The cello (also known as cello) is an instrument that is played with a bow and has a long learning curve to be able to play it well. As you may have already heard, observe how your body feels (arms, fingers, spine, etc.) and think of an immediate goal every time you play a few notes, the ability to concentrate is crucial. If you really want to learn to play the cello, look for a good teacher, go to concerts, watch videos on Youtube and check out sites like cellobello and cello.org
Steps
Step 1. Think about why you want to play the cello
Do you want to be like your friends? Are your parents forcing you to learn? These are not "good" reasons. You have to have a great desire to be a good cellist, or you will have wasted a lot of time, money and effort.
Step 2. Have a goal
Choose a song you want to play, a concert you want to do, a competition where you would like to participate, or an orchestra or school where you want to play. Being clear about this goal will help you to keep practicing, because you will have that motivation.
Step 3. Find a teacher
Ask the parents of your musician friends how they found a teacher, or look in the yellow section. Find at least 3 teachers to see who you like to work with the most, and choose the teacher you feel you can learn the most with and best fits your schedule. Take one of your parents to your lessons the first year, so you can get an outside perspective on your posture, sound, and position when you practice at home.
Step 4. Learn the basic notes and techniques
Start very slowly, because the beginning is the most important part of your learning. If you learn the wrong way, it will take years to fix those old habits. Some bad habits can affect you physically. Please start slowly.
Step 5. Practice regularly (every day) and take breaks when you feel uncomfortable
During the first week, you may need to practice for periods of 15 minutes. Remember that it is better to proportionally organize your practice instead of practicing a lot one or two days a week.
Step 6. Go to your classes and start with 30 minute lessons a week, and then increase the time to 45 minutes or an hour
You can then have a second class a week, depending on your budget.
Step 7. Take every opportunity to play at school or in your community
Step 8. Always practice scales and arpeggios
People tend to focus on what they are playing, rather than how they are playing it, and scales are a good way to figure it out. Scales are a good way to warm up before playing a song. Practice your technique and take some music theory classes. Take exams, this will help you see your evolution and will give you a goal to achieve each month.
Step 9. You can also practice studies (etudes)
These are short songs (look for books by Krane or Schroder, and when you get better, look for books by Popper and Duport). This will help you improve not only your scale technique, but also your knowledge of the bow, vibrato, rhythm, tone, and many other aspects of the cello. In combination with your regular pieces and scales, this can help you improve if you mix it up in your practice.
Step 10. Join a local orchestra
Orchestras are a great way to learn music theory if you are not taking classes, you will also learn rhythm, intonation and you will know what it is like to play with other musicians. If you practice very hard, it will be very rewarding, because perhaps one day you will be invited to play in the main orchestra.
Step 11. Learn the notes and how to get the perfect intonation every time
Learn how to vibrato. This can make a tone sound warmer and more beautiful.
Advice
- Get a good teacher. Someone who inspires you to do your best (it is extremely important that you trust them). A teacher who is kind but doesn't correct your intonation, or asks you to do things you don't want to do, may not be able to help you achieve your goals.
- Be aware that it can take a long time for you to make an acceptable sound on the cello, even for experienced players. (If you've already played the double bass, you can probably learn to play the cello faster; it may take violinists a little longer, and it may take other people even longer.) It may take months for your sound to sound decent. and a few years to make it sound good. This is the cello.
- Do not get frustrated. For a year or two, your cello will creak a lot, and you will play simple songs, which will make you feel like you are not making progress at all. But in a moment your pieces will start to sound better and you will be able to start more complicated pieces and more difficult challenges.
- Have fun! Try to find another cello student who is at the same level as you, so that you can play duets or join an orchestra.
- Use a practice of the week just for fun - just play what you like.
- Make sure you sit up straight, on the edge of the chair, with your feet firmly on the floor.
- Your hand should make a C shape on the fretboard when you are playing.
- Create a chart of your practices so you can track your progress. This will help you focus on a task.
- Record yourself often and save those videos for future reference. Every week listen to your past recordings; you will hear your progress very clearly. Recording yourself can also help you find flaws that you hadn't noticed before.
- Many beginning students want to learn the Bach suites. If you are just starting out, it is important to know that you can play the first suite until the first 5 years of practice (maybe 3 if you are very talented and practice a lot). Each suite is progressively more complicated. The sixth suite is one of the most difficult pieces for cello; there are professionals who cannot play it well. On the other hand, you can learn the notes. It is one thing to be able to read the sheet music, and another to be able to play it correctly.
- Learn other instruments too, especially the piano. You don't want to spend a lot of time on a secondary instrument, but it's good to learn the basics.
- You will need to learn the three keys to be able to play the cello: Bass clef, Do clef, and Treble clef. The bass clef is the most commonly used, but after a few years you will come across a piece written in another key. Most orchestral players need to be able to read the three clefs fluently.
- When tuning, make sure you don't put too much stress on the string. If you do, it will break and can hit you. To avoid this, use a tuner, or turn your face away from the instrument.
- When you start to get bored, start transposing pieces from other keys.
- Get creative with your music.
Warnings
- Rent a cello before you buy it. Ask your teacher to accompany you when you go to buy it, as it is a great investment. Like the other stringed instruments, the prices of the cello and bow are expensive. Remember that new instruments are not necessarily better than used ones.
- For safety reasons, never put your face near the cello when tuning it, as a string can break - stand behind the cello when tuning it.
- Although doing vibrato can make your instrument sound better, learning to do it incorrectly can cause you to misalign your right-hand technique.