The cello’s rich, glossy tones are sublime and comparable to the range of the human voice, making it a remarkable instrument. Even if it takes some time and effort, playing the cello is an enjoyable activity that offers benefits for the rest of your life. Learning to play this beautiful instrument can benefit students of any age, including future-oriented skills and the development of cognitive advantages.
Understanding the Cello as a Music Instrument
Violoncello is an Italian word that means “little big viola.” The word “cello” comes from that word. Like its relative violin, the cello developed in the workshops of eminent instrument builders like Andrea Amati, Gasparo da Salo, and Paolo Maggini in the mid-1500s from the earlier viola da braccio and the viola da gamba. The original “violone” bass violin was significantly larger than today’s bass violins and nicknamed for its lower pitch. However, Antonio Stradivari laid the groundwork for the modern cello in 1710.
Stradivari’s original design for the cello featured a light timbre with exceptional overtones, but with time and refinement, the instrument took on a fuller, brighter sound. Bach’s Six Suites for Cello was the first meaningful composition for the instrument, and it inspired subsequent masterpieces like Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor and Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor.
While the cello may have originated in classical and chamber music, it has since found a home in jazz, rock and pop. Luigi Boccherini was the first prominent cellist in the mid-1700s, followed by Pablo Casals, Jacqueline du Pré, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Yo-Yo Ma.
Is Cello a Good Instrument for Kids?
Mastering a string instrument, like the cello, is an excellent example of a well-rounded education. Numerous studies have shown that music training improves cognitive abilities, including memory, reading comprehension, and motor skills, by mixing mental and physical activities in a systematic method. In addition, it helps you hone employable abilities that will be used for years to come.
You’ve probably got the idea of this remarkable instrument by now. Before you start searching for the ideal cello instrument for your child, here’s a list of advantages to help you decide if it’s the right music choice for your kid.
Enhanced Scholastic Performances
Learning cello combines the best of visual, aural, and kinaesthetic learning methods, allowing each student to focus on what works best for them. Hearing your progress as you practise helps your brain form new connections that you can use in other learning domains, such as mathematics and comprehension. Learning the cello can help kids succeed in school by strengthening cognitive abilities like attention, memory, and organisation.
Studies have shown that artists who play string instruments like the cello have more grey matter in the parts of their brains that control motor skills, sound processing, and visual-spatial processing than people who don’t play instruments. Learning music has been shown to help people speak and understand others better, remember things, pay attention, and feel kindness.
Improved Memory
In addition to helping you learn, playing the cello instrument strengthens the parts of your brain that enable you to remember things. The results presented at the 2013 Neuroscience Conference in San Diego showed how the brain reacts to learning music, especially if it starts before age of seven. That doesn’t mean that adults can’t benefit; it just means that the most noticeable benefits happen when training begins before age seven.
Three other studies proved that musicians have better sensory perception than people who have never trained. One study tested young people (19–21 years old) who had learned music as a child. According to the data, the adults had more oversized brain parts to deal with hearing and self-awareness. But perhaps most excitingly, researchers found that learning music helped connect and stimulate the right and left regions of the brain, creating a lifelong framework that lasts into adulthood.
Developing Skills
To play an instrument like the cello, you need to be very good at timing and be able to work with other people. For music to sound good, each person in the band or group must play their part at the right time. Otherwise, loud, confused noise will happen.
The skills your child will learn when they play the cello are skills that employers want to see. People who can work well with others are what employers want to hire. Incredibly, those workers who can do their jobs well and produce results that meet goals.
Playing the cello also helps you develop other, less tangible skills that are hard to measure but will help you in your job. Students gain confidence in their skills by performing in groups or solo at recitals. To become good at any instrument, they need to be able to train themselves to practise. These kinds of capabilities are challenging to find in today’s market.
Improved Physical Strength and Posture
You get better at music and more creative when you play the cello instrument. It also helps you get in better shape overall. Even though you have to sit down to play it, the muscle moves you need to support the instrument correctly and bow it help build upper body strength and improve your posture.
The bow strokes on the instrument can strengthen upper body muscles, and may help create good posture because it’s linked to keeping good posture during other activities, like exercising or playing sports! Finding your unique holds later doesn’t take away from the benefits of learning the right way to hold and play the cello, even if the first few times are hard and uncomfortable.
Therapeutic Benefits
For kids, learning to play the cello is a calming activity. Music training involves a deep connection between the mind and the body. It’s energising and absorbing to perform and has positive effects on one’s life. The kids feel better mentally and emotionally when they play it.
