The Basics of Cello Technique

Disclaimer: There are many different ideas about cello technique, and different teachers may differ on some of the points given below. I am not trying to do justice to the whole range of possible approaches, but to provide reminders to my own students about principles covered in lessons.

The governing principle of cello technique is to align the body in such a way so that it can perform optimally the tasks specific to playing the cello. To do this we must remain relaxed, limber, and poised.

Sitting Posture

Cellists are mostly symmetrical. That is, our left side and right side should be as much alike as possible as we sit. The basic rules of sitting are:

• Sit on the front edge of the chair
• Feet placed squarely on the floor
• The back should be upright but not rigid

Everybody is built a little differently, so it's difficult to generalize about exactly how to hold the cello as you sit, but here are some basic principles. Adjusting the endpin to the proper length is important. The endpin should be adjusted so that:

• The cello sits comfortably between the knees
• The top, back edge of the cello body rests lightly against the sternum
• The cello's scroll ends up just behind the head on the left side
• The knees gently brace the instrument

You know the cello is NOT in correct position when:

• Your bow hits your leg when properly played on either the A-string or the C-string
• You have to twist your upper body or slouch forward with your spine to play
• Your left hand in first position is behind your head or below the level of your armpit

A key to maintaining good posture is to avoid the habit of looking at your fingers while you play. This causes most students to move the cello fingerboard too far away from the head (so they can get a good look at it), ending up in a position almost like playing a guitar. (This is one of the reasons I don't favor the common practice of putting tape on the fingerboard to indicate finger placement. We should learn where to put our fingers mostly by feel and sound, not by sight.)

Left Hand and Arm

One of the ways in which cellists are symmetrical is in the angle of the upper arm with respect to the body. On both left and right, the upper arm should be at approximately at 45-degree angle from the body. Yo-Yo Ma demonstrates:

The fingers and palm of the left hand should make a gentle C-shape. See Rostropovich's exemplary position:

Notice, also, the angle of Rostropovich's left wrist. The arm slopes gently into the wrist, in what I call a "neutral" wrist position. While this angle varies a little depending on what string you are using, the most-neutral possible position is best. That means that the wrist (almost) never is bent extremely in either direction. As a rule, the wrist should never protrude higher than both hand and arm, or lower.

The fingers should touch the strings (or "stop" the strings) with the meaty pad of the top joint, not the very tip of the finger. The fingers also approach the cello at a slight angle, not exactly perpendicular. The most natural position is for the fingers to approach the cello from slightly behind their position on the string. (To approach at a right angle to the string forces the wrist into a position that involves more strain, violating the first principle of cello technique, to remain relaxed, limber and poised.)

Perhaps the most important single rule about left hand technique is NOT to squeeze between the finger and thumb in order to press down the string. Almost everyone makes this mistake at first, in part because the muscles of the fingers are not well-developed and it's hard to press down the strings properly. Nevertheless, it's VERY important to avoid making a habit of this squeezing. (The same goes, as we shall see, with the thumb of the right hand.)

The correct way to press down on the string, then, is a combination of the strength of the little tendons of the fingers that run down the fingers and into the palm and wrist, and the weight of the arm itself, which hangs below the hand, helping to depress the string.

To review, here are the basics of left hand technique:

• Upper arm at about a 45-degree angle away from the body
• Hand forms a gentle C-shape
• Wrist maintains a neutral position
• Use the meaty pad of the finger to touch the string
• Don't squeeze between finger and thumb (thumb rests gently against underside of fingerboard)
• finger approaches string from slightly behind
• Use the tendons of finger to stop strings, assisted by the weight of the arm

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