Learning the Cello - Learning to Sit with a Cello

- Balance and Coordination - Things to make or buy to help beginners - 

Sit on a chair that is the correct height for you. Your hips should be slightly higher than your knees.

• Think of your whole head as a skull with a beautiful brain inside. Drop the head forward ever so slightly then reverse so the back of your head dips back a little. Go back to neutral, where your skull feels it is resting on the Atlas bone (topmost bone of the spine). Now lift the whole head a tiny bit upward. You may notice that you feel a small amount of expansion in that moment, or you may feel a sense of lightness. You've just elongated your spine.

• Let your entire spine (or you can think of your torso, to lengthen and widen just a tiny bit. Breathe normally.  Don't force it.

•  While breathing out, allow the front and back of your shoulders to widen out of your back out to the sides, instead of compressing inward. 

•  Pay attention to your bottom, (butt, tushy), and feel the comfort of your whole upper body supported by both sitz bones equally.

• Tilt your pelvis forward and backwards, then find the neutral center. Your abdominal muscles will have to do some work now to support this posture.

• Notice the bottom of your feet and if they are helping you to balance.

In a happy, calm manner, sit this way for 2 minutes, trying out these subtle movements and breathing. Now try the same thing for 2 minutes with the cello.

When playing the cello and focusing on posture, play something very short and simple. 

•  Notice if your spine is compressed by slumping. Try to elongate it by feeling a string pulling the top of your head upwards. 
• Notice the tilt of your pelvis and if your tummy muscles are engaged.
• Be aware of tension in any part of the body, especially your jaw and your feet. Notice even the smallest muscles of your hand, thumb and fingers. 
• Practice just picking up your bow. Notice the muscles in your neck as you put the bow to the string. Keep checking that your neck muscles are relaxed as you play. The head dropping forward from the neck is a common problem for cellists. Don't let it become a problem for you! 

"attention to the whole (body) makes the movements of our limbs so much easier and the fingers more accurate. To raise the bow, first of all take care not to tighten in the neck and not to contract the spinal column." - Selma Gokcen 

Read Selma Gokcen's blogs on posture and the body: https://www.cellobello.org/?s=selma&post_type=post