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

              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. 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...
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Learning Extensions Forward and Backward

                   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. 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 ot...
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Slow Practice vs. Slow Motion 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 n...
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