So Why Am I Taking Up The Cello?

As a child I grew up with gypsy music. My mother's hungarian background exposed me to great folk music. My dad brought home a violin but the violin repair shop said it was in awful shape and to not even bother trying to learn on it.

A few months later my mother gave me a guitar for my birthday and said I could take music lessons at the shop down the street. A year of guitar lessons seemed enough to get me into jazz band at school and then I dropped that when I joined a local song and dance group "Sing out Miami" as their rhythm guitarist and eventually their main guitarist.

After high school, there wasn't anything to do with the guitar as I didn't play folk music, jazz or rock and roll. Auditoned for a few bands but didn't get chosen.

Started dating a guy who played violin. Our first date involved me watching him play in the second violin section of the community orchestra. This re-ignited my interest in the violin. Went out and got a used Chinese fiddle from the local music store and took few lessons before my teacher skipped town. That left me stranded for awhile.

An adult community center offered free lessons so I ended up going there. The teacher was actually a violist so I eventually switched to viola. I really didn't like playing the high notes on the violin. Also, everyone kept telling me to play louder and I just thought it was too much sound next to one's ear.

The viola was nice but there always seemed to be plenty of viola players in the community orchestra. There was also the disadvantage of being seated in front of the wind players and getting blasted.

So eventually I quit the community orchestra. Took up classical guitar as it was a nice quiet instrument suitable for playing at home and not bothering anyone.

Then while I was taking music theory courses at MDC and the professor told me about his chamber music classes. I played violin (not so willingly) at first and then switched to classical guitar. However, the guitar sound doesn't balance well with other instruments.

There has been a constant problem in the chamber music class with keeping a cellist. Every year there's a cellist that begins with the program and then quits. So when I saw the $200 cello on craigslist, I decided to be pro-active about the chamber music class problem.

Actually, I've thought about learning the cello on and off for many years but starting prices of $800 for a student cello was a deterrent. Also, where in our one-bedroom apartment would I find a place for it?

At this point our home is so full of junk that I decided that one more bulky item wouldn't make any difference.

So that's why I'm now a beginning cellist and my goal this summer is to learn enough to play some simple chamber music in the fall.