Left Hand Basics on the Cello

My name is Diana Flesner and I am here at the International School of Music. In this clip, we will be covering left hand basics. So, one of the first things that you want to do is basically just take your left arm and close your fist around the neck of the cello. You can even move it up and down, the neck of the cello and notice the line from your knuckle down to your elbow. This should basically, be a straight line or something that water could slide down without any bumps or curves in the pathway. So, after you have done this, you want to gradually move your fingertips across the string. So you can even start by strumming and notice how everything moves as a unit. Then taking the fingertips, you can try tapping them across each string. Again, the fingers should be curved and your thumb moves freely with the other fingers. It s the finger tips themselves that are meeting and making contacts with the string. So, in order to then sure, be certain that your thumb is not gripping, you can even tap it on the back of the -- neck of the cello and you always want to keep your thumb with the second finger. So, in cello this is the second finger. One, two, three, and four, so it s almost as if you were making a C with those two fingers.

So, after you have noted where each of the strings are, you want to basically be certain that in any given position, in the beginning this will just be first position, but later as you become more advanced this might include other positions across the neck of the cello, but basically make sure that all fingertips are available in any given position. So, that means that you can put any finger down without having to make excessive adjustments in the arm.

So, another thing to keep in mind is the angle of your hand. Depending on the size of your hand and your finger length, you may want to angle your knuckle slightly back towards your face. So, this also helps facilitate all fingers available in any given position and makes it more accessible once you start doing things like extensions.

So, the weight of the arm should be applied on -- or the weight should be transferred through the fingers by the weight of the arm as opposed to squeezing or gripping. So, you can find this just by noting that the arm begins all the way down from the back and comes through here. I am feeling a heaviness through the arm as if you are hanging from a tree limb. Another thing before getting started that s helpful to do is again, just trace the length of any string with the fingertips. Again, keeping contact with the fingertips along the entire length of the string.

So, in the next clip we will be going further in depth with the left hand and we will be doing some notes with, learning the notes on the cello and also doing some pizzicato or plucking of the strings.