Ida Riegels grew up in a family of musicians, and everyone had an instrument to play. But little Ida fell in love with the cello, which was her grandmother’s instrument of choice.
Ida’s musical beginnings
Ida Riegels is a cellist who studied at the prestigious Royal Danish Academy of Music and was trained under Professor Morten Zeuthen and Jakob Kullberg. In her early years, Ida Riegels placed first in the “Berlingske Tidende’s Music Competition.” Riegels was also the featured artist at the 2014 California Audio Show.
After graduating, Ida became known as the “cycling cellist,” who pedaled 400 km with her handmade cello to share her passion with others. Since then, she has biked throughout Europe with the instrument on her back, with frequent stops to perform.
She recently released her debut album, Cello Stories, on Danacord Records, after intensely studying for several years.
100-day cello-building journey
At a young age, Ida fell in love with the cello’s deep, rich, and vibrant sound, so she decided to make one from scratch herself. Ida Riegels gave herself 100 days to complete such an enormous task, and she documented her incredible journey on her blog, Facebook page, and Instagram account.
Pre-building
Ida had made a cello before. However, this was her first attempt at creating one from scratch in 100 days. After completing a session at the Cambridge Violin Makers Summer School, she worked on her first cello for nine months.
She had already started constructing the cello before. Still, she had difficulty pursuing it due to her schedule, so she devoted 100 days to creating her second masterpiece. This time, she wanted to make an instrument that matched her palette of expressions, yet had a unique personality. In addition, Ida Riegels also wanted the cello to encourage her to create new musical interpretations.
Days 1 to 50
The cello, also known as the violoncello, is a member of the violin family. Generally, the bowed instrument’s four strings are typically tuned in perfect fifths. On the other hand, a person who plays the cello like Ida Riegels is called a cellist or violoncellist.
A cello is a sophisticated instrument with numerous unique parts. While wood makes up most of it, some pieces can also be constructed of other materials, such as steel. Here are the different parts of the instrument:
- Body
- Neck, pegbox, and scroll
- Tailpiece and endpin
- Bridge, f-holes, and strings
- Internal parts such as the bass bar and a wooden sound post
- Bow
In the first half of the 100-day building challenge, Ida made the cello’s body. She began with 15.5 kg of maple wood and finished with a thin, arched plate weighing only 700 grams. The process was laborious, and Ida developed numerous blisters and had extremely painful arms.
Days 51 to 100
In the second half of her journey, Ida Riegels focused more on the intricacies of the instrument. Ida’s blueprint is for an instrument with a deep, strong, and projecting tone, but she made a few adjustments to her frame and playing style. She believed that a wide cello constructed of light wood, with low-tension strings to mimic human speech, would be appropriate.
One of the main intricacies she felt stumped in was the sound holes. The central dilemma was choosing a design for the sound holes (curled holes on the front where the tones exit). To test how different types would appear on the front plate, Ida spent weeks cutting several fonts on black paper, and she finally narrowed the designs into four final versions.
On the 96th day, Ida played her cello for the first time because she couldn’t wait, and realized she had created a great instrument after hearing the first note.
Post-building
Once the instrument was finished, Ida took it to a friend to hear it outside and noted that she played it beautifully. After that, Ida Riegels fine-tuned and tested different bows, endpins, and strings. The only step missing is polishing the wood with black tea and walnut shells.
The instrument’s deep, rich, and vibrant sound
The cello evolved through a series of creative development and practical needs to become an essential component of Western music, just like Ida Riegels, who improved and even made one of her own. Thanks to Ida and other cellists, the cello is now a fascinating instrument, and many will continue to enjoy it for years.
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