TUNING – Cello Lovers Corner – Session Two

Presented by Lucie, Ian, Noel and Antonella

In this Cello Lovers Corner Session II, we invite you to help us explore tuning the cello — not just as a mechanical task, but as an essential part of music-making.

Together we’ll consider how pitch is created through vibration and resonance, and how the cello truly sings when it is in tune. Our discussion will include tuning forks, electronic tuners, and the art of listening to those ever-pesky fifths.

Along the way, we’ll address practical tuning skills: pegs and fine tuners, safety, string stability, and environmental factors. We’ll also acknowledge some of the anxieties many of us experience when pegs refuse to budge or fine tuners resist our advances.

We’ll touch on relative pitch, how to recognise when notes are in or out of tune, and how these skills can be honed over time. Because tuning is very much part of playing, we’ll also take a brief scamper through open-string pizzicato, pulse and counting, and – time permitting – an introduction to reading open-string notes on the stave.

There may also be opportunities to share practical resolutions to everyday challenges such as lighting, music stands, seeing clearly while playing and even tuning etiquette.

Please join us and be part of the conversation that will help us all better understand what tuning really involves. Our aim, with your help, is to build tuning confidence – and, through that, deepen your enjoyment of the cello.