Beestaara
Cello
New cello embodiments

The Beestaara Cello is an experimental design created by French luthier Alexandre Letellier, inspired by Indian and Carnatic instrument designs. As well as having five playing strings, it also has 15 sympathetic strings that run from an arch between the neck and shoulder through the midle of the body. An internal pickup also offers the possibility to amplify these.

I came across this remarkable instrument one day while procrastinating on eBay when I was supposed to be writing up my thesis. I'm very grateful to Dr Katharine Nagle for financial support in acquiring it.

Once I'd acquired it, I needed to learn to play it. I'd had a yen to own a 5-string cello for a long time (partly in order to play Bach's Cello Suite No. 6, which is written for a 5-string instrument) and naively thought it would be like playing a normal cello but with an extra string. It was more complicated than this! Not simply becasue of the unconventioanl design of the instrument but because all my muscle memory of how much to move my arms and fingers to cross over four strings was all slightly out when I had to navigate five: I spent a lot of time hitting the wrong string beore I managed to recalibrate myself.

I've used it extensively over the poast couple of years in improvisation gigs. My long term aim is to write original works for the instrument (I've released one album dedicated to the instrument so far, see below). In the meantime I'm assembling a repertoire of existing pieces by me and other composers that works well on it. So far this includes:

Le tombeau de Feldman (originally for viola)

Balancing on air

Harry Partch: Songs on lyrics by Li Po

J.S. Bach: Suite No. 6 in D major for cello BWV 1012

Franz Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D.821 (originally for arpeggione, a now obsolete instrument which was essentially a fretted cello with 6 strings, tuned the same as a guitar)

Scott Walker: Rosary (from his 1995 album Tilt)