Cello Run!

We just got back from Pocatello, on a trip to bring my Dungey cello back to cellomaker Christopher Dungey to get its last coat of varnish and a general checkup and tuning. I've had it for 6 months. My Dungey cello will be with Chris for at least a few weeks and will change from a yellow/brown color to more of a reddish brown. Chris said that over the summer he had 10 of his cellos back and that it was amazing to have so many at the same time. He still had 3 of his older cellos in the shop and I had fun seeing how his cellos have evolved over time. The model cello I have is his latest and greatest and will continue to sound better as it ages.

As an extra treat, he had some David Russell Young bows that I tried out. I'm ready for a new bow, and Chris just happened to see David Young not too long ago and had some of his new bows. It was unreal to hear the difference in sound between my current bow (unchanged since my last cello because I wanted to get used to my Dungey cello before buying a new bow) and the David Young bow. Chris kept saying, wait until I adjust the cello and you will be totally blown away by the sound! Even though the cello still sounds pretty great!

He has had the student cello that I had previously for the last 6 months; he took it home with him when he delivered my Dungey cello in February. We had agreed that he'd return it when I brought back the Dungey cello so that I'd have a cello to play. Chris replaned the fingerboard, changed the strings to a different set to get a better sound, replaced the soundpost, and repaired some varnish nicks and scratches. My student cello now sounds really good but I sure miss my Dungey cello.

Our other treat for the weekend was hanging out with Chris and his family, and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. My husband's brother is married to Chris's sister, so Chris is family. How great is that, being related to such a talented cello maker? I have learned so much about cellos from Chris. Plus he gives me a lesson each time I see him :-)

The start of a busy week...

It is the start of a busy week. It may be Sunday, but I have a full work day ahead, with the first meeting starting at 1pm, the next at 3pm, then a full evening ahead when the program that I am working on kicks off at 5pm. I expect to be completely exhausted by the time I get home Thursday night.

But there will be some time for cello! One of the people coming (well, actualy teaching) the program, is a cellist, but she lives in the Boston area. We have talked about playing together for over a year, but the challenge has always been how to get 2 cellos in the Bay Area. This week she has arranged to rent a cello from the same place where I rent the one I have here in the Bay Area...so we are going to play together! Hooray! I picked the cello up yesterday (she arrives today, when the place is closed), and later today will be transporting both cellos from my brother's house (where I stayed last night) to the hotel where we will both be staying for the rest of the week. I am really looking forward to playing with her!

I even brought a bow down with me; I haven't really liked the bow with my rental cello. Last night I played around with both cellos, switching between the 3 bows. It was fascinating to hear the differences between the cellos and the differences in sound with the same cello and the various bows. The bow that is paired with my rental cello is by far the worst bow - I now understand why I've disliked playing the rental cello so much.

The 2 cellos had very different sounds; the one my friend is renting has a much more mellow sound than the one I have, which was set up to be more powerful in the upper range. I'll have to try to mellow out the sound of my rental when we play together, which I was playing around with last night. I think it was a sign of the progress that I've made that I was able to even tell the difference in the sounds and even more to the point, begin to feel like I could control the sound even a tiny bit with my bow. Last week I was waffling about carrying a bow down with me for this trip, but now that I've had the chance to play with all 3 bows and the cellos, I'm glad I did.

I am going to be quite the sight when I arrive at the hotel! Suitcase, 2 cellos, computer, extra bow, and bag of stuff with things I normally leave at my brother's house - definitely not my usual travel light scenario!!!

Beautiful Bow with Unusual Frog!

I'm not convinced that the bow has a very unusual frog. That is the claim: check it out. The bow, however, is beautiful.

Now if only the bow were purple...