Bow

Bows are originally made from pernambuco, from the species of tree caesalpina echinata. Pernacumbo comes from the heartwood part of the tree, heavy, resinous wood, elastic so it’s very ideal for bows.

Nowadays, bows can be made from othet kind of material. It can be made from carbon fibre and fiberglass, fiberglass is cheaper one but the quality is lower. The bow is usually 73 cm long, a little bit shorter than violin bow. The height from the frog to the stick is about 3 cm and 1.5 in width. This kind of bow is about 10 grams heavier than a violin bow

Bow hair is originally made of horse hair but now it’s been made from synthetic hair. It’s become easier now to set the tighten of the bow hair, the cellist just need to turn the screw (frog) on the back part of the bow to increase tightening the bow hair.

Strings

In the earlier era, strings are made of gut, metal or perlon (synthetic materials). Today, strings material has been developed, strings are made of aluminum, titanium and chromium. The open string produce C D G and A tone.

Right Hand Technique

The bow is like the main tools of the cello because it controls the whole system in producing a sound. The bow controls the rhythm, the speed and of course create the expressiveness of the playing. To produce a sound, the bow is drawn across the string in perpendicular direction. The is positioned between the end of fingerboard and the bridge. It is held by all five right hand finger with the thumb on opposite position with the othe four finger.

Some combination factors in using a bow are very important to produce a qualified tone and sound volume. The most important factors are weight applied to the string through the bow, point of contact of the bow hair with the string and the speed of the bow. If the bow drawn closer to the bridge,  the ton produced will be more brighter. In contrary if the bow put closer to the end of the fingerboard, the sound will be softer and more mellow.

Position

The cello is played on standing position while the cellist sitting, the endpin (needed to prevent from slick floor) of the cello rests on the floor. To play it, the cello is steadied on the lower bout among the knee of the cellist. The upper side of the cello against the cellist chest, the cello’s neck laid above the cellist’s left shoulder, and the tuning peg is behind the player’s left ear. The position of the bow is drawn across the strings horizontally. From such situation it’s possible to change the position, it can be set in reverse position since a physical disability of the cellist because the way in handed is not alter the way to use the cello. So that in certain situation, the cellist might need to change the cello’s set up including the string position, fingerboard shape, sound post, bass bar, and string carving.