The Cello Trial

I mentioned in the previous post that I was able to watch a world-class cellist (WCC) try out a Christopher Dungey cello.

First, we were in a concert hall so the acoustics were really good. WCC had her cello and 2 bows. Chris stood ready to make any change she wanted while she played. She started playing and immediately said that she didn't like the sound of the A string, that it sounded 'closed'. Chris jumps in and in a few seconds changes the string. She plays some more. The sound is still not open enough. Chris changes the A string again. She continues to play and makes comments about the sound from all of the strings. She also said she heard a buzzing in the G string and said, is it a soundpost problem? Chris jumps in and adjusts the soundpost. By the time she gets a combination of strings she likes Chris has changed every string at least twice, with 4 strings on the A and G strings. As soon as he found the right combination of strings you could see the delight in WCC's face and hear the sound of the cello open up. Of course, it all sounded amazing to me from the very start....

Then she started comparing - she'd play a short passage on the Dungey cello, and then play the same passage on her cello. When she picked up her cello, you could hear a noticeable difference in sound. The Dungey cello had a fuller tone and had more power, especially in the lower registers.

Then WCC decided that she wanted to hear the cello while sitting in the concert hall. So, she asked me to play the 2 cellos! Terror! Horror! Oh. No. First, I have to say that hearing the cellos project in a concert hall from behind the cello is quite an experience. I played bits and pieces of various pieces (badly) so that she could hear all of the strings up and down each string. I did this with both cellos so she could compare the sound. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the experience of playing her cello and bow because I was so uncomfortable. Think master class but being completely unprepared.

When I was done (and oh I was so ready to be done!) she took back the cellos and gave me a quick lesson. I appreciate the kindness and the suggestions (they were good - I practiced later doing what she suggested and it really helped) but still feel the mortification of playing so poorly in front of someone who plays so well.

At the end of the session WCC also decided to switch endpins, to try his endpin in her cello (I wrote about the endpin in a previous post.) WCC had one of the tungsten carbide endpins (Emily Wright had a post about this endpin). This has happened every time I've seen this - as soon as she put in the ChrisP'IN endpin into her cello and started playing, she immediately said, "wow, this sounds better".

The whole session ended with us going out to lunch (bringing both cellos into the restaurant) and my getting to hear some wonderful stories of musicians, concerts, music, ...