# Important Cello Question



## WritersBlock

Hi! I am a Creative Writing student in college.
I am writing a story in which one of my characters plays the cello and I do not know much about how the cello works. I tried searching online, but it seems quite confusing. From what I saw online I constructed this passage:

"She could lose herself and find herself in the music and it soothed her, because it was always the same. If you hold down the A string in 4th position, you will always get an F. If you hold down the C string in 1st position, you will always get D. It was unchangeable."

Now, this may be entirely wrong, but I wanted to at least have somewhere to work off of. I was hoping that you might be able to help me out by telling me whether that statement is accurate or by helping me understand how to alter it so that it is correct. It would be so wonderful if someone could help me out or point me in the right direction.
Thanks so much!


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## Kopachris

Keep in mind that "4th position" refers to the position of the hand. Which note you get still depends on which finger is holding down the string. On the A string, you can get an F with the pinky finger in 3rd position, or the middle finger in 4th position. Which one you use would depend on which other notes need to be played in the same context. To get a D on the C string, it sounds like you're character is using the index finger in first position. If you can read music a little, here's a chart: http://www.celloonline.com/cellofingeringchart.htm

Only other problem is that it's not actually unchangeable. The strings can be (and regularly are) retuned for special effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scordatura. I think that should be fine, though. Only nit-pickers like myself and a few others here will make note. Good luck on your story!


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## Ukko

Kopachris said:


> Keep in mind that "4th position" refers to the position of the hand. Which note you get still depends on which finger is holding down the string. On the A string, you can get an F with the pinky finger in 3rd position, or the middle finger in 4th position. Which one you use would depend on which other notes need to be played in the same context. To get a D on the C string, it sounds like you're character is using the index finger in first position. If you can read music a little, here's a chart: http://www.celloonline.com/cellofingeringchart.htm
> 
> Only other problem is that it's not actually unchangeable. The strings can be (and regularly are) retuned for special effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scordatura. I think that should be fine, though. Only nit-pickers like myself and a few others here will make note. Good luck on your story!


Scordatura is a great word. It sounds like it ought to have a 'dark' meaning, and a scordatura tuning _can_ sound that way, the well known example being the Danse Macabre. That's a hint.


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## quack

You used the past tense in the 1st and 3rd sentences but the present in the 2nd, it makes the technical passage all the more jarring as it stands out from the rest of the text. 

I know you say it is just a first attempt but if you are not careful you risk falling into a trap that has caught many writers. They can spend so long researching the jargon that they feel they must include it, whether it is relevant or not. Technical detail is always very difficult to get right in fiction. No matter how right you think it is, a small segment of your audience will think it is wrong, or misused and the majority of the audience will not care too much at your attempts at verisimilitude. But that majority might well bore if you lay your research on too thick, not really a problem with an isolated sentence like this though.

Unless you can be assured of making it accurate, a vaguer, more accessible sentence might be preferred. Something that talks about the unchanging nature of the score or the certainty of feeling the music through her body perhaps.


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## CyrilWashbrook

I agree with everything in quack's post. It's probably not wise for me to dispense advice on creative writing, but it seems that you should be cautious about a fixation on trying to make the idea work.

Would it really add value to your writing to create a sentence like "If you're in third position on the D string and depress the third finger without extending, it will always be an A, assuming precise intonation"? And most importantly, would the typical reader even appreciate or understand the reference even if it were technically correct?

I might also add that as a cellist, I do not think in terms of finger "positions": there are too many permutations and it would be a waste of mental energy to think in that way.


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## Downbeat

You are almost there: Hold down the A string 4th position with second finger; hold down the C string 1st position with first finger.


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