Here we are today with my mother, Jill Brindel, cellist in the San Francisco Symphony, she's been with a symphony since 1980; is that right? That's right. That's right. She's done all kinds of session work. She's played with Curtis Mayfield, The Bee Gees, Metallica. Who else? Bobby McFerrin,. Dionne Warwick. Dionne Warwick among others. Probably a lot more that you've heard of. Today we're going to talk to my mom about sounds that she can make on the cello, and basically, what this instrument can do for you in the studio as a songwriter. How it can bring forth the best possible take and the emotion that you want for your music. Before we do that though, I've noticed that you're playing a very weird-looking cello today. What is this type of cello called? This is a carbon fiber cello, and believe it or not, it's quite successful in making a sound like a real cello. A lot cheaper, I bet. A lot cheaper, and a good option for someone who doesn't have a lot of money. I'm borrowing it because it was that or buy a seat on the plane. Exactly. Glad you have a cello today. Me too. When is cello appropriate? In terms of what types of emotion does it evoke? Well, the cello speaks right to the heart. As my teacher used to say, "If you make them cry, you've done your job." So it's good on sad things, but also dreamy things. I'm going to play a little of "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saëns, and I'm going to play it flotando, which means literally, float, and play close to the fingerboard. It makes a very dreamy sound of a swan swimming. Beautiful. It sounds like the cello is in a very similar range to the voice; is that true? Basically, I can play anything you can sing, and that means if you're a high voice, or a low voice, or anything in between, we basically can do the same thing a singer can, and if you can sing it, we can play it. Which is a good note to us as songwriters. In terms of how to communicate with a cellist. Do you have any advice, if we were to work with you in studio, and let's say we weren't sure how to notate the part but we had ideas. What is some advice that you could give us in terms of how to approach communicating with you? Sing it for me and I'll play it back for you. Well, let's go into specific sounds the cello can make. I know there's some Italian terms that define different types of bowing techniques and sounds available to us. Let's just go through some of those. So here's a spiccato. That's called spiccato. The bow literally bounces on the string. Then we have something called tremolo, which is very exciting. So if it's something tense going on in your singing and you want some an accompaniment, or if you want something really mysterious, ponticello. Playing on the bridge. You can also do ponticello tremolo. Really eerie. But as I said, the cello probably is at its best playing long lines, just as a singer does. There are some other techniques I wanted to talk about with you. How about pizzicato? Pizzicato. Sure. Very cool. What about, what I like to call the Eleanor Rigby style of playing the cello. So those could be eighths, how about quarters with just a down stroke? Fifths are really good for the cello too, because we tune in fifths, so we can bow our fifths, easily. Yeah. Good to know. In terms of different ways of phrasing, how about slurred notes? Here's slurred notes, well like I did in the swan. If I did these all separate, it would not sound as smooth, but if you want emphasis on a note, you shouldn't slur it. It should be articulated with a change of bow. Right. In terms of slurring, I guess you would keep the same bow direction, is what you are saying? Yes. Got it. So the cello being like the human voice. You can slide, right? Is that another thing you can do? Oh yes, Yeah. So you can go. Right. But on the keyboard, for instance, unless we use the portamento, we would have two separate pitches. Exactly. Right. What are some things that you don't like to play in terms of, if you were going to work with a songwriter, what are some pitfalls that you would rather not have to deal with in the studio? Well, I feel as though sometimes we are given only baselines, and it seems to me that a base is better at that than we are. What I love is when a singer sings the first verse, and then lets the cello play the next verse or plays the B section. I don't know whether you call it that, the B section. Sure. Yeah. Or else plays a counter melody to the singer. Counter melodies are something that we're talking about a lot in this class. Counter melody was the second thing that she talked about. The other one was answer melody or second voice, where the singer would sing and then the cello would respond in the space between. That's lovely. I love doing that. So that's your favorite thing? Yes. So something that's singable, and something that the songwriter can communicate to you with their voice. Exactly. What's the best range for that kind of thing? Well, this is what my teacher called the money register. The A string is the most singable area. Way up there. It projects better. Speaking of high up, can you play some harmonics for us? I'd love to hear some. Absolutely. Here are the natural harmonics. Should I do it on a different string? Do it on A just so we can hear. That's way up there. Yeah. So in terms of the range on a keyboard, where she's playing, where that A string is is a minor third below middle C. So that range, anything higher than that, that note and higher will work well for melodies on the cello. Well thank you so much, mom, for flying out here and being with us today. It's a pleasure to hear you. It's my pleasure. Thank you.
