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Purpose Statement

My musings and challenges on the subject of cello technique
Hello fellow cellists, teachers, and musicians!

My name is Jamie Fiste. I have been a professor of cello at Central Michigan University since 2000 (time flies!). The reasons I created this site in 2008 and continue to maintain it are...

  • Informational - to share my ideas on cello technique and pedagogy
  • To stimulate thought on how to use our bodies more effectively and/or efficiently
  • To support string teachers by providing pedagogical ideas 
  • To challenge some of the prevailing ideas in cello technique and pedagogy that I believe need to be rethought
  • To provide alternative perspectives that may help other cellists conquer technical difficulties  
  • To provide my students with a review of what is covered in lessons and/or class
  • To provide instruction to those who do not have access to a cello teacher

To meet these goals, on this site you will find articles, videos, technique tips, and recommended resources from fundamentals to advanced concepts. My interest is in careful analysis of technique, precise explanations, and how to communicate these ideas to beginning students all the way through to advanced players.

A major emphasis of this website is on the 'how' of cello playing as distinguished from the 'what'. There is no shortage of helpful printed materials available that a teacher can use in private or classroom settings and many of them are listed on my site. As wonderful as these resources are, they do not teach technique in and of themselves. The perfect sequence of books, exercises, and etudes does not have a magical power to confer on students helpful technique. String students may finish all the exercises and etude books put before them but still play awkwardly with uncoordinated movements. There is simply no substitute for careful explanations of how to move the body with important distinctions made between differing types of motions coupled with movement exercises or action studies. If there is anything I have learned over the years, rarely does cello technique get better on its own without addressing it directly. At some point the teacher is going to have to delve into the 'how'. 

One person that I truly desire to help is the public school teacher. I have in mind band teachers who find themselves teaching strings or violinists, violists, or bass players who teach cello. At one time, before the myriad of education requirements, students had many more hours of training on secondary instruments. Today this is rarely the case. This website is designed to help fill the gap. I hope to give you resources to aid you in your endeavor.

While I advocate a certain approach to cello technique, I am by no means claiming to have the last word; cello technique is far too complicated for that. Nor am I saying that technique has to be identical for every single cellist. I walk a certain way and you walk a certain way. We can both improve our gaits to be more healthy but we will always retain certain characteristics in the way we move. It would be a wooden and dogmatic approach to say cellists need to use their bodies in exactly the same way.

This web site will be continually expanded as I come up with more ideas and information that I think will help. So check back periodically for updates.

So how about we get started?  Here my first article on the foundational principles of cello technique.  Enjoy!


Authored by Jamie Fiste, Professor of Cello at Central Michigan University.
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