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A CELLO WITH THE X FACTOR...
28th November 2011
We don't know where Josephine van Lier buys her cello strings, and we can't tell you where Andre Rieu bought his Strad, but when long-established, Hollywood megastars come to the UK in need of a cello, it's us they contact.
We didn't even know he could play but when Fozzie called, we were happy to help. It turned out he needed to rent a cello to play on the X Factor with fellow Muppets Miss Piggy, Animal and assorted penguins. Pictured above is Fozzie prior to the show with his two best friends (puppeteers).
The chap high-fiving Fozzie, below, to show appreciation of his musical abilities is Olly Murs who was singing 'Dance With Me Tonight' (one of Bach's lesser known cantatas...? - ed).
 Having four paws (rather than two hands) Fozzie bear is different to most of our customers. We were, therefore, slightly worried about how well he would be able to manage the bow.
But we were delighted to see that he had worked around this impediment and improvised with a fine pizzicato approach that was highly effective on the night.
 As you can see on the left and in this video link, Fozzie has also mastered what we at Strings call 'Spinnato', which is the technique of spinning your cello and grinning at points in the score where you can't get all the notes.
While 'Spinnato' is not recommended in Adagio pieces, it will get most cello players out of all kinds of trouble in fast moving sections - as long as there are other players and singers making sufficient noise.
Finally, can we make a small comment about concert attire?
Mr Murs, Miss Piggy, and Fozzie's penguin friends (as you can see on the right) made a great effort to wear the correct thing last night.
Fozzie, however, opted for a cravat. While some would consider this far too outre for such a formal evening concert, we think it is a refreshing alternative.
 We understand that Fozzie's interest in the cello came from his friendship with Monsieur Beaujolais (aka Mr Bowhead), seen on the left going to a Prom concert. We hope that as Fozzie progresses over the next few years, he will eventually invest in one of our fine contemporary cellos perhaps one of Paul Stanton's or an Andrew Sutherland.
Meanwile, we thought you might enjoy this recently discovered footage where Fozzie (who has worked extensively in the film industry) helped out Mr B during a video shoot, click here. Extraordinary...
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