Cello fingering Options

[Tenor Viol]

I'm trying to get my head around 'cello fingering. I'm struggling to find a fingering chart. The one that I've found one online doesn't seem quite right.

Does anyone have either an online resource or a book / chart they recommend that covers at least up to 5th position?

Thanks

[Roseau]

No doubt someone will come along and correct me but I'm not sure that a fingering chart is that useful for a cello as there are a lot of forward and backward extensions which makes positions not altogether straightforward to name. My impression (as someone who took violin lessons as a child and who has helped her cello-playing daughter practise) is that cellists do a lot of "mini-shifts".

My daughter learnt to shift using "Position Pieces" and this has names like "upper second" and "lower second" but these days she only talks about 1/2 position, 1st position and 4th position. She plays quite a lot in what are technically 2nd and 3rd position but she will talk about which note her first finger is on rather than which position it is and then (as far as I can tell) seems to have integrated where the tones and semi-tones are to decide which fingers to put down.

As you no doubt know, 4th position is easy to shift up to because you just stop when your hand hits the body of the cello. My daughter plays up to the octave harmonic so this is above 4th position but she has never been taught to call these positions anything in particular. She can also play a 3 octave C major scale but she just learnt the fingering for this rather than position names.

[immy]

I found Lorna Taylor's 'Position Pieces' and 'Go Fourth' very helpful at the time. It goes through the positions systematically and has pieces appropriate to each position.
Roseau is correct in the sense that many people talk about 1/2, 1st and 4th position, whilst 2nd and 3rd (and their upper and lower variety) do not get much of a mention. However, you will be using them all of the time, but they are quite often referred to as 1st finger on such and such a note. So you do have to learn them, regardless of what you later choose to call them inside your own head.

Hope this helps.

[Tenor Viol]

Thanks for the info. I've bought the Go Fourth and Tenor Clef books by Lorna Taylor.

It's proving a little easier having had the aciton lowered this week (see adjustments thread).Need to fix my tuning now... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[cestrian]

I'm trying to get my head around 'cello fingering. I'm struggling to find a fingering chart. The one that I've found one online doesn't seem quite right.

Does anyone have either an online resource or a book / chart they recommend that covers at least up to 5th position?

Thanks

I use Position Pieces for Cello by Rick Mooney and like it very much.

On the subject of finger charts I've also read that using a finger chart while playing is the best way to get your intonation right first time. The theory is that if you are adjusting your finger because of what you hear you are already too late. Looking at a finger chart, e.g. while playing scales (obviously not while playing music!) helps you find the right place sooner. Something to do with motor control and visual perception being faster than I play, I hear, I think, I assess, I decide to shift slightly, I find the right tone, etc...