Picture Yourself Playing Cello: Step-by-Step Instruction for Playing the Cello

If you want to play the cello, this book is for you! Whether you?re an absolute beginner wondering whether it might be fun to rent an instrument to try it out, a student in school who is thinking of signing up for an orchestra class, or a budding cellist who has been playing for a year or two and is looking for ways to develop a better technique and a better sound, PICTURE YOURSELF PLAYING CELLO will provide practical, hands-on advice that you can use. The easy-to-follow instructions and the numerous pictures and diagrams will show you how to hold the cello, how to use the bow, and how to finger the strings to play music. The book begins by providing a wealth of information that you?ll find useful as you get started. You?ll learn the names of the parts of your cello, how to make sure the cello you?re thinking of renting or buying is in good condition, how to tune the cello, how to replace the strings, and how to hold the instrument while playing. You?ll also learn about cello accessories and how to care for your instrument. After the basics are covered, the book will teach you how to use the bow to produce full, satisfying tones, how to place your fingers to play different notes, and how to read sheet music. Lastly, you?ll find a selection of easy songs to get you started and some suggestions for other cello music that you may want to try. Everything you need to get started playing the cello is covered!

Jim Aikin has worn various hats during his career---as a writer, a cellist, and an electronic music specialist. While in high school, he studied the cello privately with Laszlo Varga. Varga had, prior to that time, been the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic under famed conductor Leonard Bernstein. In recent years, Aikin has studied with Carolyn McIntosh and more briefly with Larry Granger and Nina Flyer. He has played cello with various community orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Redwood Symphony, Silicon Valley Symphony, and Livermore-Amador Symphony, and he teaches cello privately in Livermore, California. Occasionally, he can be glimpsed playing his five-string electric cello with a jazz group. For more than 25 years, Aikin worked on the editorial staff of Keyboard magazine, where he wrote innumerable reviews of synthesizers and music software, not to mention several thousand reviews of LPs and, later, CDs. Since leaving the staff of Keyboard in 2002, he has continued to write about music technology as a freelancer for Keyboard, Electronic Musician, Mix, Virtual Instruments, Drum!, and other magazines. He is the author of Power Tools for Synthesizer Programming, Chords & Harmony, and two science fiction novels. His short stories have appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's Science Fiction, and several anthologies. To learn more, visit his personal website at www.musicwords.net.