Grumble, grumble

I went to rehearse my Christmas cello pieces with the organist and vocalist yesterday. The vocalist, who used to play the violin, wanted me to lower the pitch of the cello one whole step because there is a note in Gesu Bambino that is too high for him to sing. Either that or transpose the piece from the lovely key of G to the key of F. Not so bad, except the middle section is now in four flats, just like "O Little Town of Bethlehem." I am going to have to transpose the piece now, and I was reading it so well in treble clef!

I did try, briefly, to lower the pitch of the strings, but quickly decided against it. I have two pieces to play and no way to leave the front of the church to tune in between pieces. I do have two cellos, but my new one sounds so much better than my old one that I am reluctant to use the old one for such an "exposed" performance, when I need all the help I can get.

The vocalist/ex-violinist tried to convince me it would be easy to change the tuning, but I think this must be an entirely different matter for a violin vs. a cello and think it would loosen the strings too much. I am curious though whether anyone else has tried changing the pitch of the strings to accommodate a singer or for some other reason.