I've got my first cello lesson in a couple of weeks, and am playing to get the feel for the instrument again (it's been about 20 years since I last played!). I sound goddawful. Apart from sounding slightly flat all the time (ugh), I'm also getting a nasty squeaky noise every now and again - as if the string were sounding an octave above where it should be. Do you know what I'm doing to produce that nasty grindy squeaky sound? Can I do anything to stop it?

J

Every (re)starter gets nasty squeaks of various sorts. Most likely causes are the bow not being in proper contact with the string, or being at an angle; also, if your fingers brush a sounding open string you will get momentary harmonic-type effects.

Thanks Storini. You think it will just go as my technique improves?

I also wondered about resin - I can't remember little things like how much I should put on the bow, and how regularly.

Sorry, I know these are dumb questions, but this really is like starting from scratch!

Jane

The gross screeches will go, provided you have correct supervision to monitor your bow angle etc.

The remaining occasional slight squeaks are quite quite tricky as it demands very careful LH finger placement to completely eliminate them (by never touching adjacent strings accidentally).

My view on rosin is stale rosin is bad and makes a scratchy sound. By this I mean dried-out rosin which has been on the bow or strings a while. Therefore always I clean my bow hair and strings every time before practice; then I apply a little fresh rosin (one or two strokes) to the bow. I use a "Mr Sheen Dustgrabber" cloth to clean as this pick up the rosin dust and holds it, and doesn't just push it around from place to place.

Different rosins have pretty different characteristics: I use Liebenzeller Gold IV from Phelps Violins.

Hi again Storini

Just wanted to thank you again for your helpful suggestions. I've just had my first cello lesson, and my teacher reckons the problem is primarily with my cello. Apparently, the bridge is far too high, and also the neck is warped, so there's a gap between the fingerboard and the neck of the cello. I played on his cello and sounded like a dream! Not sure whether to feel pleased that I actually sound much better than I thought, or just awful that I wasted my money on something that nearly put me off learning again! It was a big impulse buy - I just bought a cheapy (it's a stagg, groan, I should have known better), to see whether I could still play, but clearly it was a big mistake.

Not sure what to do now. He's recommended somewhere to go to get a good repair done, but I'm not sure whether to see what it sounds like post repair, or to cut my losses and get a better one, perhaps second hand.

Regards
Jane

Just wanted to say the there is a place in Leicester with a really good luthier. They come over to N. Ireland a couple of times a year for a couple of days to the local music centre & a lot of students buy stringed instruments from them. Why? - because they seem to sell good instruments, properly set up & they know what they're talking about.
I took my cello (which my husband bought for me for Xmas 2 years ago) to them in September as even with a decent set of strings on it didn't sound as good as I thought it ought to(even allowing for my rusty playing). They adjusted the soundpost, changed the bridge & rounded off the pegs (which weren't round at all!). The only thing they couldn't do was change the tail piece as they didn't have 1 with them. As they explained, the adjustors are acting like mutes because they are so heavy. But it plays vastly better now with what they did do.
Don't think you're too far from Leicester - PM me if you want to know the name of the shop.- they would give you an honest opinion on whether it's worth spending money on it

I think I know the one you mean (my teacher just referred me to it) - is it on The London Road? I'm planning to take it there, and see what they say. I feel like such an idiot for thinking any old thing would be ok for starting out though! I should have known better really.

yes it is
I think with mine they reckoned that the improvement would be worth the expense if you see what I mean. My husband - bless him- didn't really know what he was getting but the thought that went into getting it was priceless