Lockdown superstar: Samara Ginsberg

Samara, your multi-tracked cello videos have been viewed millions of times; you have been listed on the Classic FM website; interviewed on BBC news; and retweeted by the great and the good. Did this all start as a lockdown thing, or was it something you'd been planning for a long time?

It was totally a lockdown thing. At the beginning of lockdown I was scrolling through Instagram because I was bored – weren't we all? – and I kept seeing these videos of people doing split screen performances in the Acapella app, so I downloaded the app and did an eight-part cello arrangement of the original theme to Inspector Gadget. I only did it to make my friends laugh. I didn't think it would go further than my online social circle, but it absolutely blew up and had a million views in two days, I think.

At this point I had no technical knowledge whatsoever. I had done lots of arranging and lots of session work before, but I would turn up at the studio, sit where I was told and then clever people would do all of the tech stuff and I would just play what was in front of me. Now I put the videos together on Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro.

So, Inspector Gadget was the first, and many more themes followed, including Airwolf, Super Mario Bros, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, and the original Thomas the Tank Engine theme. Why did you go for old TV themes?

Inspector Gadget is such a great theme. I feel like if you ask any musician of my age what the greatest theme of their childhood was, they are probably going to say Inspector Gadget. It just popped into my head that I should do an eight-cello arrangement, and it pretty much jumped into there fully formed, I just had to write it down. I never set out to do a series of 80s cartoon themes; the only reason I ended up doing lots of them was because people kept asking for them.

What has the response been since then?

The response has been terrifyingly huge. At the start of the year I had around 300 hundred followers on YouTube, and I now have 65,000. I had 2,000 Twitter followers and I now have 75,000. It's a bit scary to be honest, but good

– I'm not complaining! It has been a huge response, and I have a theory as to why. I did the first one in May, at the height of the lockdown when people were under a huge amount of stress. There was a lot of despair. It was a really stressful time for everyone, and I think that this old TV theme resonated with people because it took them back to their childhood – to a more innocent, happy time. I think that's possibly why it took off so much, because people just needed that bit of escapism. I had a lot of messages from people who said, ‘Oh, that took me right back to sitting and watching Saturday morning TV when I was seven.’

And now there is merchandise, and you're getting fan art…

I've only had a few pieces of fan art, but they are wonderful and hilarious. One of them was the DuckTales kids, Huey, Dewey and Louie, with me playing the cello; one was of [X-Men character] Wolverine watching my YouTube channel – this was my favourite, I think – and another was a cartoon that really looked like me and featured my actual Persian cat and Danger Mouse!

People were actually asking me for merchandise, and initially I just thought that it was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. But I know a cellist who is a really gifted designer, so I commissioned him to do a design of [He-Man's nemesis] Skeletor playing a cello.

What's coming up next?

I have a really long requests list, which I feel like I have to get through. I have a policy with requests which is that I can consider everything but can promise nothing. I can't promise to do everything people request because some of the things just won't work with cello, but I think I'm going to do most of them. I've also had a little bit of work where people have got in contact with me.

I have done a couple of video commissions for American TV networks, when they've been launching new seasons and have asked me to do a cello version of their theme. I have done one for CBS, and another commission came from The Bleacher Report. This has been really welcome. It felt really good to finally have some paid work after a few months of nothing.

Do you receive any income from the viral TV-theme content?

I would never have done something like this had it not been for the fact that we were in lockdown and all of my work had gone. Artists were quite publically in trouble. I can't remember who suggested it, but somebody recommended that I should set up a Ko-fi account. It's basically a system that allows online busking – anyone can listen to your stuff and if they want to, they can donate.

I initially thought it sounded a little bit crass to be honest, because I'm British and we don't really have a tipping culture in the UK. But then I thought, ‘Do you know what? If people enjoy this and they want to send me a few quid, I am not going to complain.’ And I don't feel like it is crass or embarrassing given the current situation. That's why I set up the Ko-fi account, and it's been really helpful.

It has basically saved me from having to sell my kidneys to buy cello strings. It's not something I would normally have done, but I know a lot of people who have Ko-fi accounts, and it has been really helpful.

Which music teacher made the biggest impression on you?

Ginsberg performs her eight-cello arrangement of the theme from ThunderCats.

I was at the Guildhall [School of Music & Drama] and studied with Stefan Popov, who is still there. His students all used to call him Yoda. He is one of the most wonderful humans I have ever met. He has really informed my own attitude towards teaching, because I have no memory of ever having been criticised by him. He must have done, because criticism is the foundation of improvement, but he was so relentlessly positive and put everything in such a positive way that I literally can't think of a single time when I felt like I was being criticised. I always left his lessons feeling great.

There's this image of teachers at music college as though they're something out of the film Whiplash, and there are plenty of teachers like that. But Stefan Popov's students are international competition winners and principals of major orchestras all round the world and he is absolute living proof that it is completely unnecessary to give your students a hard time. He could not have been more sweetness and light. He did so much for my overall self-esteem as well as my cello playing. He only ever taught me technique, pretty much, and that's exactly what I needed. I only took up the cello when I was 14, so I was miles behind in terms of the mechanics of playing my instrument. By the time I left, I was as good as anyone else. I don't feel like I worked unreasonably hard; I tend to practice in short, intense bursts. All I did was practise in the way that he told me to, and I left with a technique that has served me very well.

@samaracello on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; Samara Ginsberg on YouTube