Saturday, January 31, 2015

Arco or Pizzicato…Just Strum It!

Arco or Pizzicato…Just Strum It!
by: Radhanath Thialan

            What is a Cello? Have you ever seen or played a cello?  Even if you have not, I can assure that the classical guitar is more familiar to you.  The cello is commonly mistaken for ‘the big violin’ or a double bass.  Playing a musical instrument benefits an individual in many aspects, from increasing the memory capacity in our brain to relieving stress. “Learning to play a musical instrument has definite benefits and can increase IQ by seven points, in both children and adults,” said Lutz Jäncke, a psychologist at the University of Zurich (Alleyne).  Given an option, which string instruments would you choose, the guitar or the cello? Playing the classical guitar and the cello can benefit the player in many ways, but there are a few options one will want to consider before acquiring either one of the instruments.

            Cello and the classical guitar are from the string family, meaning they use strings to produce sound.  Both of these classical instruments are made of various types of high quality woods, and the price of these instruments is determined by the choice of wood used.  Besides, two of these classic string instruments come in various sizes to enable little players having a chance to start early, in becoming the star of tomorrow.  These string instruments produce addictive sound when played well and are often seen in modern orchestras.  The guitar was only introduced to the orchestra in the twentieth century, whereas the cello was introduced during the Renaissance period (1520 - 1600), which presented in Chamber music that was not intended for church and theatre.  Even though they have much in common musically, there are some big differences in their prices, difficulty level in learning the instruments and their portability. 

            The beauty of the elegant, hourglass shaped cello is nice to look at and produces amazing sounds when the player bows the strings with correct technique.  The cost of owning the cello compared to the guitar is vastly different.  The cello may look and sound seductive, but the price of purchasing and maintaining it will not be as inviting when you are considering your wallet.  A single string of the cello can cost as much as five times the price of a full set of the guitar strings of six.  Cello cases and all other accessories will always be more expensive than the guitar of the same quality.  It is also more costly to take cello classes as compared to classical guitar because cello is considered a rarely studied instrument.  When equating the two instruments’ prices to cars, a good cello will be the price of a BMW seven series, while the guitar of equal quality will be the price of a BMW three series, a difference of almost seven thousand dollars. 

            Learning to play the guitar is way easier than learning the cello as there are frets on the fingerboard to distinguish the different notes.  The cello, on the other hand, has no frets on its charcoal black fingerboard.  Musicians are required to have perfect pitch to play the notes correctly and somehow memorize the positions on the fingerboard.  Furthermore, playing the cello can be uncomfortable as it is to be placed in the correct position between your thighs.  In addition, you will have to coordinate your hands by bowing its horsetail-hair made bow in order to produce the mellow, doleful sound of a cello.  Holding the bow and learning the correct bowing technique itself can take you weeks to perfect. This is due to bowing the strings in certain strength and angle is required in order to produce different tone quality, which is coming out from its beautifully carved ‘f’ sound holes.  As a matter of fact, guitars do not have to be bowed but easily plucked or strummed to produce its romantic, cascading tone.  The volume can be adjusted by applying different weight of our fingers, while giving the strings a few strokes and sounds will be produced and amplified through its round, smooth-edged, sound hole.  The classical guitar is able to play various types of songs from Classical to Spanish or even pop music, whereas the cello mainly produces tones suitable for Classical or Jazz music.

The well-structured size of the guitar makes it a portable and playable string instrument worldwide.  Have you ever seen people having a sling on the cello to their back, strumming that bulging instrument?  The heavy weighted cello and its huge size, however, makes it less portable and space consuming when traveling.  Therefore, it is more common to see travelers bringing their guitar around because there will be an extra fee to check in a cello.  Guitars in average weigh about 10 pounds while the cello normally weighs more than 25pounds.  Extra care has to be made when handling the cello because with a little shift or jerk on the bridge or the sound post in the cello will have significant effect on the resonance produced.  Moreover, the thick strong strings on the cello make it harder to tune. Unlike the guitar, it does not need any pressure while turning the pegs when tuning.

            The two finest instruments listed above surely have some aspects in common and differences to be aware of.  If an individual wants to pursue either the cello or the guitar, one should make sure that they are financially capable in paying the fees, that will increased with every higher grades; know your level of patience and persistence plus the genre of music that is in your favor, so as portability wise.  It will be a waste if an individual just placed such a well-carved classical artwork in the living room, or anywhere as a matter, to lay dust and not allowing it the opportunity to reveal its finest secret - musical tone. 




Work Cited

Alleyne, Richard. "Playing a Musical Instrument Makes You Brainier." The Telegraph.     Telegraph Media Group, 27 Oct 2009. Web. 13 July 2014.             <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6447588/Playing-a-musical-     instrument-makes-you-brainier.html>.





















  




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