Cello

stimpsonslostson · October 2021

My eldest daughter has been offered music lessons at school and for reasons best known to them they've decided that a Cello is the thing for her!

It's only just been confirmed & she hasn't had a lesson yet, but I have a few questions for any of you that play Cello.

What does a half decent learner cello cost?
I've been asked to buy a book of sheet music- OK, I can manage that.
Rosin- is there good & bad? It seems variable in price from £3 to £15 for a block.
A "Black hole" spike stop- which I assume is to stop it putting divots into our wooden floors.

How "hard" is a cello to play- I'm mainly a bassist so don't mind 4 string low end stuff.

Oh, and the strangest part to this whole thing... the daughter in question is deaf and can't hear low tones! (I can practice my bass through an amp in the evening & she doesn't hear a thing)
The school know this and yet STILL gave her this instrument. I have concerns, but as she's happy I don't want to interfere.

EricTheWeary · October 2021

I don’t know the answers. I just know that, as a veteran of many school music evenings, the string ensembles were always the worst to have to sit through. You have years of out of tune renditions of popular tunes to endure.

School music services do tend to try to encourage the uptake of less popular instruments otherwise they’d have nothing but flautists, guitarists and keyboard players. So, I slightly suspect they may have encouraged her toward this. My son had free bassoon hire and lessons as no other bugger would play it.

Having said that I like a bit of cello. I’m quite happy with a bit of Yo-Yo Ma or Dave Holland on the stereo gram.

Stratavarious · October 2021

My daughter plays cello (she is a first violinist though)… she is on her second cello now. First was around £400 - a 2nd hand Stentor she used at school age. Popular beginner cello. Her latest, much more.

Do the school have some to try? You can also rent from music shops before committing. Might be worth asking school about other options too.

I’d not worry about expensive rosin or strings for a while. The black hole thing stops it sliding on hard floors too.

DLM · October 2021

Perhaps your daughter will be able to feel the music through the vibrations? The cello might well work for that given its playing position. I'll ask the guvnor when she gets back in from her rehearsal with hers. In the meantime, I've posted quite a bit about cello before on here, some of your questions are answered there, many others preempted:

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/2424/urge-to-have-a-bash-at-playing-a-cello/p1

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/105712/cellos-are-bloody-expensive/p1

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/193026/cello-gas

I miss Sporkers.

DLM · October 2021

Ah, yeah, the endpin will make a mess of just about any flooring, you need something to stick it in that won't slip and you can adjust in length to tether to a chair leg.

VimFuego · October 2021

about 400 to 500 for an OK starter cello, try and buy from a proper luthier so it will be set up etc. Strings for cello are expensive, approx £100 for a good set, so be prepared. Rosin makes a huge difference, again speak to a proper luthier or stringed instrument dealer for the best advice. Is it hard? If it's anything like violin then yes, you are in, initially, for a world of pain. Enjoy.

DLM · October 2021

Usable rosin might start at around a fiver, I agree with Vim: get advice.

Where we disagree is on how hard it is: if you have a good teacher, you can make music together right from the first lesson. If you apply yourself as well, you can get good results. There's a proper curriculum and an established method, with pieces of increasing difficulty, not like buying a Strat and trying to learn Yngwie on day one like many of us guitar goons.

JayGee · October 2021

stimpsonslostson said:

My eldest daughter has been offered music lessons at school and for reasons best known to them they've decided that a Cello is the thing for her!

[…]

The school know this and yet STILL gave her this instrument. I have concerns, but as she's happy I don't want to interfere.

I keep needing to stop, go back, and read those bits again because I can’t quite believe anyone would do that…

Really?

The school chose an instrument for your daughter to learn on her behalf without any input from her or consideration of what she wants to play and what inspires her???

if that’s really the way it happened rather than “they had a bit of a chat about it and after a bit of back and forth suggested that she try Cello for a while and see how she gets on with it…” I’m just gobsmacked.

I mean obviously if a school wants to do orchestra/ensemble stuff then they probably need to offer a bit of extra encouragement/incentive to fill the less popular/glamorous roles but I honestly can see how making kids learn instruments they’ve got no particular interest in is going to end well…

Jaycee · October 2021

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stimpsonslostson · November 2021

JayGee said:

stimpsonslostson said:

My eldest daughter has been offered music lessons at school and for reasons best known to them they've decided that a Cello is the thing for her!

[…]

The school know this and yet STILL gave her this instrument. I have concerns, but as she's happy I don't want to interfere.

I keep needing to stop, go back, and read those bits again because I can’t quite believe anyone would do that…

Really?

The school chose an instrument for your daughter to learn on her behalf without any input from her or consideration of what she wants to play and what inspires her???

if that’s really the way it happened rather than “they had a bit of a chat about it and after a bit of back and forth suggested that she try Cello for a while and see how she gets on with it…” I’m just gobsmacked.

I mean obviously if a school wants to do orchestra/ensemble stuff then they probably need to offer a bit of extra encouragement/incentive to fill the less popular/glamorous roles but I honestly can see how making kids learn instruments they’ve got no particular interest in is going to end well…

@JayGee ; Sorry, poor posting by me.

The school has a specialist music school attached, it's nationally famous (apparently) and feeds several local orchestra.

They DID speak to my daughter about her desire to learn an instrument- not knowing much about anything other than guitars/bass (which I play) she had no strong thoughts on which "classical" instrument she should learn, but given her known hearing difficulties I was VERY surprised to hear she was encouraged to play something in the bass register.

She had her first lesson last week and I asked how it went she said "My favourite note is A, as I can't hear any of the ones below that, but I can feel them." I REALLY hope she doesn't mean the highest open string, as that's the main range of the instrument outside her detection!

Despite my concern, I'm reluctant to interfere as she's VERY self conscious about her hearing (only deaf child in a school of 600+) and we try to tell her that her disability shouldn't restrict her persuing her interests.

They're going to lend her a cello for the next year or so to see how it goes, so that's a relief- we only have to buy the rosin, book and point protector.

drofluf · November 2021

@stimpsonslostson don't where you are but Caswells in Banbury are very helpful we hired and bought my son's cellos (one after the other) form them. He chose the cello after trying various orchestral instruments and chose it because he like the sound the best.

more · November 2021

you can hire a cello for about £40 a quarter . Cellos come in a number of different sizes , so it’s useful to hire one if a full size instrument is too big . Fred Kelly’s , of Fred Kelly picks , son ,Ralph ,is a deaf guitarist. He plays with his dad and has released a number of solo CD’s

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