Improve these, improve your sound (bow arm habits to avoid)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- Here are the 3 most common bow arm bad habits that I see in adult beginners and the 3 exercises I would use to start correcting them. Personally, I struggled with all 3 of these earlier on in my journey (actually in the exact order that they are presented in this video).
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Billy Tobenkin is a Los Angeles-based cellist who specializes in teaching adult learners. As a professional cellist who started playing the cello from scratch at 25, he is in a unique position to help others, like him, who found the cello later in life. He has developed strategies from his own musical journey to accelerate the learning process, and he is here to share them with you.
Please contact him at billy@adultcello.com with any questions or comments! Or visit adultcello.com
00:00 Intro
1:37 Too little bow, "hot soup"
5:29 Too fast, too furious
9:09 One size fits all
You must be an angel to all adult learners for cello. Thanks so much!!!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
Billy it is a shame you don't have more followers on TH-cam - there is another guy (who shall go unnamed) who seems to have too much ego in the game. What you say about having a great sound is exactly why we are drawn to the cello in the first place. If we don't chase after that with all our efforts we might just as well go the kitchen and bang on some pots and pans LOL
A very VERY accomplished world renown solo cellist plays 5 minutes on each open string every day to coax the best sound from her and her cello! That gives us an idea of how important that is!
Thank you so much for your message, it really means a lot to me! It's amazing what can be accomplished if we prioritize beautiful sound over everything else!
Such helpful advice which I will incorporate into my practise sessions. I’ve been playing for 3 years now but one of my biggest frustrations is not getting enough colour and expression into my sound. I hope it will develop in time. Thank you Billy for great output that I never miss!
I’ve been playing for almost 7 years now and while I make a good sound I always feel like I could be doing better as well.
Happy practicing!
My pleasure, thank you so much for your comment!
Appreciate your videos. Ive played guitar for over 25 years and my wife just bought me my first cello. Its always been my favorite instrumemt and Ive dreamed of playing. Your videos have been invaluable and got me off to a great, acessible, and informed start. So much fun.
Great tips. I remember doing those especially the second mistake. I played for 6 years but quit as I got so frustrated with my sound. My biggest challenge was smooth bow changes and making everything sound connected vs choppy. I do have arthritis so lack flexibility in my wrist and fingers. I understand the idea of how to make smooth bow changes but never seem to actually do it. I’m Just starting back after not playing now for 6 years and I’m basically starting over. I have already improved my intonation but my vibrato is gone and coordination between left and right hand is off especially on anything fast. So sorry I quit and hope others don’t due to frustration. It’s hard to see 6 year olds playing so well while as an adult we struggle. When kids play poorly it’s “cute” but I never felt I could ever play for anyone as they don’t expect an adult to sound bad. If they’ve never played a string instrument they just don’t get the difficulty. Anyway thanks for all your wonderful tips.
I can totally understand your feeling. I’ve been learning Cello for 6 years too. (I started to learn Cello when I was 45 years old.
I’ve been still struggling lots of things 😭
Thank you so much for your message, and I totally know where you are coming from! I'm so glad to hear that you've returned to the cello and I think you'll find that your former technique will return sooner than you might think. Thanks again and happy practicing!
Have you tried an electric pick up on your cello there with an amp? This really opens up my cello bloom with a touch of REVERB. The best description is like a velvety bloom. I experimented with tone and have heard a two tone harmony in one note, or a wonderful growl. The VIBRATO also complaments these tones. Harmonics and or near the bridge gives an interesting effects. I found the electric helps you harmonize with yourself in the reverb. I play by ear mellow jazz music and use scales I've learned over the years and able to fall enadvertantly into the songs after finding home note to each song. This is so enjoyable...the playing WITH songs on my JBL speakers of You-tube music. Thanx for your tips. Blue Dave.
Really learned a lot from this video. It explained alot of what I was hearing with too much of the "one size fits all" bowing that I've been using. Granted I've only been playing for around two years, but my teacher has me on Suzuki 4 minuets and really wanted to try and understand my sound quality in a way that helps me be better with dynamics. Thanks so much!
Thank you so very much for your generosity in sharing your knowledge with us. It's much appreciated.
Thank you for the advice! I've been struggling with producing a good sound.
These are fantastic tips, I'm just starting to get an ok sound on the two higher strings. These exercises will really help
The following is my point of view of physical friction applied to the right hand. The right hand first needs to increase the force in a static manner. Once the maximum static friction is overcome, the bow will start to move. The dynamic friction force at this stage is less than the maximum static friction, so the right hand does not need to exert excessive force. , otherwise it will cause unpleasant sound. In addition, the friction coefficient of the high pitch of the same string is higher than that of the low pitch, so the right hand exerts more force during the high pitch. The low-pitched strings have a higher coefficient of friction than the high-pitched strings, so when switching from the high-pitched strings to the low-pitched strings, the right hand exerts more force. That is to say, the right hand cannot exert constant force, and must be adjusted at any time according to the tune.
Thanks Billy. Having completed your Adult Cello class, I appreciate these videos to keep me on my cello journey. Looking forward to your March Master Class.
Hi Larry! Congrats again on finishing my course, and I'll have the March masterclass up in a the next day or two!
Thanks Maestro, Great advice!!!!
My pleasure, thank you for your comment!
This is very helpful!
Wonderful! Thanks for your comment!
Excellent tutorial.
Thank you so much!
I know how you feel. I started at 59 and practiced when i could and now i am 70 and like you stopped and started again . Now i am retired i practice a bit more but i will never be a good cellist. I also have arthritis in hands thats why i play a 7/8 . It helps a bit. So keep hanging in.
Gratitude
This was very helpful! I've had a problem.playing on different strings. But now my question what if you're playing say a whole.note.on D or C strings or an 8th nite on A string?
Wow, I was practicing this very thing today. I skate on the G and C strings. I can make the F on the C string sound so beautiful, deep rich vibration, but then I lift my pinky for E, and then to D and it sounds like my bow is skating, so frustrating. I did notice I didn't need as much bow on the lower strings as on the higher strings as well. The A string is my nemesis for now, I don't know why. It's hard for me to reach without hitting the D string, even though I'm 5-10 with a 6' wing span. And then the finger board on the A string is another difficulty for my large hand...I'm three weeks in, and I still feel clumsy. When I get frustrated it's time for a break, then I come back and try a different approach.☺️
I had the opposite problem, with reaching pinky on the C string. I’m 5’2” with short arms. My teacher explained that cello is whole body movement, so my upper body needs to turn into position relative to the string. Meaning, I had to approach the string, before contact, with my upper body turned slightly to the right. Understanding was easy, but doing this took weeks of dedicated practice.
@@ToxicJusticeBook yes! I'm learning that very thing. It seems you can't stay in one spot to play well, you have to move, or dance with your cello, which is one of the things I love when watching soloists play, right? I'm glad you're determined to stick with it, it's grit that makes a person excell in any endeavor!
Thanks so much for your message, and I love your attitude! It's interesting how, depending upon how we sit with the instrument, bowing certain strings feel totally natural but others feel crazy. It sounds like your ears are already listening for tone quality, which is great! Happy practicing!
Thx, Billy. Any suggestions as to creating consistent, reliable contact with two strings during harmonic notes?
Hi! If you mean playing double stops (including two harmonics at the same time), I've found it helps to bow a bit higher towards the fingerboard with a good amount of speed. Everything depends upon context, of course, but that can be a good way to get both notes speaking clearly and evenly. Hope that helps!
Hi! I just started playing cello and following your lessons. One question and problem i have. When i run the bow through the note like for example A the sound is very nice but when i put my finger on it with the finger flexibility excersise without even pressing running my bow into it changes the sound into a scarchy sound. I'm not sure if my strings are too losee or what...
I need some massive help. My tone is super good (at least I hope lol) but when I hit the A string my shoulder tends to rise and lately my shoulders been cracking. Even when I remember to slower and relax my shoulder it still cracks. I have multiple cello performances this year and I need to fix it but I'm having a hard time. Can you please help with just working on the A string? The posture that goes behind it?
Hello. I am adult learner with roughly 1 1/2 years under my belt...working on Suzuki Book 2. I have habit #1 and #2...pendulum between as you described, so I really appreciate this video...and the others you have put out...very helpful. I am a former horn player who was semi-pro at the time and the biggest issue I am having (my instructor seems to agree) is that when I played horn it was musical. With Cello it is mechanical. The notes are (mostly) correct but translating what is in my mind into music just seems to be eluding me on a fairly regular basis. My instructor's advice is "Let it go" and things will fall into place. Unfortunately, so far I am unable to translate that into my playing. Any thoughts? Is there a lesson for this? Any help would be much appreciated. Please keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for your message! My advice would be to try singing the phrase while you play. I find that if I sing along while working on a phrase, it helps my bow follow the natural musical contours of my voice. And just to be clear, I'm not a trained singer by any means! It can help release more of the musicality hiding behind your current technical level, wherever it is. Hope that helps!
I wish my best effort sounded as good as your examples of bad sound. LOL
I think I have SCBU :(
Good ideas and visualizations, too much talking and unnecessary words.
Please do not place your bow 2" above the end of the fingerboard. you should never be bowing up in that place