My cello pattern is my newest free crochet pattern! It also doubles as a violin crochet pattern, viola crochet pattern, or any string instrument! Read on to learn more about...
In this article you’ll learn 15 cello tips for beginners that will help you get off to the best possible start with this beautiful instrument.
This is a limited to 30 images reproduction of my original work. The whole sheet size measures 29cm X 20cm (A4) including a border for framing. The printed image measures 23cm X 16cm (approx). The image is printed on archival Hahnemuhle Torchon Fine Art Paper which is lovely, very like water colour paper in quality. The print is signed and numbered by the artist and will come to you sealed in a cello sleeve and a protective stiff envelope. Image remains copyright of Christina Gordon. Thank you!
After a year full of rehearsal and practice some of my school instruments look a little thrashed. Most of my school cellos are shared by 3 students - so they get a lot of use in a day. (Someday I hope to have enough cellos for all my students, but right now I’m about 40 short.) After our final concert I do an instrument cleaning day and get everything looking shiny. It’s good for general maintenance to have all students clean their instruments at least once per year. We use spray bottles filled with distilled water and 1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar. I tell students to never spray ‘cleaner’ on directly on their instruments. We use a collection of bandannas I found in my classroom and students spray a little vinegar water on a bandanna to wipe down their instruments. They use a dry bandanna for buffing. Recently I was able to tour the repair shop of a local music store, Summerhays Music in Orem, UT. www.smcorem.com I learned some maintenance tips I wish I would have known when I started teaching! These tips would have saved my program budget a lot of money. Summer is a great time to check instruments and do these simple steps to make sure instruments stay in good condition. 1. MINERAL OIL Do you have any of those fine tuners that are super hard to turn? In my classroom I have a few cellos from the dark ages with tuners so stiff it hurts my fingers to try to use them. When instruments are cleaned you should unscrew the fine tuner and put a drop of mineral oil in the hole where the screw goes. This will ensure the fine tuner keeps working properly. I will be having students do this on our instrument cleaning day from now on. You can also use mineral oil to lubricate bass pegs/mechanism. 2. ENDPINS I have a little epidemic going on in my orchestra. Students are constantly losing those little endpin bolts and we’ve had a few endpins go inside the cellos. I can’t stand it when that happens because it’s so frustrating to get those endpins back out! I once tried to get an endpin back in place with a back-scratcher…..doesn’t work. Inevitably I have to send those cellos to the repair shop to have them retrieve the endpin. At school I’ve just been wrapping masking tape around the end of cello endpins to keep them from going inside the cello. It doesn’t look great...but that was my quick fix. At Summerhays I learned you can just go to a hardware store and buy bolts (size M8 1.25) that will screw right back on the endpins. They’re super cheap..and you can SUPER GLUE them in place so they never fall off. This is going to save my program some money for sure. 3. BRIDGES A have quite a few cellos with warped bridges. I thought it was happening because the wood was bad, but I learned that the warping happens when the bridge is crooked. I have never consistently checked the bridges on all my instruments to make sure they are straight. This will now be part of my routine. The Summerhays repair shop taught me how to properly adjust the bridge. They said you do NOT loosen the strings to adjust the bridge (unless it needs major adjusting/placement). You brace your hands on the bridge and move/adjust from the top. You don’t try to move the feet...just the top of the bridge until it is 90 degrees. 4. WITTNER PEGS I actually discovered these pegs a few years ago. I was wasting too much time trying to tune old cellos with ill-equipped pegs. When these Wittner pegs came out I loved them so much...I slowly started using my school budget to have these pegs put in all my school cellos. It is worth every penny! Saves a ton of time with tuning. When I start a class of 50+ beginners I have to be able to tune them all in 3-5 minutes. These pegs make it a breeze. It also helps students tune their own instruments with ease. I teach beginners how to tune about mid-way through the school year. I now rarely have a student who breaks a string. 5. OLD STRINGS I’m guilty. There are cellos and basses at my school equipped with some ancient strings. At school I usually only replace strings when they break. I’ve never made room in my budget to replace old strings. I know some of my instruments would sound way better if I would just put on new strings. Part of my summer maintenance will be to finally start replacing strings and keeping track of when new strings are put on. My inventory is currently organized in a google spreadsheet. I can type notes directly on my inventory regarding when strings have been replaced, what repairs have been done, etc. That way I can create a rotation to begin replacing strings without having to do all 50+ instruments at once. At Summerhays I learned that it is best to purchase strings that are straight (not wound in a packet). This ensures the winding on the string lasts longer. The core and the winding of the string can deteriorate when the winding is bent and compromised. Buying local is ideal because you can buy strings that are straight. Summerhays has awesome low prices (even lower than online retailers) and stores all their strings straight. I hope you find these tips useful as you spend time with your inventory at the end of the school year/beginning of the new school year.
Cellist. Fine art ink drawing of cello player reproduced as a high-quality giclee print. Signed and dated, and securely shipped out to you. Title: Cellist #0756 Comes unframed Size: 21 x 30cm (A4) This picture is a top-quality giclee print of an open edition. Please have a browse through my shop - I've recently added a new series of composer portraits that might be of interest to you! If you have any questions about licensing or commissions please get in touch. tHaNkS fOr VIsiTiNg! www.margitvanderzwan.com @ArtyMargit
Is the cello hard to learn as an adult? Perhaps… but there’s a huge benefit of learning to play the cello later in life. Let me start with a little…
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Do you want to know what my absolute favorite book in the elementary music room is? I Know a Shy Fellow who Swallowed a Cello. It is so silly but so good. I love it. My kids love it. This year, I wanted to use it in a more meaningful way, so I used it to help my students learn about the instrument families. This lesson includes posters of each instrument, instrument cards for sorting, and four worksheets. This lesson was not created to be a sub plan, HOWEVER, I left it for my substitute the other day, and it went over really really well. So it could pull double duty for you! Get the DIGITAL version here! Check out the book here! Includes: Directions 2 instrument sort worksheets "Draw your favorite instrument" worksheet "Draw your favorite part of the book" worksheet 8 instrument posters in color 8 instrument posters in color with instrument names 8 instrument posters in black and white 8 instrument posters in black and white with instrument names 8 instrument cards in color 8 instrument cards in color with instrument names 8 instrument cards in black and white 8 instrument cards in black and white with instrument names 4 posters with the names of the instrument families You may also like: Treble Clef Sub Plans Nutcracker Sub Plans Treble Clef Kaboom! Treble Clef Puzzle Pieces Matching Game Treble Clef Dice Activity Join my free resource library to get exclusive FREE content! Let's be friends! Blog: Becca's Music Room Etsy Instagram Youtube Pinterest Facebook Happy teaching!
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My lovely happy border collie dog linocuts have been printed on to 15cm square cards. The greetings card are printed in the UK on high quality board from recycled and well controlled sources. Each card comes packed in a cello bag with a pristine white envelope all ready for you to send off to t...More My lovely happy border collie dog linocuts have been printed on to 15cm square cards. The greetings card are printed in the UK on high quality board from r...More
The Cello is a hauntingly beautiful orchestra instrument that dates back to 17th century Italy. It’s sort of like a large violin, in fact, the name means large violin. It’s the 2nd largest stringed instrument. If you dig the cello or are learning about the orchestra, why not enhance that knowledge with our coloring pages. […]
Most musicians start off learning treble clef, closely followed by bass clef. These are the two most common clefs, but they’re not the only clefs. In this post, we’re going to talk about alto and tenor clefs. Though less commonly used, you might see them pop up from time to time in your sheet music.
by Francine Toder, Ph.D. Absorbing the current neuroscience literature led me to the conclusion that novelty, complexity, and problem solving were the essential triad of ingredients necessary for m…
