When a separate or slurred bowing pattern dictates the rhythm of a musical passage. The bow must direct string crossings within a slur very rhythmically for clarity.
Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 5 Popper 5 is a really fun study, marked “scherzando” which is Italian for “play in a playful manner”. This includes challenges for thumb position. We hope that we’ve helped to make this scherzando fun for you while exploring the ever-present and very important dotted-rhythm! (Beethoven 7 anyone?)
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 15 This is a great study with a wide variety of techniques. Not especially “thumb-y” but definitely focuses on some double-stops and tricky aspects of thumb position. We feel this is a great study to take a look at if you are interested in a career in orchestral
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 25 We had a great time exploring Popper 25 which helps to strengthen our bow arm playing near the tip of the bow, as well as dotted rhythms and some tongue-twisters for the left hand. We hope you enjoy. Important to have a clear rhythmic impulse despite left
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 28 We had SO much fun exploring Popper 28 this week with the amazing Joely, who inspired us to look at this study in totally new ways. Katie was a student of Joely’s and considers her a wonderful mentor and huge influence in her life. Join us as
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 37 Here’s a tricky study filled with LOTS of technical aspects… fast shifting, mordents, thumb position which also features on the lower two strings. Working out the mordents takes some attention. Coordinating the right hand and left hands is key – the bow must start before the beat
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Teaching Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 38 This étude appears extra challenging with the ‘presto’ tempo marking and the octaves. Starting slowly is highly recommended. Take out the octaves and practice the bow stroke on open strings first. Practicing this in rhythms is very helpful to increase the speed once you can play this
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Practice Notes for Popper Cello Étude No. 40 Popper 40 – as the last in the set, this is surprisingly not the most difficult of Popper’s collection of études but rather a very specialized study in natural harmonics. We were delighted to approach this study as it gives our thumb chops some time off! We
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