TOWING THE CELLO

posted by James Reel

    Yesterday afternoon I developed car trouble on the way to my cello lesson, limped on to my teacher’s house and from there arranged for a tow to the garage. Not wanting my cello to roll around in the car during the long haul across town, I stashed it in the cab of the tow truck. The driver asked if it were a guitar. No, I said, a cello. He observed that it was pretty small and light for a cello. I soon determined that he had the double bass in mind. This fellow, who was not stupid, had little idea what a cello is. Seems that hardly anybody outside the classical realm does anymore.
    You’ll find the bass as a primary rhythm instrument in all sorts of music, but rarely the cello (even though it was once quite common in traditional Scottish music). That’s changing now, as music teachers are developing “alternative styles” curricula for all string players, and young cellists like the outstanding Natalie Haas are making names for themselves in Celtic, Appalachian and other forms of fiddle music.
    Purists might find the cello’s incursion into non-classical music degrading, but not so. Sure, you can get stuck plucking mindless bass lines in some bands, but the cello has the potential for so much more, not only enriching the rhythm section in novel ways, but also taking melodic turns. And trust me: Really good jazz and bluegrass string playing requires just as much technique as, and perhaps even more inventiveness than, good classical playing. I’m happy to see the cello spread into all kinds of music. After all, it has the most beautiful sound and most versatile range of all string instruments, at least in the right hands (that is, hands other than mine).