The three pillars of a solid BASIC SOUND:

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1. Finger Flexibility (try the windshield wipers exercise at right) 
2. Straight bow (try the table glides exercise in my other blog post)
3. Stick tilt (see the stick tilt section of another of my blog posts)

Once you have spent so much time focusing on these factors that they start to feel easy, you are ready to move on to adding a layer of bow sophistication.

In order to increase your awareness of what your bow arm is doing, it helps to have exercises you can work on  without being distracted by left hand issues. 

That's exactly what this number-based bow exercise below is for.  Think of it as Sudoku for your bow!  It mimics real life bow-usage issues but subtracts the distraction of the actual music. 

Each number in the following grid stands for how many beats an open-string note should be held (in one bow). It will be up to you what tone variables you tweak in order to maintain a beautiful sound.  And that's the only goal--a beautiful sound for each number, whatever it takes. 

Remember, listen carefully. Your ear is your best teacher! 

Of course, there are rules for you to follow with this exercise:
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1. Use metronome (I like 60 bpm)
2. Play loud  (try your best to match the previous bow's loudness)
3. Use whole bow 
4. Use consistent speed in each bow*
5. Change bow without accent*
   
   *rules 4 and 5 are more advanced and can be added as you gain confidence in your control
   
   

At first I would try to play one number and get comfortable with that.  Pick one of the middle strings (D or G, since they don't require a lot of extra work to keep the bow straight like the outer strings seem to) and experiment with the placement, weight and speed until you get a nice tone using the whole bow.

Let's say you start on the second line with the number 2.  That means you would manage the placement, weight, and speed in such a way that you not only achieve a good tone but the second click of the metronome occurs in the middle of the bow.  

Play a bunch of 2's in a row until it feels easy.

Then move on to a 4 (the second number in that line).  Again, alter the placement, weight, and speed so that you have a nice sound, but this time the third click of the metronome should occur at the midpoint of the bow.  

That feels different!  You probably have to move your placement a bit, maybe get more weight into the hair, slow down the speed.  

Do a bunch of 4's then until that is comfy. 

Then try to recall the feel of a 2.  Can you play a 2 and then a 4 in a row and still have a beautiful tone?

Imagine how much your right arm and hand are learning with all this attention! 

Perhaps you prefer to play numbers 1 through 9 in consecutive order so you can make smaller changes at first. That would be helpful.  Then try skipping a number. Then try two of the numbers above. Then add more numbers in that row.  Play any row backwards. Diagonally. Use the Sudoku puzzle in the paper that you finished this morning. Make up random numbers.

​Would lottery numbers work? Hmmmm....

Then once you are feeling amazing about your bow control, add some extra credit:

• Use only a portion of the bow (bottom half or upper half for example)
• Add string crossings so each number is on a different string (crossings sometimes cause inadvertent speed changes)

Above is a worksheet for you to use in your practice.  I hope this exercise helps you as much as it has helped me!

Please comment below and let me know how it's going or what you have found helpful in your fight to tame the wild bow. 

Happy practicing! 

It has already begun.

Sudden Floppy String Syndrome has hit several members of my studio. They have come in with cellos that have completely de-tuned themselves in the case, on the stand, and sometimes right before their eyes.  Many times the strings are so loose that they are hanging off the cello! Pleas for help via text, huge chunks of lesson time devoted to tuning, frustration about not having been able to practice, and even feelings of guilt--all of these are signs that the season of SFSS is upon us, and cellists everywhere are suffering.

You may be thinking: What causes it and what can we do to prevent it from happening to us?

I will answer these questions below and provide instructions for making a little gadget that can help end the threat of SFSS forever!

But first, a quick story.

I was just about to pack up after a rehearsal at my house one winter evening, when someone opened the door.  A sharp wind blew in--right at me--and my cello made a loud pop, like someone had hit it with a drumstick. That one wind gust had dried out the front of my cello so drastically that the wood pulled apart and created a crack--instantly! 

​Luckily I was able to get it fixed, but ever since that night I have been haunted by the knowledge of the power of dry air.

When wood dries out, water evaporates from the cells of the wood and they shrink. This is normal. In fact, the seams of your cello (where the pieces are glued together) are meant to come apart fairly easily in order to prevent cracks in the wood pieces themselves. Usually the contracting of the wood will happen so gradually that the weak seam will come apart to accommodate the warping--and the wood itself will stay in tact.  (I guess this is why they don't use Gorilla Glue on cellos seams, huh?)

Your cello will most likely lose moisture from time to time, no matter how hard you try.  But what we need to prevent is the drastic and sudden loss of moisture. That's the real crack-maker...

...and the cause of SFSS!

To explain, let's apply the wood-drying scenario to your pegs:

The pegs are made of ebony, which is a type of wood. When this wood dries out, the pegs become skinnier. The cells of the wood of the peg box will shrink too. So the peg hole gets bigger, the peg gets smaller, and the whole system loses the friction that it needs to stick in place and hold the string in tune.  So it comes loose and the string unravels. Sometimes all the way. And sometimes all of the strings at once!

When my students have experienced this, the sound post has managed to stay in place most of the time (thank goodness, since I can't fix that in a lesson!), so it's just a matter of tuning the cello back up with the pegs.  

But how can we prevent this from happening?

The answer is simple: HUMIDIFIERS!

There are lots of different humidifiers for your cello. Just do a quick Google search for CELLO HUMIDIFIER and you'll see what I'm talking about! Amazon even has a whole page devoted to them. 

​I won't go into all the pros and cons-- especially since I think you can make one yourself that will be even better--but I will tell you that Stephanie Voss at Voss Violins no longer recommends Dampits since they can damage the wood when used improperly (which happens a lot). 

One cold day last winter, one of my students--we'll call her Mimi (since that's her name!)--came in to her lesson with a homemade humidifier for her cello. 

That really got me thinking about DIY humidifiers. 

I remember my first encounter with with a homemade humidifier was years ago.  My teacher cut two short sections from an ice cube tray, nestled little, damp, ice-cube-sized sponge pieces in the ice cube depressions, and placed the whole unit in each c-bout while her cello rested in its case.  She didn't move the case while these were in it, since the trays and sponges would rattle around loose in the case.

​Mimi's humidifier is simple and elegant--even easier to make than Martha's ice cube trays or my soap box. (After all, not everyone gets as excited about power tools as I do.)  So I want to share with you how to go about creating your own humidifier with stuff you probably have at home. 

When it's winter, you should check the sponge everyday and re-wet when it feels dry. 

Mimi came to her lesson just last week with a peculiar bag hanging from a peg. 

It was another humidifier! 

This time, it's a version that can be nearer to the pegs (even better to prevent SFSS!) and is even easier to make. 

Just stuff a few damp paper towels into a fruit bag and hang it from a peg. 

That's it. 

This is perfect humidifier for those of you who prefer your cello to live outside the case when you aren't playing it. 

Thanks, Mimi, for these great ideas!

​In Atlanta, the air is pretty humid most of the time. But when winter approaches, you can get some very dry days.  A beautiful clear blue sky is the perfect indication of dry air in the atmosphere, so it has a deeper meaning for cellists like us.  When I notice there isn't a cloud in the sky, my thoughts instantly go to my cello.  Did I wet the humidifier recently?  

Even if the sky isn't so blue, the heat in your house can dry out your cello too. Besides making or buying a humidifier, you should keep your cello in the case (unless you need it to stay on a stand to promote practicing) and keep it away from any doors, windows, or air registers in your house. 

Let me know if you have experienced SFSS and what you have to done to prevent it in the comments below. I would love to hear from you!

But first a few common questions....

There are many opinions out there as to how often you should change your strings, everything from "never" to "every few weeks."   How confusing!

Some musicians say that strings go "false" after some time. No matter what is "correct," our best bet is to change our strings when they start to sound or feel weird to us.   

I choose to change my strings once a year. It is especially convenient for me to accomplish this in January since I usually get a set of strings from Santa right before the new year starts. 

Good question!  

Short answer: I don't know!  

It's such a personal thing. Different strings sound different on different cellos with different cellists!

You will have to do some experimenting with different brands and types of strings.

Here are a  few links that I hope will help: 

Good luck and happy 2017!