The Cellist’s Journey #5 Life with Sheet Music

'What to play?'

is the topic of this episode, now that we have

1) our intention in order

2) everything we need to get started

3) a cello teacher

4) an idea of how to practice

I know it's a bit weird that I'm talking about this as if you already have a cello teacher, cause why would you be here in that case? I'm here just aiming to give you an impression of how the cellist journey might look like in the beginning.

So.

The common way to start is to acquire a teaching book. There are many of them to choose from. Any of them will get you started, it's hard to go wrong.

I'd say you can browse the internet and get the book that your gut feeling approves of. Any teaching book for a beginner cellist will have the same basic information and very similar first tunes based on open strings, advancing one new tone and one new rhythm at a time.

Here is one publisher, here’s another one.

I love it when a new student comes to me with a book that I've never seen before. And so far I have not seen a book that was better or worse than any other. One that I have is called Abracadabra published by Collins Music, if you want a specific title to start your search with.

As an adult, you might want to find a book that doesn't look too childish, and of course you want to make sure the book is in a language that you understand. If you're interested in playing along with backing tracks, check if the book comes with a cd or a playlist on the internet.

Also bear in mind the possible taxes that are added if you're ordering something from abroad.

I always prefer to use my local music shop instead of ordering online, but shops with sheet music have been rapidly disappearing for the last couple of decades because of the popularity of online stores.

If there's a shop you can visit, you can compare the different books easily, and having a smaller selection to choose from isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I you're lucky, you might even be living in a place where you can buy sheet music second hand. Getting your first book second hand is not a bad idea because your very first teaching book isn't used for a very long time. It really depends on how quickly you understand the basics. You'll be using it for maybe a year, depending on the scope of the book.

If you don't want more paper in your life, you can use an iPad and download sheet music onto that. If that's your preference, it's good to have a pencil you can write on it with as well, cause during your lessons your teacher will help you with fingerings and bowings or other helpful scribblings.

From a teaching book you'll learn how to play the cello with the help of sheet music.

The book breaks it down so that you focus on one new aspect at a time. In the beginning you'll be occupied with open strings, the first position, pizzicato, and simple tunes in c-major, g-major and d-major.

And you can prove me wrong! If your first teaching book presents you with a tune in b-flat minor, or playing in the 4th position, I'd love to know about it. Please send me an email and say which book that was.

If you see the value of technical exercises, I would recommend getting a book by Louis Feuillard who wrote several books on cello technique in a very structured way. His book called 'Daily Exercises' starts with moving between 2 notes at different tempos, then he takes you through the positions one by one. This book can be downloaded for free on IMSLP.org.

IMSLP is short for International Music Score Library Project, and is a site that collects scores that are no longer under copyright, which includes enormous amounts of classical music.

What will you not learn from a teaching book though?

Maybe I can compare it to a cook book. You can for sure make delicious meals using a cookbook, but if you cook in the presence of a chef, your skills will be taken to the next level.

And regarding cello playing, a teaching book can help you get into playing pieces of music, but the book won't comment on how you use your bow, how you use your left hand, or how you can play the exact same notes in many different ways.

After your first teaching book which takes you through the very basics, maybe you want to start focusing on the music that truly appeals to you. You can find collections of well-known tunes, of folk music, easy classical pieces, easy baroque pieces, a soundtrack from a movie, pop songs and so on.

I'd also like to add that you can include improvisation as a part of your practice. The simple glissando exercise I mentioned in the previous episode is an example of that. You have a long fingerboard there to play with, and a teaching book will normally just have you play in the 1st position for a while. In your improvisation you can explore the whole fingerboard as slowly as you want to, just get a feel for how it's like to press down the strings anywhere. And if you let your fingers lightly touch the strings instead of pressing them down, you'll hear the harmonics. You can play around with different contact points for the bow, you can pluck the strings, and play two strings at the same time.

This has been the 5th episode of The Musician’s Journey Podcast’s Cello Special.

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