Legato means to play smooth and connected which is achieved by the bow… even when the left hand is going wild.
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. 9 Popper 9 is a beautiful but difficult study that explores double stops, particularly in thumb position. It is especially challenging because this study focuses our attention on making these difficult passages lyrically beautiful and singing. It’s one thing to master a certain aspect of technique in the
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 10 Here is Ailbhe and Katie’s Popper 10 mash-up. We talk about lots of interesting things in this video, including finger anatomy, our personal history with this and lots of breaking-down nerd out action on string crossings and legato. Hope you enjoy!
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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. 13 Popper 13! Full of octaves and double-stops galore, this one certainly kept us busy. Check out how we approach this epic study, and our top tips for not getting overwhelmed by the world of octaves. Bow balance percentages are important for the tune to sing in the
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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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