skip to main |
skip to sidebar
After watching my UPS tracking link like a hawk today, at a particular refresh, it said DELIVERED. Thank you to my UPS man for not ringing the doorbell or knocking on my door. They just put it on my stoop and left. Grrr... Anyhoo, I lugged the huge box in and then started to open. I wasn't quite sure how to open the box, so I just started with one edge and cut through the tape with a pen. Then I was able to get one long side of the box open. Contents? Hard case with cello inside. A soft case as well. A cello stand and a tuner. So far, so good, nothing visibly wrong yet.
With trepidation, only because my friend had told me how the one time she bought a cello off of ebay it showed up cracked, I opened the case. And behold, a plastic covered cello. And once the plastic came off, as luck would have it, no visible damage. Whoo hoo! Also inside was a bow, an extra set of strings, some rosin, and a case strap.
Sitting on the stand... I appreciate having this stand already. So the cello came without the bridge being installed. After removing the bridge from its temporary home and removing the styrofoam at the tailpiece, I attempted to install the bridge. I wasn't quite sure where to put it... but then I realized there were little notches at the soundholes where it should go. So up went the bridge.
And here it is, bridge and all. This was before I realized the bridge needed to be moved up a bit. With a brand new bow, I attempted to rosin it, but wasn't having too much luck. I even tried scratching the rosin up a bit with a coin, but it was still a bit on a smooth side to get much on it. After a feeble attempt at tuning (without use of a tuner) I squeaked out a few notes. I have no idea what I'm doing yet, absolutely none. But I was glad to get some horrible noises out of it. Next step? A proper tuning!
Harrisburg arrival sunday morning. So barring any disasters, delivery should be monday! Whoo!
This book's got pages - well over 200 of them. And at a cursory glance, it seems quite comprehensive. In addition to music, there's tons of verbiage and old-school photos. It seems to proceed at a nice pace, and about page 100 starts to get a bit harder, introducing vibrato, more and more positions, and tenor and treble clefs. There's a section in the back strictly devoted to all the scales which I'm sure I'll be getting to know very well. There's also a nice section in the back listing cello repertoire and even some blank staff pages. I think I'm going to be using this one a lot. Having such heft and content, this book put me back about $15 including shipping.
The next book to show up was 170 Foundation Studies for Violoncello Volume 2. This book is a hearty 100-plus pages and since it's vol 2, it ain't easy. Oye. In fact, it's scaring the bejeebus out of me. It's got tenor clef, treble clef, and it just looks hard. There isn't a whole note to be seen in the entire book, which makes sense though, since it's etudes. Don't think I'll be tackling this one for a long time. Something to look forward to... ha! This used book was $7 before shipping.
After watching my UPS tracking link like a hawk today, at a particular refresh, it said DELIVERED. Thank you to my UPS man for not ringing the doorbell or knocking on my door. They just put it on my stoop and left. Grrr... Anyhoo, I lugged the huge box in and then started to open. I wasn't quite sure how to open the box, so I just started with one edge and cut through the tape with a pen. Then I was able to get one long side of the box open. Contents? Hard case with cello inside. A soft case as well. A cello stand and a tuner. So far, so good, nothing visibly wrong yet.
With trepidation, only because my friend had told me how the one time she bought a cello off of ebay it showed up cracked, I opened the case. And behold, a plastic covered cello. And once the plastic came off, as luck would have it, no visible damage. Whoo hoo! Also inside was a bow, an extra set of strings, some rosin, and a case strap.
Sitting on the stand... I appreciate having this stand already. So the cello came without the bridge being installed. After removing the bridge from its temporary home and removing the styrofoam at the tailpiece, I attempted to install the bridge. I wasn't quite sure where to put it... but then I realized there were little notches at the soundholes where it should go. So up went the bridge. 
And here it is, bridge and all. This was before I realized the bridge needed to be moved up a bit. With a brand new bow, I attempted to rosin it, but wasn't having too much luck. I even tried scratching the rosin up a bit with a coin, but it was still a bit on a smooth side to get much on it. After a feeble attempt at tuning (without use of a tuner) I squeaked out a few notes. I have no idea what I'm doing yet, absolutely none. But I was glad to get some horrible noises out of it. Next step? A proper tuning!
