Learning the Cello - Staccato

It's good to start with the staccato stroke when learning the cello, because a quick bow stroke that come to a stop frees up the arm muscles and then allows for a rest/recovery. Playing with a slower bow speed is more difficult because there is an instinct to control and the danger of tension creeping into the muscles. 

 This stroke is tied in to the movement of your elbow. It's really your upper arm muscles that initiate the stroke but for some reason, it helps to think of how your elbow is moving. Try this from the balance point to the middle of the bow  and think of swinging your elbow up and away from the body on a down bow and kicking it in towards the cello on an upbow.  Just don't overdo either motion. If you overdo the kicking in on the upbow, your wrist might not stay pronated when you get near the frog which is important. Use the lower half of the bow (but you can go past the middle a bit).

Here are a few things

 that need to be sorted out

 before attempting the staccato stroke.

 (such as bowhold and pronated wrist)

In the videos below, my right wrist looks much higher than it is in reality. Unfortunately, the fixed camera angle distorts it. If you are wondering about how high your wrist should be, the wrist is generally higher at the frog. Sense and feel that there is no strain. 

I made this video for a new student who had a bad habit of keeping her elbow very low which put her bowhold out of whack. There is some repetition of ideas in all these videos but sometimes just one little factor helps everything else make sense for a student.