Ah, the cello. An instrument of unsurpassed beauty. An instrument that is so close to the tone and range of the human voice. An instrument that millions across the world have fallen in love with. But what about the player behind the instrument? What is going through their head while they are playing? Here’s a short collection of great cello memes to keep you going through your practice sessions!
1. This first meme is how most of us feel talking to the non musician.
How many times must we go through this? How many times do we have to correct the lay person and teach them that we are playing the cello. It really seems like a “duh” moment for us and other musicians, but to so many of the regular populace we deal with this! Even some musicians don’t know what to call our instrument! I’ve gotten bass, big violin, guitar, big ukulele (WHAT?!?!), etc. Sometimes we just have to take the time to educate these people and help them fall in love with the sound and beauty of our instrument!
2. While our instrument is beautiful, why is it the only song people want to hear is Pachelbel’s Canon??? And why can’t they spell his name correctly?
Every day, “Do you know that song? That song that we hear at weddings? It goes like this….” And then they hum the song that we know and dread. A lot of people don’t know the name of the song, and when we finally figure out what they want to hear, we get to play eight notes, fifty-four times. Finding a different arrangement of Pachelbel’s has been something I’ve been working on for a long time. WE NEED THE MELODY!!!! And we can never escape the sound of Pachelbel. Listen to pretty much every pop song out there and you can hear the same chord progressions used in Canon in D.
3. Speaking of quartets, do you ever feel like this?
A lot of cellists I’ve spoken to have a very similar feeling towards violinists. We love playing in quartets. It is one of the most fulfilling things that we can do and provides so much of our repertoire. But why is it that so many violinists often feel this entitlement? Is it due to being most prominent in the quartet due to the high pitch or melodies given? Finding good violinists is a challenge. (And I apologize to the violists out there. We love you. We know that you are fighting the same battles as us!) Finding the right string quartet literature to help showcase your skills is hard, but doable! Check out the Dvorak American string quartet #12, op 96, Haydn Op 20, #2 in C major, #4 in D major. Hindemith’s third string quartet, op 22 also has a great cello solo in it!
4. And speaking about solo repertoire! Solo repertoire and finally getting to showcase our skill as the main person on stage. Then someone comes up and says they aren’t a fan of what you are playing.
People have their opinions. I love the Elgar cello concerto in E minor. But many cellists feel it can be overplayed. You don’t need those people in your life. I feel the Elgar showcases so many techniques and allows us to really be expressive. Those first opening chords are so powerful and mournful. This is often the concerto that makes people feel that the cello is so close to the human voice.
5. But to play our pieces, we have to deal with how many clefs????
Dealing with bass clef first, then moving to tenor clef, and treble clef (and rarely others) is such a chore!!! Make sure that you have checked, double checked, and then triple checked which clef you are playing in! So many times we are playing along thinking we are in the right clef and we are actually in tenor clef four measures ago! Argh!!
6. And this is why we practice so much!
Doesn’t matter what time it is. Our varied repertoire, our sound that we have fallen in love with, how many different pieces we have to take care of. From Bach, Elgar, Shostakovich, Mozart, Rachmaninov, and so on. We have so many styles and time periods to pick from. You can do just about anything with the cello. So find your style, find your music, and keep practicing.
So finally, remember why we do this. Why we practice the days away to get better. Music is our life and our passion. We need to hear it, feel it, and many people don’t understand what music and playing means to us. So keep practicing. Keep performing. Keep loving the instrument. And when the time comes, show everyone around you what you can do to help them realize that there is something that can bind us together and make us all feel the power of music.
Jonathan Todd