This has probably been dealt with before but what causes my strings to screech when I'm playing, mainly the D and A string.
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 Paul
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screeching strings |
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New CelloChatter
Posts: 9 11/06/09 20:42:26 |
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Bob |
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 2843 11/06/09 21:34:37 Supporting CelloChatter |
You probably need different rosin. If that doesn't work, try getting different strings. If that doesn't work, come back and ask for playing tips
here; then follow them to the letter.
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KayZee |
Same old Bob | #2 | ||
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 1076 11/06/09 22:06:56 Reticent CelloChatter |
Bob wrote: Can... not... stop... laughing. Bob you're a treasure. Don't ever change. Kurt |
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Ellen Cello |
LOL!!! | #3 | ||
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Posts: 138 11/06/09 22:49:10 |
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JFitzpatrick |
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Active CelloChatter
Posts: 331 11/07/09 05:23:36 Active CelloChatter |
Ellen Cello wrote:  I needed a good laugh this morning
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karenlee |
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 1001 11/07/09 07:11:11 Supporting CelloChatter |
Just a thought. Normally these guys do try to be helpful. It must be that Halloween trick or treat spirit. -Karen |
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ThorSG |
Fake Bob? | #6 | ||
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New CelloChatter
Posts: 9 11/07/09 07:48:27 |
The REAL Bob wouldn't suggest someone ask for playing tips on the message boards, let alone follow them. "Better go get yourself a proper
teacher", that's the ticket!
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karenlee |
Let s/he who plays screechless cast the first rosin cake | #7 | ||
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 1001 11/07/09 08:06:15 Supporting CelloChatter |
I would hope the real Bob and others would not post that way, but the alter-egos in pixil-land sometimes behave in opposite manner. Kind of anti-manner.
I've been there, done that myself.
Last Edited By: karenlee 11/07/09 08:08:35.
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chiddler |
A straight answer | #8 | ||
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 866 11/07/09 08:09:54 Supporting CelloChatter |
Paul, there's just too many possibilities, and the question too vague. While someone could go through a dozen or more things that could cause "screeching", they would be wild guesses without sufficient trustworthiness. You're a relative newcomer, and was treated rudely. I apologize for us.
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Andrew Victor |
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 4223 11/07/09 08:29:37 Supporting CelloChatter |
As indicated, it's not possible to tell you "what" to do without seeing you do it.
I started a new (to me) student a couple of weeks ago, who had had 2 prior years of lessons that ended 6 months ago. While she didn't screech, she did have that awful grinding sound. I tried her cello and bow to be sure it was not an equipment problem. Her strings did need cleaning, but the real problems wre related to what she did with her left hand, her right hand, and the extension of her endpin. (By the way, she did "clean" her strings everytime she put the cello away, with a cloth, wiping it lightly. You have to rub the strings longitudinally hard enough to make them squeak and do it until the noise stops. And from time to time it helps to clean them well enough to get the rosin out of the grooves in the windings - a time at which more people than necessary replace their strings with new ones.) It is reasonable to think that your problems may derive from the same sources (left and right hand) and that only by having someone who can watch you and "adjust" you will you cure the problem and understand why. However, screechy often comes from the bow sliding up and down the string while bowing ("crooked bowing"). Some aspects can be related to the left hand fingers not actually stopping the string vibration sufficiently. But the technique issues that lead to these problems are more fundamental. Andy |
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fender |
Thanks to Andrew | #10 | ||
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Active CelloChatter
Posts: 120 11/07/09 16:40:33 |
Andrew's answer has been a help to many of us, besides Paul.
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Lenore |
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Active CelloChatter
Posts: 143 11/07/09 21:54:32 |
To be fair, Paul registered with this forum almost a year ago. Even though he hasn't posted much in that time, it's highly likely he's been around
the block enough to get the joke.
To offer another straight answer regarding Bob's reply (even though it's a bit like explaining the punchline, John Kerry style), there are quite a few times where people on this forum take it upon themselves to diagnose extremely specific problems based on someone's two paragraph description. It's not at all unlike hitting up WebMD and self diagnosing various diseases. If you haven't tried it before, you should hit up that site and discover how many problems you have and never knew about (based on reading descriptions of symptoms and applying them to yourself). Depending on how I'm feeling, I could have a serious heart condition, probably three kinds of cancer, poor circulation, and I'm pretty sure if I don't seek medical attention right away I will probably be dead by morning. Just look at the I&E board to see just how seriously some people take their choice of strings and rosin. If those were the cure for technical problems, then I think musical instruction would have gone in a different direction a while ago. |
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897Apple00 |
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New CelloChatter
Posts: 2 11/08/09 03:17:13 |
It's serious.
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four strings |
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Active CelloChatter
Posts: 182 11/08/09 03:59:12 |
Lenore wrote: Based on my personal experience, I think things go a bit different on my country. If I've asked for a special brand of strings or rosin on the most common string shops on my citty, they were not available at the moment. Most of the time these shops work with three or four string brands (crown, jargar, larsen...) and the same for rosins. I thought this is so for two reasons mainly. The first is that the market here is somehow more limited than for example in USA and second is that when dealing with a problem (like a screeching string) although they take into consideration the cello equipment it is only a 30% of the solution being the 70% the cello skills. I often get astounded when I read some rosin threads with so many many different rosins mentioned. Nowadays I think most of them are good enough to do what a rosin is supposed to do (grip the string) and a screeching sound could be due to many different factors as applying to much weight on the string, not properly holding or pulling with the bow, oversosining it,strings not well cleaned, and so on.
Last Edited By: four strings 11/08/09 04:01:48.
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robjeny |
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 1930 11/08/09 08:16:15 Supporting CelloChatter |
I buy strings and rosin through the mail, usually purchasing online from supplier web sites. Even with the many busy dealers/luthiers in the Chicago area,
there is little choice for rosin and strings in the actual shops.
Robin
"Art isn't meaningless. It is in itself. It isn't in that it tries to make life less so."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and The Damned.
Last Edited By: robjeny 11/08/09 08:19:03.
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raspritz |
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Posts: 1138 11/08/09 09:05:53 Supporting CelloChatter |
Andy said:
"However, screechy [sic] often comes from the bow sliding up and down the string while bowing ('crooked bowing'). Some aspects can be related to the left hand fingers not actually stopping the string vibration sufficiently." I think that Andy is essentially correct. Given that, it's a bit difficult to understand his enthusiasm for the figure-8 bowing gibberish over on the "Tension and Relaxation" thread, which for all but the most advanced students is a guaranteed way to achieve crooked bowing. |
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Bob |
that ain't all, rasp . . . | #16 | ||
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 2843 11/08/09 13:51:29 Supporting CelloChatter |
He's also correct about the effect of insufficient finger pressure on the string, in direct contradiction to the oft-stated commandment from one of his heroes.
Last Edited By: Bob 11/08/09 19:14:56.
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Andrew Victor |
2 x "Vic" | #17 | ||
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 4223 11/08/09 16:54:23 Supporting CelloChatter |
I think some people (not Bob) are confusing me (Andy Victor) and my enthusiasms,with those of Victor Sazer. However Sazer IS one of my heros. However, I do
"interpret" for myself what he has written to adjust what I might otherwise do; however I am not a bible thumper, not any bible, even Sazer's.
And Bob, I did say "insufficient pressure," I'm sure Sazer never advocated insufficient pressure - just not excessive pressure, which wrecks the
playing of too many cellist wannabees.
Regarding "figure 8 bowing," I see it as a description much too easy to misinterpret, but I see a lot of bowing (especially direction changes near the tip among some of some current great violinists) that might be described that way. If you can't quiet your bow change any other way, it can help - especially on bad days in one's mid 70s. Andy |
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chiddler |
Misinterpretation, perhaps? | #18 | ||
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 866 11/09/09 07:18:36 Supporting CelloChatter |
I think you're misinterpreting Mr. Sazer's instructions. The rotation around the string is within the plane that is perpendicular to the string.
As cellokenno has pointed out, it does provide some mechanical advantage, although it seems to me the advantage is very small except on up-bows on the C-string and down-bows on the A-string. On up-bows at the tip on the C-string, the mechanical advantage can be quite significant. For me, the practice makes it easier to touch the wrong string. Also, because I don't find playing at the tip all that difficult yet, I don't do the the rotation, except sometimes on the C-string for extra articulation. But someday I might change my mind on it, so it's best to keep an open mind.
Last Edited By: chiddler 11/09/09 07:23:02.
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raspritz |
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 1138 11/09/09 08:18:26 Supporting CelloChatter |
Terry, I think that I understand perfectly. Please pay attention to the last clause I wrote, "which for all but the most advanced students is a
guaranteed way to achieve crooked bowing."
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TtheCellist |
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Reticent CelloChatter
Posts: 1000 11/09/09 14:39:22 Supporting CelloChatter |
Given that Bob has a point...
I find that there are typically 2 reasons for "screeching"; 1) not getting the string to the FB particularly in the higher register (when we're concentrating we tend to let up on the pressure of pulling the string to the FB), and 2) catching one of the adjacent strings just enough to get it to screech. Watch your bow angle (most times we think the angle is more than is necessary) and be sure to bring that string to the FB all the way even when using the thumb. Bob...LOL. Terri
"When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice - my voice." - Rostropovich
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