Hand wide

The wide hand position should be practised as follows:
The index finger of the bow hand holds down the index finger of the cello hand

1. The thumb (“dog”) is out of his basket
2. The fingers are stretched (the ring finger changes places with the middle finger)
3. The thumb (“dog”) comes back home.
4. The fingers come back home (the index finger pulls them back).

Changing positions

We go down, position by position, to “Mt. Cervino”. The thumb is at the bottom of the neck; the fingers are always rounded (on “Mt. Cervino” the strips must be put on the index and little fingers). When changing positions (scaffolding) the fingers must not come away from the fingerboard.

Mount Cervino

Now the child is on Mt. Cervino and has got to get back home (1st position), he should try to imagine a lift that goes straight up (all fingers down). The elbow must not go backwards.

The scaffolding

The hand closes, and goes on to the new position. Climb from one bit of scaffolding to another, always thinking about replacing the finger for the next position.