the case arrives...

My case, ordered at a great price from Southwest Strings, arrived today. It is dark blue on the outside and burgundy on the inside, a combination I didn't expect to like, but the outside is so dark that it looks black, and it really is exquisite, plus it will protect my baby when it gets here, so I love it. I tore it out of the box immediately, opened it up and caressed the velvet interior and breathed in the glorious smell of newness. It's standing across the room, drawing my attention constantly, making me ache for the cello to get here so that I can meet it, play it, start my journey into the world of rich string music.

For anyone out there looking into buying a cello, I wholeheartedly, and without any reservations whatsoever, recommend that you buy your cello from www.cellos2go.com. I have been emailing back and forth with Ellen, the propriatress, and she has been so amazingly helpful and informative through the entire process, and I really feel like I am getting the best cello I can afford, and it will be set up for the most ease of playability and the sound qualities I am going for. From the research I've done, their reputation for awesome knowledge and service goes back at least a decade, and I can definitely see why. Assuming things continue on their current trajectory, which I can only assume they will, I doubt I will ever buy a cello from anyone else.

The cello we've decided on in the Scott Cao 017. I played a used one, 3/4 size, at my local music store, and found that it was easy for me to get a consistantly beautiful sound out of it. I'm sure mine will be even better, having gone through such a top notch, professional dealer, so I'm really excited. Cao instruments have won numerous awards, and particularly in the student range they are known for their exceptional quality for the price range. This is, of course, a research opinion and not an experience opinion, so take from that what you will, but I'm confident it will serve me well. My future teacher is going to help me evaluate it, but I don't expect to be disappointed. We've decided on the 7/8 size, at least for the initial evaluation, because I have small hands (when I played the electric bass, it was a serious stretch for my hands), and I think it will make it easier for me to develop endurance and get fatigued less easily.

For a bow, I've decided against wood because I cannot conscience buying a product made from rain forest wood. I don't mean that to sound judgemental, it's honestly not, but as a student of primatology, I would be a pretty sorry proponent of conservation if I paid for a product made out of a tree that takes centuries to grow. We are looking at composite bows instead, and since those are increasing in quality all the time, I'm convinced it won't have too big of an impact on my playing, especially since I am just a beginner anyway.

I have wanted to play the cello for years, and since this is a year of great growth and development for me, now seemed like the perfect time. I don't care if I never play professionally, but it has such a rich, warm, enveloping sound and I can't wait to really work at pieces of music and invest myself into playing them well, giving them life and spirit in a way that I never quite felt when playing my other instruments. The cello is so much more of a physical process than a woodwind, you wrap yourself around it and become a part of the instrument, it's so much more intimate, at least in my opinion.

I can't wait to get started!