Cello practice problems

Either the instrument itself has drifted, or your left hand set-up has changed. Check the open strings with the tuner first, then look at your thumb. When the thumb drops, the fingers flatten out and pitch tends to fall.

Learn the distance of a shift with the arm, not the fingers. Keep the bow moving during the shift, and practise stopping just short of the target note. The position bands on the fingerboard display (low, middle, high) give you something to aim at.

As a rough guide, a semitone means the fingers touch and a whole tone means a finger-width gap. The spacing is wide in low positions and narrow in high ones, so do not carry the same hand shape up the fingerboard.

Usually the weight comes off just before the turn and goes back on too strongly just after it. Keep the weight of the index finger constant and change direction with the wrist alone. Use slow whole bows and listen for a step in volume at the turn.

Either there is not enough weight for the bow speed, or you are too far from the bridge. Put the bow midway between fingerboard and bridge, slow it down, and find the point where the string really speaks. It may also just need rosin.

A locked arm makes it bounce. Release the shoulder and wrist and let the weight of the bow rest into the string. The lower half bounces most, so settle it in the middle of the bow first.

Frequency beats length. Fifteen minutes every day sticks better than two hours once at the weekend. Five minutes of open strings and scales, then the rest on repertoire, is an easy split to start with.

Record the same piece at the same tempo and compare it with a month ago. A higher tempo, or fewer gaps between notes, are changes you will only notice on a recording.

The notes that give you trouble in a piece are usually in the scale too. Playing a key through means you stop hesitating over where to put your fingers in pieces in that key. Start with the key of the piece you are working on.

New strings stretch, so they will drift every time you play for a while. If a peg slips back, it is not pushed in far enough: press in as you turn. Use the fine adjusters for small corrections.

Once the winding starts to fray, it is time, even if the sound has not changed. Six months to a year is a reasonable guide if you play daily. Change them one at a time rather than all four at once, so the bridge is not disturbed.

Wipe the rosin off the strings and the body with a dry cloth, and always loosen the bow hair. Storing it tight weakens the camber of the bow. Keep the case somewhere the temperature and humidity are stable.