Popper Études 1-40 for Cello with Practice Videos and Notes

popper etudes ailbhe mcdonagh katie tertell

Cellists Katie Tertell (Durham University, UK) and Ailbhe McDonagh (Royal Irish Academy of Music, Ireland) introduce a practice guide to all 40 of the Popper HighSchool (Hohe Schule) Études. 

  • In-depth practice material for all 40 cello études!
  • More than 25 hours of video content
  • Filter by difficulty level
  • Filter by specific cello playing technique
  • Free content for all cellists

Update 17 May 2023: the project was covered in an article in The Strad magazine which you can read here: The epic Popper Project: how we learnt and performed all 40 Popper Etudes during lockdown.

During 2021, Katie and Ailbhe learned one Popper study each week, recorded a live discussion of practice tips and performed it live to each other. Each of these videos gives two professional cellists’ practice approaches to each étude. (Some had three!)

These videos demonstrate the process of learning one Popper study every week and the final live play through is not a finished product. The purpose is to publicly show our process to help others in their journey with Popper.

It is designed to be a positive, approachable and fun resource for cellists learning the Popper Études. Our performance at the end of each video shows our progress after one week.

Many thanks to our guests who joined the series over the year:

  • Martin Johnson – Leader at National Symphony Orchestra, Ireland
  • Christian Elliott – Leader at Irish Chamber Orchestra, Ireland
  • Madeleine Kabat – Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, USA
  • Tim Gill – Guildhall School of Music, UK
  • Eric Kutz – University of Maryland, USA
  • Saeunn Thorsteinsdóttir – University of Washington, USA
  • Erin Ellis – West Virginia Univesity, USA
  • Joely Koos – Trinity Laban, UK

Support Cello Power

If you enjoyed these videos and would like to support the musicians from Cello Power please donate by clicking the button below. Thank you!

Visit the cellists’ personal websites here: katietertell.com & ailbhemcdonagh.com