Yes, you CAN play cello with small hands! Step-by-step guide ✅
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- Опубликовано: 5 июл 2024
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The Strad Podcast Episode #46: Billy Tobenkin on starting the cello at 25 - www.thestrad.com/podcast/the-...
Billy Tobenkin is a Los Angeles-based cellist who specializes in teaching adult learners. As a professional cellist who started playing the cello from scratch at 25, he is in a unique position to help others, like him, who found the cello later in life. He has developed strategies from his own musical journey to accelerate the learning process, and he is here to share them with you.
Please contact him at billy@adultcello.com with any questions or comments! Or visit adultcello.com
0:00 Intro
2:28 Mindset reset
4:21 Check your alignment
7:53 Find the curve
10:16 Roll the hand
14:44 Release the thumb
This is the exact advice I needed today. I am on Day 5 of my cello journey--just long enough to start thinking, "Maybe I won't be able to play the cello after all." You've given me a step-by-step way to improve. Thank you!
I'm small and I have small hands. my teacher thought for a while that I should play with a 3/4 cello. but I worked around it
Thank you for this video and addressing this issue, Billy. There is an unfortunate conflation of age and size e.g that if one is an adult, one needs to play a full size cello regardless of their physical build. it would be like wearing an L size when you need an S. I switched to a 7/8 cello over a year ago and it is a night vs day change for the better, for me.
I think that a lot of this has actually gotten better of the years, gladly! I learned to play in the '90s, and when I was 13 I was basically told I "had" to play a 4/4 even though my hands are so small. They didn't actually make 7/8 at the time. I guess the "up" side of this is that I can play a 4/4 comfortably and efficiently enough, with how flexible that hand has become. But at the same time, if I started as an adult I would need a 3/4 cello, at least initially (judging on my right hand). There's no use in playing an instrument that's truly uncomfortable, that would lead people to give up and even to injury. I wish they made more 7/8 so there were more options, it seems in the past year they're making even less of them. These days I play a 4/4 that's on the smaller side. There is about a 3 centimeter variation among string lengths on 4/4 cellos, and some do have necks that are a little narrower/thinner.
Thank you for this! I played cello in jr high for a year and quit because it was then that my cello teacher pointed out my left pinky was really small ( just like you described of the young cellist you saw) so I quit playing. I am now an adult learner and I am trying to overcome all the decades that I told myself I can’t be a good cellist because I have an abnormally small left pinky. Thank you for all these steps!
Thank you. Billy.
Thank you ! Great explanation !
For me, too, this was the most excellent timing. Thanks, Billy, for a really good video. I am heading to the cello now to put your suggestions into practice. Onto month 4 and loving it!
Also about the thumb, whenever you feel you dont reach a note or string change, letting the thumb move where it want to go will allow you to reach. Then, next time, when making the handframe for that bar/phrase you put the thumb there, or you just let it move around
Thanks! Very helpful to look at alignment and bending the fingers!
Great tips thanks!
Do you not ever suggest downsizing to a 7/8 or even a 3/4 cello?
He gives great advice, but it can only do so much for people who have truly small hands. It seems a lot of people with hands more in the average range think they have small hands. I definitely would suggest considering it. I know that if I started as an adult I would need a 3/4 cello, at least in the beginning. My hands are very small, but from playing the cello my left hand stretches so my finger span is 5.5", unlike the 4.75" on my right hand. The "ideal" finger span for a full size is 6", even though my left hand can make it work with 5.5". I'd say if you are doing everything in this video and still can't put down all 4 fingers down in tune in 1st position, or are truly straining to do so that's an indication that a smaller cello would be better. Also, your hand can adapt and become more cello friendly and you may be able to play a larger size comfortably as time goes on. There definitely are 7/8 cellos out there that sound like full size, I just wish they made more of them.
Thank you for all the wonderful pieces of advice ❤
What a great teacher delivering very practical nuggets in each video ✨😊
Thank you, Billy! So intuitive and helpful. I was watching a video last night of Rubenstein, Heifetz, and Piatigorsky playing the Schubert c minor trio, and (of course!) paying extra attention to "Grisha." I noticed that he neatly broke most of the "rules" set forth in most method books and by so many teachers, but I also realized that his posture, instrument placement, and hand position were exactly what his 6' 3" frame required. I was also amazed that he and Heifetz, when playing unison passages, were also in the same spot on the bow! Wow!
Thank you!
Very helpful❤
You've done it again, Billy! How do you know that this is what I've been struggling with?! Yes, I have "big" hands with long fingers, but I've been struggling with going from B natural to C natural on the A string in first position, it feels awkward and it hurts when I roll, like there's a "snap".🤦🏻♀️ I think I'm bending my wrist instead of those knuckles. Now I can't wait to try this, thank you!
This is a really good video, I especially find the wrist/hand rolling helpful. It's something I naturally started doing. My biggest advice is to never hold any stretch or tension that you don't have to, and definitely release the thumb. Anytime I'm playing and feel uncomfortable I usually am concentrating hard, and I realize my thumb is clamping on the neck a bit. I still do it after many years!
Also..."stop telling yourself you have small hands" is exactly what I think when I see someone who actually has hands in the average range for an adult mention the how difficult their hand size makes it to play cello. When I look up advice for playing with small hands I find a lot of people mentioning having a finger span/reach of 6" and I can't help but feel they're psyching themselves out, and I will admit that hearing that only makes a person with truly small hands feel even more disadvantaged. 6" is what's generally considered the ideal minimum to play a 4/4 comfortably, but the reality is that some of us (like myself) have significantly less and still can make a 4/4 work. My right hand is naturally at 4.75" but my left has stretched to making a 5.5" reach from playing over the years. I think beginners may want to be patient and start on a smaller cello if this is an issue. Some might want to stay on one, but others may find their hand becomes more "cello friendly". My right hand wouldn't be able to play any bigger than a 3/4 the way it is now. So a lot is about hand function, and actually some people with bigger hands have other issues with using their hand ideally for cello.
Great advice and strategies. So thank you so much. As well as having small hands (not so much pinkies) I have mild osteoarthritis and dupuytrens contracture in both hands. So my hands have some limitations. Teacher doesn’t seem to acknowledge these and insists I use the ‘holding pattern/position’ at this early stage (this is Week 2!). So I’m going with your advice and am going to stick with it. I know my hands can reach the notes but not by having a rigid claw over the strings. I’ll memorise the positions and my fingers will reach them their own way. Your best advice here? ‘There are always solutions!’. Thank you again. Cate
There is a great video by @jonathan humphries where he discuss the 7/8 size cello and that when he made the switch and how he would never go back. I've started looking for a 7/8 ever since
Billy, what advice would you give for someone who has clubbed thumbs on bow hold? I have clubbed thumbs, which means the tip of my thumb is about half the length it should be. What I've found a major problem is that my thumb keeps going too into the gap between the frog and the leather. So I'm constantly having to readjust my bow hold, getting thumb cramps, etc, and I cant get it to feel right. My teacher doesn't seem to appreciate that I might have to use a more "non-traditional" hold, so he hasn't given me any advice or ideas for a way to work around this issue.
Do you have specific models/brands of cellos that you recommend for beginning adults? (Some that are more “student friendly” on the finger board)?
Can you make a lesson for short and obese beginners? I really have problems getting the C peg behind my ear - it’s usually in front of my ear. When i extend the endpin the problem is i don’t feel the cello is as stable between my legs.
Would you recommend using third finger with pinky finger?
Another observation and question Billy. And thank you yet again for such great thought-provoking videos. In your ‘Roll the Hand’ section. When you aren’t exaggerating this to make it clear, it seems you are actually rotating from your elbow. It’s not so much your hand rotating as a rotation from the elbow to allow your hand into those positions. Just an observation from watching this over and over to work out precisely what you are doing.
Yeah, you're moving your wrist and forearm along with your hand...I usually refer to it as "wrist rotation".
What about limited range of rotation in your left forearm? It is very difficult to rotate my left hand to be at least not in a collapsed position due to an injury I had in the past.
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Когда я, ещё учился в школе, у меня была большая мечта стать музыкантом) я, под ✍ся, а вы?.
I would love to hear your commentary on the recent "Paint it Black" by Wednesday Addams. I enjoy this particular rendition. Could you comment on the different techniques seen in the song and maybe even do your own rendition. Here's a link to the one I currently enjoy the best ruclips.net/video/6BHLDYSOLXI/видео.html
my question is, what do you call small hands exactly?🤔
The size of your fingers is meaningless. The Proportion Is important, but even that does t matter.