Plucky Strings and Peppy Percussion Strings and Percussion    

Lesson 10: Cello - Cello Concerto in D minor

by Édouard Lalo

Performer: European Archive

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

The musical composition for this lesson, 'Cello Concerto in D minor,' by Édouard Lalo, features the cello. As you enjoy the music, identify the sounds of the cello. Listen to a lone cello playing in Activity 5 below for reference. The painting included in the lesson, 'The Song and the Cello,' by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, shows a one woman singing and another playing the cello.

Vocabulary

Concerto: A musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale.
Minor: A minor key, interval, or scale.

Category

Music lessons over the next two years group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

String instruments produce sound through the vibration of strings. Strings may be plucked or strummed with fingers, hit with hammers, or rubbed with a bow.

See a picture of strings below. Note that some strings are thicker and some are thinner.

The sound produced by a string depends in part on its thickness, its length, its tightness, and its material.

Instruments have multiple strings of varying thickness. Musicians playing instruments turn pegs to tighten or loosen the strings and change their sounds. Musicians also press their fingers against the strings to control the length of strings that vibrate and produce sound. Strings are made from materials such as nylon or steel.

String instruments include violins, violas, cellos, double basses, guitars, ukuleles, sitars, mandolins, banjos, and depending on who you ask, pianos.

Study the images of strings.

1. Viola Strings

2. Cello Strings

3. Guitar Strings

Enrichment

Activity 1: Review the Parts of a Cello

• Review the parts on the labeled picture of the cello.

Activity 2: Compare and Contrast a Violin, a Viola, and a Cello

Examine the picture of the violin, the viola, and the cello.

• Which instrument has a scroll?
• Which instrument has a neck?
• Which instrument has a body?
• Which instrument has knobs?
• Which instrument has pegs?
• Which instrument has a chin rest?
• Which instrument has a bridge?
• Which instrument has f-holes?
• Which instrument has a tailpiece?
• Which instrument has an endpin?
• Which instrument is the smallest?
• Which instrument is the largest?

Activity 3: Quiz Yourself: Identify Cello Parts

Quiz yourself, and identify the following parts from memory on the cello:

• Neck
• Body
• Four Strings
• F-Holes
• Tail Piece
• Bridge
• Endpin

Activity 4: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson image, 'The Song and the Cello,' by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, and find the following:

• Woman Singing
• Chair
• Woman Playing the Cello
• Bow
• Cello
• Cello Scroll
• Cello Neck
• Cello Pegs
• Cello Body

Activity 5: Listen to a Cello

Listen to the recording of a cello:

Review

Question 1

What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 6

Answer 1

The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 6

Question 2

Which instrument group does this lesson feature?

2 / 6

Answer 2

This lesson features the string group.

2 / 6

Question 3

Which instrument does this lesson feature?

3 / 6

Answer 3

This lesson features the cello.

3 / 6

Question 4

How many strings do cellos have?

4 / 6

Answer 4

Cellos have four strings.

4 / 6

Question 5

What are the major parts of the cello?

5 / 6

Answer 5

Major parts of the cello include the scroll, pegs, neck, body, strings, bridge, f-holes, tailpiece, and endpin.

5 / 6

Question 6

Which part does a cello have that a violin and a viola do not have?

6 / 6

Answer 6

Cellos have an endpin. Violins and violas do not have endpins.

6 / 6

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which instrument group does this lesson feature? This lesson features the string group.
3. Which instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the cello.
4. How many strings do cellos have? Cellos have four strings.
5. What are the major parts of the cello? Major parts of the cello include the scroll, pegs, neck, body, strings, bridge, f-holes, tailpiece, and endpin.
6. Which part does a cello have that a violin and a viola do not have? Cellos have an endpin. Violins and violas do not have endpins.

References

'String instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Cello.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.