My little sister - aged 17 is having a major operation, which means she cant play the cello for over a month. Am looking for a good pressie to buy her while she is in hospital. Any ideas? - will have to be cello related of course...

Hubby recently bought me the Steven Isserlis CD of the Bach Cello Suites. It's permanently on in my kitchen, even though I'm a violinist.

How about a 'cello related read? There are some good 'cello books out there from biographies to histories of the instrument.

A few suggestions off the top of my head - ELizabeth Wilson's books on Jacqueline Du Pre & Rostropoovich, Lev Ginsburg's 'History of the Violoncello', Walden's 'One Hundered Years of Violoncello' ( which covers performance issues and repertoire). There's also a little book called 'Grisha' which tells Piatigorsky's story in novel form. It's a great read.

Lots of cds out there of course. Although being of the iTunes generation she might just as well appreciate some downloads to her player.

You could find out which rep. she would like to play, get a recording of one (or more) of them along with the sheet music or a full study score. That way she can follow the music while listening to the piece. In effect she'll be practising away from her instrument and will then be a little ahead of the game when she manages to get back to it.

Wishing her well, and a full and speedy recovery.

I can always heartily advocate the relevant Yehudi Menuhin volume...

I have just finished reading 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' by Stephen Galloway, available in paperback.

Anything which needs to be connected to and electric supply (e.g. an ipod charger) can be tricky, because places can be very strict about electrical saftey. Both of the hospitals I worked in required all electrical equipment to be saftey tested by the estates department before it was used on the ward. This sometimes took a while because clinical equipment was given priority over patient's personal possessions. There are only a limited number of electric sockets available for each bedspace and clinic equipment would have priority for these. Battery operated items are much better.

You also need to consider security, because you do sometimes get opportunistic thefts and the hospital is very unlikely to cover and loss or damage to personal possessions.

It's also woth considering what your sister is having done and how this might affect what she feels able to do afterwards. For example, headphones can be problematic after ear surgery (or any brain surgery where the ear is used for access), reading might be difficult following ophthalmic procedures, and spinal surgery often requires a period of flat bedrest (not everyone is able to read whilst lying down!).

Hope you find something she likes.

Thanks for all your ideas. Who is Grisha by - as I cant seem to find it!

Hi Jacky,

Grisha is written by M Bartley. It's better to buy it direct from the publishers , Otis Mountain Press. They charge a lot less than the people listing it on Amazon.

http://www.otismountainpress.com/ordering.html

Or - How about Julian Lloyd Webber's 'Travels with my Cello'? I haven't read it, but your sister is likely to know Lloyd Webber more than Piatigorsky. There seems to be an accompanying cd too, which I assume is of him performing the pieces he writes about. You can get both from Amazon for just a few pounds.


Hope you find something to take her mind off things.
All the best

This doesn't quite fit into the cello-related category, but here goes anyway. How about some really special stuff to do her nails with? Obviously fingernail practicality is more important than prettiness when you're playing, but when you're not... it might just make a nice change. Also, I know that this won't help much with whiling away a whole month, but if you're doing fingernails you might want to have a go at hand massage. It's really easy to do and it feels sooooo good and comforting too.

She's very lucky that you're so thoughtful. Hope she's up and about and back doing the things she enjoys before too long. x

I was going to suggest this (my mum has read it with her Book club), but it seems fsharpminor has beaten me to it!