The cello plays even lower than the viola - a whole octave lower. To support its longer strings, it's more than twice as big as the viola - too big to support on one arm! It's heavy, too. So cellists sit down, resting the instrument upright against their bodies. They use a endpin and their knees to keep it in place.

Composer: Dvorak Piece: Cello Concerto Performer: Yo Yo Ma

	Jennifer, our cellist, is holding the cello between her knees. The endpin pops out of the bottom of the cello, and sticks into the floor to balance the instrument. Jennifer holds the bow in her right hand, and draws it back and forth across the strings. She can change the pitch in two ways: by drawing the bow across different strings, and by pressing on the strings with the fingers of her left hand. The cello section of the orchestra makes a rich, warm sound. Sometimes when they're all playing a beautiful tenor tune, you can see all the cellists moving back and forth at the same time, swaying together with their instruments! The endpin makes this easier, because a cellist can balance the cello on it. Way back in the 1800s, not all cellos had endpins, so cellists had to squeeze the instrument between their knees.