Despite the countless hours we spend practicing slowly over the course of our lives, do we truly understand how to get the most out of our slow practice?

Only after several years of playing cello was I introduced to two different types of practice: slow practice and slow motion practice. Today we will focus on how we practice, specifically how we practice slowly.

Slow Practice

Slow practice helps us to learn music accurately no matter whether our current playing level is beginner or professional. As we will define it today, slow practice is not only under tempo but also commonly narrows our focus by removing certain aspects of the music including bowings or dynamics. With these factors removed, we are free to narrow our focus to other aspects of the music. For example, we can simply focus on finding the notes. Especially in the early stages of learning a piece, we need to devote slow practice time to just making sure we can hear the piece in our heads and have ideal fingerings for finding the notes. This is often easiest at a slow tempo with free rhythm.

As a subset of notes, intonation can be another focus of slow practice. Slowly practicing with a tuner without vibrato develops our sense of equal temperament, giving us opportunity to go back and forth in between notes that we miss. We can also check fingered notes against harmonics and as double stops with open strings to test the intonation.

In addition slow practice aids our ears in developing good tone. Practicing slowly magnifies our idiosyncrasies, so any weaknesses in technique or phrasing becomes much easier to hear. For this reason, many students do not like to practice slowly, thinking that they make more mistakes when they practice under tempo. In reality playing slowly only exposes what was there all along. When we practice slowly, we actually make fewer mistakes in general, although our ears pick up more of them.

Slow practice also gives an opportunity to work out tricky rhythms using the metronome. This can happen while sitting at the instrument, but just as often, try clapping and counting away from the cello. When unencumbered with thoughts about all the technical details described above, our full focus is free to tackle the rhythmical challenges we face.

Slow Motion Practice

Learning the difference between slow practice and slow motion practice was a game-changer for me. Practicing in slow motion differs from slow practice in several ways.

In contrast with slow practice, slow motion practice observes all the markings in the music as in a performance. In essence slow motion practice would appear as if you were playing back a recorded performance of the piece at a fraction of the performance tempo. All musical elements would remain the same, and even more importantly all your motions would be identical. When playing slowly, we have a (healthy) tendency to use larger motions. In slow motion practice, we want to be attentive to and imitate the motionsused when playing quickly. If you use one inch of bow per note at tempo, you will still use that same amount of bow when playing slow motion. If you prepare your left arm for a shift two notes before the shift, you will do the same in slow motion practice. Below is a written example of a passage as it would be practice both slowly and in slow motion.

Valentini Sonata

This first picture shows the passage (an excerpt from the Valentini Sonata) as written along with the notes that we will emphasize in slow practice. I can attest that these measures require some practice! Next let us look at how the first measure might look when practiced slowly.

Slow Practice

Notice a few things – first, the slurs and articulations are gone. As we focus on the notes, we don’t need to think about everything at once. Second, notice that we are playing very slowly, approximately four times as slow, because the first measure is stretched into four measures. The notes don’t line up exactly, and that is one of the joys of slow practice. They don’t need to! The first two notes line up with the previous example. However the first bracketed note is longer. This D# is a bit of a stretch on cello, so it is good to check it for intonation. That note is repeated again for good measure before the notes go back to straight quarters. As we reach the D# again in the third measure, we again repeat it searching for perfect intonation. After that the notes again line up with the above example until the final bracket. Note that the bracketed notes are repeated. As we feel confident, we can speed through the notes, assuming they are accurate. Finally let’s see how slow motion practice might look.

Slow Motion Practice

Both bowing (slurs) and articulation (staccato) have returned. In addition, the notes correlate exactly to the original excerpt one for one. This version of slow motion practice happens to be in half notes instead of quarter notes, but this does not necessarily need to be so. What we would also keep consistent beyond the notes is identical motions. Because the passage will be played near the balance point when up to tempo, when played in half notes, we will also play it in the same part of the bow. Whether we choose to play the passage on or off the string at tempo, the same style will apply when practiced slow motion.

As you play slow motion, as yourself questions about the music and the movements you make. How high am I lifting my fingers above the fingerboard? Am I pacing the crescendo the way I would like? Does my bow hand tense at the thought of fast passages? The answers will illuminate what needs further attention and will help you play faster and more accurately than trying to blaze through the piece at full tempo. Practicing this way brings to light not only what sounds we produce but also how we physically generate the sound.

I hope these insights are helpful to you in practice. I know the transformation they made was astounding for me. Consider recording yourself in slow motion practice. You will gain even further insight into the habits you never even knew you had.

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Learning Extensions Forward and Backward

October 10, 2020 by Jonathan

Extensions, Left Hand, Pedagogy, Technique

String pedagogy tends to lump all extensions into one large animal. As cellists know however, not all extensions are created equal but rather are divided into two completely different categories of forward and backward extensions. Let us explore the similarities and differences below.

Jonathan Simmons Cello

Extensions

To begin, we need to set two ground rules.

#1. Extensions always occur between first and second fingers in the neck positions.

Once we understand this concept, extensions become more manageable. All the fingers remain half-steps apart from adjacent fingers with the exception of the first finger that will be a whole-step away from second finger. No need to worry about your short pinky not reaching forward far enough on its own. Rather allow the movement of the second finger to push the other fingers into position.

#2. The thumb remains under the second finger at all times.

This rule is fairly self-explanatory. No matter whether we shift or extend, the second finger and thumb move as a unit in the neck positions. We will flesh this rule out practically later in the post. Now on to the two types of extensions.

Backward extension

Although nearly all orchestral string method books begin with the forward extension, we will begin with the backward extension instead because it is easier both to explain and to perform. This might raise the question of why the method books teach the harder concept first. My personal opinion is that many orchestral method books are designed with the upper strings in mind and subsequently are adapted to fit cello and bass. Many other factors in addition to extensions lead me to this conclusion.

Enough of the rant. Let us continue.

The backward extension is simply the action of straightening the first finger to reach a half step lower, what Wesley Baldwin of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville calls the “waiter, check please!” position.

Of course, much more goes into the process than that. At least two things could happen instead of an extension forming. First, you might straighten your first finger, and instead of reaching an extension, the finger points straight into the air (fig. 1).

Figure 1

If you experience this phenomenon, all you need to do is angle your hand back so that the finger touches the string (fig. 2).

Figure 2

This exercise demonstrates one of the benefits of the slanted hand position. Many teachers and performers fall on either side of the square versus slanted hand debate, but this ease of extensions for me is definitely a positive advantage of the slanted hand.

Perhaps you straighten your first finger only to find that it is touching a lower string (fig. 3).

Figure 3

In this case, all that needs adjusting is your elbow. Simply move your elbow forward until you find the correct angle to reach the desired string.

One thing you will notice about this hand position is that it is sustainable. Instead of the fingers spreading left and right across the palm (fig. 4), the movement is the common motion of opening or closing the fingers.

Figure 4

If your hand is like mine, you may notice that, in addition to being easier on the hand, the distance between the first and fourth fingers is equal to or greater than spreading across, allowing us to reach larger intervals.

You can tell the backward extension is being executed correctly when only one finger moves. Notice also that the wrist does not move, but that the uninterrupted straight line from the elbow to the base joint of the pinky remains unbroken (fig. 5).

Figure 5

Forward extension

In contrast to the backward extension involving only one finger, the forward extension involves movement not primarily of the hand but of the arm. Whenever the left arm moves, I personally define that movement as a shift. For this reason, I consider the term forward extension to be a misnomer (though I will continue to use the term for the duration of this post). In fact the forward extension, as it is commonly known, should rather be defined as the combination of (1.) a forward shift and (2.) a backward extension. In other words, a true forward extension does not actually exist, only backward extensions! Allow me to explain by demonstrating how this change in thinking will solve some common errors in executing forward extension.

The first of these common errors is extending forward from the wrist. The resulting position breaks the previously mentioned line from elbow to pinky. A negative example looks like this (fig. 6).


Figure 6

From this position, students often complain of being unable to “reach” far enough. This is the consequence of the hand and/or fingers attempting to move forward without the arm. Can you imagine reaching for an object six inches away moving only your wrist? Of course you would be understandably frustrated! Yet this is how many students try to “reach” for the notes forward extension. Have students try the following exercise to develop better habits for forward extensions.

Another error that students are prone to make is to extend forward without the thumb moving with the second finger (fig. 7).

Figure 7

As mentioned earlier, the thumb and second finger should move together. An immobile thumb is uniquely a problem to the forward extension because only in the forward extension does the second finger move. Of course backward extensions can be hampered by a tense thumb, but the shifting portion of the forward extension becomes absolutely impossible because it prevents the arm from moving. The immovable thumb can also be considered a subset of shifting (extending) from the wrist. For this reason, I consider the forward extension a combination of both a forward shiftand a backward extension. Practice the extension in two distinct parts of (1.) a forward shift followed by (2.) a backward extension of the first finger to develop this sensation.

I do hope that you work through these exercises and experiment on your own to find the extension technique that allows you the most mobility and the least tension. I have heard other excellent ways to explain extensions recently and am constantly seeking to add more ways of thinking about this universal concept. Please feel free to add a comment and share what has worked for you!

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