My brief cello career

When I was 15 I was given a chance to learn the cello free as there was only one girl in the orchestra.I was already fairly proficient on the piano where mysteriously I was also being given free lessons because of my musical talent.. so I knew how to read music.
The cello strings are tuned to the same notes as the viola but one octave lower.Sometimes in cello music the tenor clef is used as well as the bass and treble.
I reached Grade 8 after a year but then the teacher left and was not replaced.And my A levels loomed so although the Northern college of music would have given me lessons the head would not allow it.
I’d strongly recommend letting a child learn the cello or viola.There is something quite wonderful about playing in a string quartet and the viola being in the middle is possibly the loveliest in tone and in how it speaks to the heart.
I have had several versions of the Bach cello suites played by Casals,Tortelier, and others.But now I have been won over by Rostropovich.He was a very loving man…and it comes over.His Dvorak cello concerto is luminous…
I find a Kindle Fire is very handy for playing music as I move around the house as it’s so portable.I admit I’ve always liked Russian musicians… maybe seeing Dr Zhivago helped me.The music of the Orthodox Church is such that I’d convert instantly just to sit in one of their churches.They unlike the Catholic Church have not modernised their rituals and I believe that is very fortunate….