One of our greatest goals on the cello is to create a good tone or sound. We spend a lot of time practicing to get good tone, discussing how to do so with a teacher or cello-playing friend, and hopefully enjoying the beautiful sounds we create on the cello.
Three factors must be balanced in order to produce a good sound: bow speed, bow placement, and bow weight. (Placement can also be called contact point. Weight can also be called pressure). Balancing weight, speed, and placement (The Big Three) is such a huge part of playing the cello we could never cover all of it, so today we’re just doing a quick introduction.
When you’ve balanced The Big Three you create a sound that is rich and ringing. When you produce a really good sound, it’s clear and focused but also continues to ring after you’ve stopped playing. Not only can you hear the ring, but you can see the vibration of the string. As the bow glides across the string, it begins to move the string in a circular motion – it starts to spin. We want the string to spin and vibrate as much as possible in order to produce the best sound with the accompanying ring. There are some cool YouTube videos that show a bowed string slowed down in order to see the spin. Do a quick search or try this one.
And if you want to do a quick experiment yourself to understand how important it is to balance these factors, try this: Place the bow right next to the bridge and play with a really fast speed and really light weight. You’ll get a glassy, metallic sound. However, if you balance The Big Three by keeping your bow placement by the bridge, but use a slower and heavier bow, you’ll be able to create a clear and full sound.
When first learning the cello, it takes a lot of trial and error, and much concentration during practice in order to get The Big Three balanced correctly. But with time, you’ll be able to hear your sound and then diagnose and adjust whichever factor so fast you won’t even have to actively think about it. One of the benefits of practicing!