This Is Where Intermediate Begins!
C Major will stretch you beginners out there into intermediate cellists. For the first time you have to combine multiple finger patterns. The string crossings with the slurs start to get trickier to coordinate. Plus you are using all 4 strings!
Start on the C string, it is the fattest string on the cello all the way on your right. While reading music is a great tool, you certainly don’t have to read music to get started. Either follow along with the written-out fingering below or watch the sheet music as you play along with the video.
C-1-3-4-G-1-3-4-D-1-2-4-A-1-2- then back down 1-A-4-2-1-D-4-3-1-G-4-3-1-C
The way we name, notate, and divide music is probably more frustrating than the Imperial system we Americans and Brits use to measure. If all the notes are natural why are the C and G string notes 3rd fingers and the D and A string notes 2nd fingers? The long answer is that there is this naturally occurring phenomenon where each pitch that vibrates can be subdivided by ratios that eventually came to define the 12 pitches we now know. Musicians call this series of pitches the harmonic series. Physicists call them standing waves. These standing waves occur everywhere that vibration occurs in nature. The ratios of these natural standing waves are not all equal so when we create a C major scale out of the notes in the harmonic series, each successive note name does not represent an equal increase in pitch. A to B is a whole step while B to C is a half step. The simple reality of this asymmetrical system requires us musicians to do some advanced problem solving as we read music.
Pro Tip
As you speed up this scale you may well struggle with 8 notes per bow. If so, just add a pause at the bow change. Your fingers are likely fast enough. Count the first 8 notes on your downbow [pause] then do the next 8 notes upbow [pause] then your next 8 notes downbow [pause] then finish the scale. Eventually, you can remove the pause.
Let’s review the healthy habits that will come with us through all our scales:
- Keep fingers down – as you ascend the scale don’t lift the finger you just played when you place the new finger. As you descend place all 4 fingers and then peel off the fingers one by one.
- Check cello posture – scales are when we can be most mindful of our posture. It is where we build the foundation of all our playing. Feet flat on the floor, cello between your knees, touching at your sternum, sitting straight up, shoulders relaxed.
- Check bow path – watch your bow. Is it traveling straight across the string (t-bow)? Is it midway between the fingerboard and the bridge (forte-freeway)? Has your bow hold collapsed? Is your bow thumb bent? Are you touching the stick between the first and second knuckle of your index finger? Is the hand pronated?
- Check your left hand – is thumb bent (making a “C”)? Are your fingers arched? Are you contacting the string with the fingertips? Do you have a straight EWP (elbow-wrist-pinkie)?
- Check intonation – verify your intonation. Play with the video, use a tuner, watch your hand in a mirror to check that you are on the tapes. Don’t assume, verify.