Andrew Victor

I think you can gain a perspective by Listening to different interpretations by "master players reading books or articles by or about the interpretations bofmaster players and thus developing your own approaches to interpretations. One interesting book is"Szigeti on the Violin" that presents his approaches to a range of violin pieces. Roy Sonne (retired Pittsburgh Symphony first violinist) has several demonstrations on YOUTUBE. His approach to the Accolay Violin Concerto is one of them (originally a DVD at SHAR) is an interesting approach to developing an interpretation by imagining the music as a scenario. This is an approach that I had started to use on other music even before I encountered his demonstration of it with this student concerto.

Google "parchment violin bridge protector" one of these can compensate the damage already done to your bridge's E-string groove.

In my opinion, when you are having pain problems in either hand IS NOT the time to change your approach to right or left-hand posture. If you MUST play under painful conditions it is time to use any hold that can work for you. Sometimes one has a commitment to play and you need fallback plans. There is nothing I have had to play in ensemble that I could not do as described below although it might not work well for a solo performance. For me, when the result of aging started to take over my right hand in various ways I found that bowing with my thumb under the frog was one way to compensate for various bowing problems. I often have to start that way, anyway. I can move my thumb from that position to a conventional one or the reverse in a split-second; in fact sometimes with no break in sound production at all. A hand massager might provide some relief - I bought mine from Amazon a year ago. It has helped.

I should add that I have always found it counterproductive to keep my thumb on the cello neck when vibratoing - except when it isn't!

I hate them, they are a damn nuisance and may jut into your neck uncomfortably.

You should get a good idea by examining some back issues. The papers therein should cover a wide range (it has been some years since I belonged to the VSA).

I have both a Wenger Cello Chair and an Adjustrite. I have used the Wenger at home for 20 years. I bought the Adjustrite a few years later to have a chair that fit me for cello playing at away string quartet dates. They both work fine. The advantage of the adjustable Asjustrite chair is that its height can be adjusted to fit the player and the seat can be sloped properly for the cellist. I play violin, viola and cello sitting in either chair. For away chairs (z.b., orchestra) I carry an added cushion.

YES! Be careful. I have seen a bow stick crack and fall apart in an orchestra rehearsal because the room was too dry. Monitor your bow carefully and frequently while you play in that room and loosen it accordingl Also check your bridge. (:-)

Alto, To the contrary, I have never found a shoulder rest to spoil the sound of a violin. It depends on a number of factors,, but if the SR brings the violin surface closer to your left ear it will likely sound louder and better. Played in cello position I have found no difference in sound with or without various SRs.

If the holes were not too large I would go for Wittner or Knilling geared pegs that would fit rather than bushing to fit smaller diameter friction pegs.

An experienced cellist would finger some of this a bit differently (at least from time to time). For intonation It's not the finger (or even the string and position) you choose to use that matters, but where it is on the cello and why you choose it. This needs some time with a teacher. Without such face-to-face time all I can suggest is to try playing each of those passages every way you can think to do them. What I will say is that one can play all the notes within the lowest octave of all 4 strings using just the first (I) and fourth (IV) positions but there are reasons to also use the 2nd and 3rd positions and these snippets provides a mini-introduction to that Observe the key signature and finger spacings!

Sound should be improved if you remove the tuners from the tailpiece. Oh! - AND TAKE THE MUTE OFF THE BRIDGE!!

I discovered STRINGS mag in 1996, a year after I had moved to San Rafael Iand learned their office was just one mile from my home. I have subscribed ever since and played music with some of their employees including the publisher, David Lusterman - he and I played the cello parts of the first movement of Schubert's great C major string Quintet because I was leaving an orchestra rehearsal in which I had played violin and just happened to be passing the room in which they were about to rehearse it and the other cellist who was there was not up to the task - so I borrowed his cello and did it. That was many years after I had started subscribing to STRINGS. I have subscribed to The STRAD since around 1970.

About half-and half: half bend and half leaning, maybe 10 degrees each (just eyeballing the magnified image).

I've been messing with tuning pegs on my instruments since 1938. I "endorse" the "geared pegs" approach (having installed 14 sets of pegs in my and the rest of my family members instruments [2 violas, 3 cellos, and 9 violins]). I undertook this project over a period of several years starting over 15 years ago when arthritis started to cause me painful tuning problems. I have installed Peghed, Knilling and Wittner geared pegs and never regretted it. I did the work myself and bought the reamers (different sizes for violin/viola and for cello) and and "electronic" micrometer from Amazon. The first thing you have to know is the smallest peg-set diameter to purchase to fit your existing peg holes by using the micrometer to measure the current peg diameters at the peg box surface - the peg set you buy must not be smaller than any peg now on that instrument but it should not be much larger. My only warning is that a novice (such as myself or you) should carefully investigate the process and think through every step before buying the necessary tools and pegs and think through every step multiple times before cutting anything ("measure twice and cut once" - is the mantra) - personally I measured thrice or more for each set. In fact I bought a cheap fiddle to try it all out on before starting to cut any of the family instruments.