Learning how to use the bow speed wisely and dividing it up efficiently. This sometimes involves being able to control the speed of the bow under one long slurred passage. A common example of this is using a slower bow speed at the beginning of the new bow.
Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 2 Join us here for our exploration of Popper #2. This is a more accessible study in that you may be able to try this even if some of the others seem over your head. We feel that this is a great study to come back to if […]
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 3 What an enlightening session on Popper No. 3 with the fabulous Eric Kutz. Eric uses this etude as a rite of passage for every cellist who comes to learn with him at the University of Maryland. Challenges include the key signature and the centred tuning necessary here,
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 4 We were thrilled to have the incredible Tim Gill with us for exploration of Popper 4 – “a beast of a study”. We explore the unique challenges of this one, thumb position, key signature, bow legato with string crossings and lots more. Hope you will find this
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Etude No. 7 We had a lot of fun exploring Popper 7. We found a lot to concentrate on in this study, particularly as it pertains to the difficulties of bow distribution and string crossings. It just goes to show how Katie’s very first cello teacher told her… Popper is
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 8 A beautiful étude which focuses on bow legato and distribution in thumb position. A nice sound quality is produced without too much weight on the bow. Try to be relaxed everywhere. Be sure to stretch often if you aren’t using a lot of thumb position normally. Keep
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 12 This is quite a tricky study that really works on the geography of the cello especially in thumb position. It’s a real workout for anyone’s cello playing chops, and features a difficult octaves passage at the end of 4 pages of thumb position! However, we really enjoyed
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 14 We had a BLAST doing our Popper 14 session with the fantastic Christian Elliott (principal cellist Irish Chamber Orchestra, member of the Phoenix Piano Trio and Zehetmair Quartet). Popper 14 is all about up-bow and down-bow staccato, a very specific technical stroke that is tricky for nearly
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 17 We enjoyed exploring this shorter study, Popper 17, which focuses on legato in double stops. Practising this study very slowly and focusing on the connections between the double stops is very important so that they work well at the final speed. An especially interesting technical aspect of
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 21 Here is our live discussion of Popper’s 21st study. It was a fun one! This focuses on bow legato, bow distribution, string crossings and shifting often in thumb position. Can each shift and string crossing stay smooth so that it doesn’t effect the legato sound? Interesting to
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 22 Popper 22 is a beautiful study. We have both really enjoyed learning this one. Check out the first five minutes of this video for HILARIOUS stories about the 17-year cicada plague in the US, which is reoccurring this year! Start at 05.05 to skip this…! Legato bowing
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