วีดีโอ

Brava,Brava,,Brava Julia! So much more clear to me now, I knew I should have started this instrument as a child (missed some important lessons) But thanks to you I am now caught up. There is a cello instructor at Central Michigan University by the name of Jamie Fiste, a TH-camr at cello professor and he has a video about the bow hold which there is an exercise for the right hand index finger and pinky while holding the bow as you demonstrated in this video. Actually, I think to strengthen the third and pinky fingers he has you crumble a sheet of paper into a ball with these two fingers to strengthen them, excellent!

This is very instructive thank you so much. Could you also talk about double stops and chord from the bow point of view? ❤

This is exactly the answer to the question I had asked !! Thank you so much! I can't wait to start practicing this ! <3

Good morning, as mentioned on the recent bowing lesson, I had a Despiau bridge installed which has lowered my bowing action somewhat. What I didn't mention was that my bow hold is also changing (can't seem to keep my thumb bent or should I not?) given the length of time taken to heal the tendons in my left hand. Bowing on the C string means that I have to use the hair flattened to allow just below my wrist to not touch the top of the C space...my question is how many bow holds have you experienced through your cello journey? 🌹

Julia, thanks for the explanation of the detache stroke as demonstrated on the G string. As in other comments, can you please demonstrate on the outer strings (A string and C string) for major retention and understanding. Also a full bow stroke on these outer strings would be helpful as well. Much appreciated! I see you got your French built Strad back, new strings?

I looked for other videos on this. I found this which contradicts what you say regarding no motion from upper arm at the tip. Is this just two schools of thought, multiple uses of the same notion or am i missing something? th-cam.com/video/6Q-rPjlWNlE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=1x1I8uGBg13wh7lE

What I don’t understand is when to use this as opposed to something else . Thanks

For me, the lower arm détaché becomes a problem at the A string. Especially on higher positions on the A string, my shoulder jerks forward to keep the correct angle to the string. I have the (false) impression that my arm is not long enough but then I see people shorter than me play without any problem. I wonder what would you recommend for that?

Please keep on doing these videos! I've only been watching you for a little while and I'm so impressed with your teaching style

Two events arrived to change my bowing action. 1 Malarial infection which has left nerve damage at the back of the righy side of my neck. 2 Change of bridge to lower the action which has dropped my arm and...has left a bizarre fingerboard, which now gives slight forward and backward extensions and makes the Galamian extensions near damn impossible. This was prior to damaging tendons in my left hand (non musical injury) which have taken seven months to arrive pain free.Thank you for this timely advice as I return to daily practice. 🌹

Julia, thanks for these three common causes for scratchy tone. My question to you is what bow angle produces the best tone? What I mean is out at the tip flat hair on the string is preferred vs at the frog and middle bow a tilting of the bow toward the bridge. What are your thoughts on this? Talk about cognitive demands! As a beginner, learning this instrument is kinda like learning a golf swing, so many variables to keep track of! BTW my luthier has ordered a 24 and 3/4 inch spike rod for me vs my current 20 inch spike rod. Thanks for the advice vs the posture pegs! I will try your minus 10% exercise to allow the string to spin. Good tips!

Great video and just the advice I needed to hear. I'm a guitar and Renaissance lute player. I picked up the cello as an extension of guitar and lute playing in terms of tone and intonation. (Turns out, I really love the cello.) The cello - in my humble opinion - is a wonderfully holistic experience in terms of the relationship with the instrument. I'm older - 57 years old (having played guitar for 45 years). I've been working on the cello for merely a couple of months. There is a finesse in each facet of this amazing instrument. In addition to running a law practice, I manage to get from two to five hours of practicing and playing a day. There's a bit of a roundabout from classical guitar to jazz guitar to lute and cello - giving each their proper due. On the other hand, the skills and developing one's ear transcend from instrument to instrument. Perhaps, it's not the time spent, but the goals patiently set and met with practice - and trading rote exercises (the infamous Segovia scales) for letting the music be the teacher. If I can offer one thing about practicing - leave the devices out of the room. Constant distraction is a real problem. As a musician, you are aspiring to do something great. That time is yours. Again, thank you for an excellent video.

Thank you! This is most helpful!

I love how structured you are so. much. :)

I feel you put this together just for me! lol I’ll incorporate these points and see how it improves my sound. Thank you

Thanks Julia for this explanation, Fourier chapters 34,35,or 36 exercises. I will ask my teacher on Tuesday, Also, I have been watching Amit Peleds videos and for the fingers he speaks of pretending to remove your heart with your right hand , holding your imaginary heart in your right hand, and practice a pumping action with your fingers, seems like this would be helpful in practicing your open strings exercise to energize just the fingers and not the arm ! Great analogy of the string with the spike rod and bow!( I am still trying to work out my spike rod issue, My luthier suggested a telescoping tilted rod, $$$) I am putting my strap on a 4 inch block, at the12:05 position for the time being, my neck feels better, no c peg in my neck!

Thanks, Julia. You remind me I probably havent spent enough time just crossing open strings...so back i go to that for a while! A question: i really like the feeling of "driving " my arm/elbow down, up and over for " "down to up bow"crossings but "up to down bow" crossings from lower to higher strings dont have the same feeling and I often feel cramped for room or run out of space/time or cant get the motion moving early enough because my up-bow feels like its fighting the movement. Does this qn make sense to you? Any thoughts? Your videos are always so helpful!

Please teach more songs. You do such a good job on the ABRSM songs

Thank you. Most of this comes out in my play very accidentally in this beginning learning phase I’m in. Meaning, that sometimes I get these different colors not necessarily understanding how I’m achieving it. That then means I don’t have the control of the things you highlighted here. Thankfully I can start to grow with the intentional control and application. I’m hopeful I can learn and grow greatly from this. Lastly, yes these sounds are exact why I love the cello! Thank you

Thank you, Julia - this is very encouraging. I began learning the cello in midlife, already with a music background, but soon realised that my 3" wide hand and 2" little finger were going to be a limitation. I did manage to get through all the exams to grade 8 with decent marks but have always struggled to have consistent intonation so I constantly feel a sense of uncertainty and imposter syndrome! For example the final bars of the Bach suite1st prelude, skipping between the third and fourth fingers across the strings are still, after all these years, unreliable in terms of intonation because of the strain. It doesn't help that my fingers are now affected by arthritis but I'll try your tips and hope that it's not too late to improve my technique at this stage!

Slurs involving notes on two different strings (whether the strings are adjacent or two strings away) are causing me trouble with my Simply Strings repertoire . Also keeping my bow at the frog versus flailing about like an albatross gives me concern during string crossings. I just watched a French film on Johann Sebastian Bach. What a hard life he led, what a Master!

Thank you for this. I am returning to my cello after six months of recovery from damaged tendons in my left hand (not a cello inspired injury). Not yet discomfort free but needed this tutorial to slow down my impatience to get on and do. Scales with metronome sounds good.

So many great tips and yet so easy to slip back to the poor old ways of kind-of-mindless practice. I am saving this video and will put a reminder to watch it again on a monthly basis 🙏🏻

I needed to hear this. Especially the practice without the instrument, as well as learning the piece rhythmically, before learning the notes. I am three years in and my lack of rhythmic skills has always felt like the most hindering factor in my learning. I can play notes of various repertoire, but never felt I can really play music as my rhythm is very erratic. Thanks for exposing the facts and offering some tips. I guess I will allocate more practice time away from the instrument and go slowly, one step at a time. Thanks for caring for us and gently reframing what has to be done ❤

When asked in an interview about the importance of rhythm, Jaco Pastorius, the jazz fusion bassist, quickly replied "rhythm is everything."

Metronome is like the landlord of the apartment I avoid because the rent is overdue. It's time to be ashamed of myself and face up to the situation.

Interesting to see the first year or so learning plan plotted out like that. Following an impulse purchase of a cheap second hand cello, I began to teach myself the basics of cello a year or so before the pandemic. I even went to a term of lessons in a group class at a music school which was good and helped me progress. But then the lockdowns put paid to the lessons and I never got round to restarting. Having seen your video, I'm motivated to resume my cello learning. Thanks for your videos!

Nice video as always Julia, I am self taught so far maybe only six months of taking cello seriously (but two decades of piano and guitar.) Note sounding requires more intentionality with cello, you can just plunk your fingers down on a piano and make a delightful racket, but surprisingly many skills on cello have to be learned as a complete beginner. On guitar shifts on the neck are not even something that requires much thought, on the cello if you don't prepare your hand and landing spot, intonation is gone, lyricality is gone. I have been focusing on shifting, intonation, bow distribution, string crossing, double stopping and phrasing. And getting comfortable with the Tenor Clef (it is still alien to me, takes me 5 times longer to read anything in it.) There is one skill that I am not ready for that I practice, and that is thumb position, I know I am not ready for it, but I am trying to do it little by little so that I can toughen the skin on the side of my thumb. I found that there was repertoire that I could read and play already (some Mozart, Boccherini, Vivaldi, Haydn) but I have put all that aside until I master the basic skills. Some people said Bach's cello suites were easy, but I find them too hard for my level. Only etudes for me right now! Much of my play on guitar and piano is improvisational, do you discourage improvisation on the cello? It has led to some discoveries for me, but considering cello skills are so precise, it probably builds bad habits (especially in regards to bowing and intonation.)

Julie...your lessons have helped me immensely. Took my tapes off...so glad I did. Gaining a better understanding of the cello. Please put more content or do more masterclass videos. You do a good job of explaining . Thanks so much from a self taught adult cellist.

Thank you so much for creating such wonderfully helpful content ❤ At some point coud, could you make a video to teach how to wok on finger/hand shape and position for chords ? As an adult learner I find this extremely challenging, despite having a smaller size cello 😅

I am not having much trouble reaching the notes, as my hands are large, but I have been practicing a bit with the tuner on, and often when I go for, say the f# on the A, it is not perfectly in tune (a tiny bit sharp or flat usually). How can I get better with intonation higher on the neck? Or is it just getting used to the placement overtime through repetition? (I have been using shifting exercises such as Feuillard Etudes du Jeune Violoncellist # 13; my accuracy is sad, but I will keep at it)

I was listening to see if there was a wolf ‘e’ note when you played on the g string but couldn’t hear one. Are there any playing techniques for reducing the effect of a wolf note?

My pinky is 2.2 inches tall. And I injured my hand while trying to use a full size with a technique that never contemplated a small pinky. So, thank you so much. I stopped playing for 2 whole years because of this. You are giving me hope. ❤❤❤

hey Julia Morneweg. I'm 35. I've been playing the cello for a year now. Thanks for your videos. It has helped me many times. That's why I appreciate the time you invest in your videos to help us. I just wanted to say that. thank you and please continue like this. Greetings from the Netherlands.

Having conditioned myself for some years to read my cello music and ensure that I can see the conductor out of the corner of my eye I am learning to play the piano and every time I look away from the music to the keyboard I struggle to find my place 😂

Thank you Julia, very interesting! I am struggling with the issue of finding my first note!! I suppose that it is very important that one is sitting always in the same position and that the 'pic' is stretched at the same length every time??? André

Visual orientation is indeed a tough habit to break.

Thank you! I hope all string teachers of newbies that are debating whether or not to use stickers come straight to this discussion.

Excellent as usual. I think you take great care in all your videos to explain things. I totally underestimated the importance when I started. Consequences soon became reality and it forced putting my playing on hold. Not wanting to lose what I had learned I was forced for about 6 months to play without properly setting up. For that time I played my cello from a completely different position but it allowed me to avoid what the setting I started with that caused my trouble. But I over came the injury and sidelined any surgery that seemed like reality at that time and I’m back to setting up like normal. So I value this lesson greatly. One thing for me now is recognizing taking breaks from just nonstop playing for 2-3 hours. As a beginner that was a big shock to my body at 64 years of age. I’m in good shape so this was truly was a shock. Anyway, thank you and yes injuries are real from playing a cello. 😊 11:28 very key for me now

This mental practice series is extremely helpful, and for me as a cello-returnee a whole new level of the needed mental work. No one told me in the 80's, so Thank You! ☀️😊

This was incredibly helpful, thank you so much

I have been looking all over for this kind of advice. Thank you!

Julia, thank you so much for this posture/setup cello video. I am 6 feet 6 inches tall with a very long torso and am finding it hard to adjust the spike length long enough to get the C and G pegs behind my neck. I use a floor strap and I prefer a steep angle set up. What are yours thoughts about posture pegs where you need a key to adjust the string tuning. I have micro tuners on the tail piece. Please advise, what do you suggest for your taller students?

Great introduction, Julia, thank you !

Thank you. Your video gave me tips on setting up my cello. Since the way to hold the cello depends on one's body shape, I am also experimenting.

Excellent lesson.

Haha. Thanks, Julia. I just presumed you were busy doing last minute xmas shopping! Good stuff..the whole series was a great way to kick off each day of my daily 10 minute cello warmup . Thanks!

Julia, where is your 23rd advent calendar entry, my TH-cam has blocked it?

But I'm worried that my cello might get upset if I try to work out pieces without it. It is a very sensitive, soulful instrument, after all. 😀