Thinking about occasionally moving just the wrist in the bow stroke rather than the whole arm. The wrist is always supported by the entire right arm but it can be especially helpful in advanced bow techniques and can reduce the energy required.
Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 1 The first Popper Étude brings a significant number of challenges. Primarily a study for the bow staccato, the challenge is to always have clarity of sound and a very precise left hand and right hand coordination. Practicing this with the bow only on open strings first is […]
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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. 19 The Lohengrin étude takes a line from the famous Wagner opera and basically expands on the techniques required in the opera. It’s similar (but more difficult!) to Popper 1 in that we have triplet staccato notes throughout. It is important here to have a real connection with
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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. 23 Popper 23 was our final étude of the year. In this video, we reflect on all that has made this project an awesome challenge. This study offers many different technical challenges and approaches. Bow legato, string crossings, bow distribution, quick changes of bow speed, shifting, octaves, unusual stretches
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 24 Christian Elliot (Irish Chamber Orchestra) came back for a second time with Popper 24, a beautiful and challenging study that explores a vast amount; thumb position, harmonics, developing the ear, string crossings, legato bowing and more.
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 26 We found this one to be a real workout for the left hand as well as the bow as it explores different hand positions in thumb position. Legato bowing with plenty of shifting and string crossings to keep us challenged!
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 29 This is a particularly challenging study, especially if your double stops have been on the back-burner lately. We talk a lot about psychology of practice and how to prepare a difficult work like this in our discussion this week. If you are attempting this study, be kind
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