Cello jobs include performance, repair, restoration, fabrication, teaching, sales, and demonstration. Each requires different skills and knowledge, but all require competence in playing the cello. Performers typically have a degree in music, while repairers must understand cello construction and physics. Restorers focus on getting older cellos back in working order, while makers create new designs. Teachers can be private or public, and salespeople promote different cello models. Demonstrators aim to generate interest in the cello, particularly among children.
Major types of cello work include performance, repair and restoration, fabrication, teaching, sales, and demonstration. Each of these cello jobs requires a slightly different set of skills and knowledge, with very different settings and pay rates. Regardless of which position a person chooses, he must be able to play the cello competently. Many people overlap with jobs, such as teaching and performing.
Cello performers are typically required to have a formal degree in music performance, simply because this type of education allows the player to learn music in a more comprehensive and in-depth way. A diploma also verifies a specific level of competence in music and performance ability, which employers consider. However, some people are successful in particular studies, so this rule is not absolute.
If a person plays the cello, he has many options of where and what to play. Some of the most common jobs are chamber music gigs, like playing as part of a string quartet like a wedding. Other cellists manage to work in jazz ensembles, such as in clubs. Individuals like Ron Carter have gained fame for their jazz cello work, but generally speaking, people prefer the double bass over the cello for jazz playing. A cellist may also play with an orchestra or appear as a soloist, but these positions are extremely competitive, with only the best cellists offered contracts.
Another option for cello jobs is cello repair. Individuals who have this career can do everything from replacing strings to replacing bridges or repainting. These workers are often employed by music stores, but some are specialists employed by specific manufacturers who have provided training. Cello repairmen must have a solid understanding of not only cello construction, but also the physics and how adjustments and materials affect the overall tone, responsiveness, and projection of the instruments they repair. They typically work with fairly inexpensive instruments in the student range, but repairmen who work with professional models can have instruments worth many thousands of dollars on their bench at any given time, making quality work and accuracy critical.
Related to cello repair work is restoration. Workers who focus on this area of repair are concerned with getting older models of cellos back in working order. Often the instruments they work on are of great value due to their rarity and ancient status, with some cellos being hundreds of years old. Cello restorers must be familiar with the entire history of the cello and cello music, because their job is to restore cellos so that the instruments can produce authentic sound while being played in the way originally intended.
Cello jobs also include making. Some of these cello workers focus on creating new cello designs that the maker can produce. Others focus on moving from design to production, overseeing the mechanical aspects of mass production. Although more rare, a handful of people in cello making create cellos by hand, making each instrument over a period of several weeks based on specifications indicated by the customer. This type of work requires considerable skills and takes a lot of work.
Many people with an interest or talent in the cello become teachers. Cello instructors fall into two broad categories: private and public. Private instructors give one-on-one lessons, usually away from home, with up to 30 students per week. Public instructors work in schools, with some teachers being the general director of music who teaches not just cello but all instruments, ensembles, bands and choirs. Those at the university or college level are usually required to have a doctorate in music education and operate more like private instructors, often acting while not teaching.
Some people looking for cello jobs have luck with sales or demos. Sellers are tasked with promoting different cello models either in person or through other means such as digital marketing on the company’s website. They often work in music stores, showing customers different models and explaining the pros and cons of each. Protesters are also concerned with generating interest in the cello similar to sellers, but their aim is to create more players, not necessarily to make a profit on sales. They usually target elementary age children, playing the cello to show off their sound, size, and technique, and providing some basic performance and historical information.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
