Category: Cello Exercises

Free Preparatory Exercises for the Squire Tarantella!

9/17/2022

Exciting New Release for Cello!

The Squire Tarantella for Cello Practice Edition has Preparatory Exercises for each difficult part of the piece. Then, the book continues with study notes: the entire Tarantella with positions, extensions, rhythm, and more marked for you! A performance edition of the piece comes next, then a cello duet that was written specifically for the Tarantella, and the piano accompaniment, and finally Cello Curriculum pages that show you where the Tarantella could fit in a traditional course of study.

Here is an overview of what's in the book:

Sample pages from the book:

Learn More About the Book

To Celebrate the Release of the New Tarantella Book

Cassia has written a set of all-new Free Preparatory Exercises that are not included in the book!
You can use these extra exercises to work on agility and shifting before you start work on the Tarantella and help to make your study easier.

Squire Tarantella - Exercise 1

Free Squire Tarantella Preparatory Exercise No. 1

Squire Tarantella - Exercise 2

Free Squire Tarantella Preparatory Exercise No. 2

Squire Tarantella - Exercise 3

Free Squire Tarantella Preparatory Exercise No. 3

Squire Tarantella - Exercise 4

Free Squire Tarantella Preparatory Exercise No. 4

Squire Tarantella - Exercise 5

Free Squire Tarantella Preparatory Exercise No. 5

Squire Tarantella - Exercise 6

Free Squire Tarantella Preparatory Exercise No. 6

Squire Tarantella - Exercise 7

Free Squire Tarantella Preparatory Exercise No. 7

Squire Tarantella - Exercise 8

Free Squire Tarantella Preparatory Exercise No. 8

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Free Beginning Cello Etudes!

10/3/2021

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I am in love with cello etudes.

There are very few things in life that make me more excited than finding new cello etudes. I've been searching for etudes since I was in junior high, working on the Werner cello method by myself (my teacher at the time didn't assign etudes or exercises) and found myself puzzled over the rests at the beginning of some of the studies. Was there (gasp) a piano accompaniment? This was before widespread internet access but I searched library catalogs, obsessively looked at the back covers of cello music looking for any mention of a piano part, and asked everyone I came across. Nobody had any idea...

A few years later, we had our first computer (good old dial-up internet access) and I found Ebay. I searched for old cello music late into the night, every night.

One night, I found a large collection of cello music on Ebay and in it, there was a copy of the Werner Cello Method Piano Accompaniment - all volumes. I was so excited to find out that yes, Werner had written a piano part; the book actually did exist! Now all I had to do was win the auction.

I put in a low bid and waited while the bids rose that week. I waited until a few hours before the auction closed and then I sat, staring at the page, refreshing it every few seconds.

Dial-up internet was slow and unreliable and I was shaking as I waited for the minutes to tick by. One minute before the auction ended, I started bidding again. I bid higher (hands shaking,) bid higher, oh no - I'm outbid, bid higher, move faster Cassia! And then it was over. I couldn't believe it but I had won. The Werner was going to be mine!

There have been numerous moments of great etude-finding joy since: The store in Italy that actually answered my email about a huge number of rare etude books they'd gotten from an old estate and sent the package with Zacchini, Moja, and so much more. The library in Switzerland that didn't answer the first five emails I sent but answered the sixth; with the file of the Nolck book I was looking for actually attached! The used book stores and internet sites and WorldCat continue to have treasures and yes, there's still Ebay.

But through it all, the greatest joy has been playing and teaching with these amazing etudes. I knew there had to be a way to make them available in a practical way. It has taken a long time but we finally have a practical, graded system of rare and classic cello etudes that works for my students.

There will be a number of volumes in The Cello Etude System:
Part 0: Beginning Level
Parts 1A and 1B: First Position, Closed
Parts 2A and 2B: First Position, Extended, and Half Position
Part 3A: First and Fourth Position
and many more!

The First Volume of Cello Etudes is Released!

This is the solo book. The student etude part is written on its own, without accompaniment. This can help with note-reading and making it easier to find and work on skills.

LEARN MORE

Etudes are the bridge between technical exercises and repertoire. The best etudes teach one or more specific cello skills, often combined with opportunities to develop musicality.

Etudes are an essential part of any cello curriculum and now, finally, there is a book that gives beginning cellists a system of etudes they can play from the very start of their cello journey!

Duet accompaniments provide another layer of teaching. With the duet accompaniments in this book, there is a focus on rhythm that will prepare the student for later chamber and orchestral music-making!

LEARN MORE

There were too many beginning etudes to fit in The Cello Etude System, Part 0 so we decided to offer some of the extra beginning cello etudes for free in this blog!
Happy Etude Playing!

-Cassia

Free Beginning Cello Etude No. 1

Free Beginning Cello Etude No. 2

Free Beginning Cello Etude No. 3

No. 3, cont.

Free Beginning Cello Etude No. 4

Free Beginning Cello Etude No. 5

Free Beginning Cello Etude No. 6

Free Beginning Cello Etude No. 7

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Learning Long Slurs on the B Major Scale for Cello: Free Cello Exercises!

3/24/2021

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Learn to play the long slur at the bottom of page 38 in The Two Octaves Book for Cello!

When I was asked about ways to learn and practice the long slur at the bottom of p.38 in The Two Octaves Book for Cello, I knew I wouldn't be able to answer the email just with text because there are so many great exercises to learn long slurs.

Here's the slur. It's pretty tricky to play all of the shifts, save enough bow for all of the notes, and keep everything smooth and even!

Here are some tips for working on these free cello exercises!

Tips for Playing Long Slurs on the Cello

And here are free cello exercises that can help you learn the long slurs on the B major scale:

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 1

Learning Long Slurs on the B Major Scale, for Cello - Free Cello Exercises

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 2

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 3

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 4

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 5

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 6

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 7

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 8

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 9

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 10

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 11

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 12

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 13

Learning Long Slurs on the Cello, Page 14

Want More Scale and Arpeggios Variations? Check out The Two Octaves Book for Cello!

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Free Christmas Duets to Celebrate New Book Releases!

12/10/2019

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How three new duet books made it to press in the middle of a super busy fall...

In the middle of way too many scheduled performances and tons of teaching, Myanna was writing the books in the Dancing Into Bethlehem series.

Now, I just have to say that Myanna is wonderfully secretive. She never reveals what books she'll write next; no group-think or input from anyone ever inspires what will be written.

However, I can tell something new is coming when I hear strains of her duets wafting up from the studio below mine. Myanna's music is just so inventive, evoking film scores and folk dances, that I always know when I'm hearing her arrangements.

Writing is just the first part. After that she figures out bowings, edits the books, plays through the books many times, tries the duets out with her many students, and finally sends the books to me. Yay.

Although I've figured out that new books are coming, I can only prepare so much. Most of the work I do can't start until I actually have the manuscripts.

I pick the titles, design the covers, set up the layouts, do more proofreading, register the ISBNs, send the books to our various printers, make book cover and sample page images for the website, write the book descriptions, design the webpages, order the books, and finally start letting everyone know.

Let's just say that Black Friday shopping didn't happen. I didn't even have time to do Cyber Monday shopping! Instead, I caught a few of those "Cyber Monday Extended" sales. Yep, those extended sales are just about perfect for us.

As an aside, I'd like to thank our wonderful UPS, USPS, and Fedex, and AmazonFresh delivery people, without whom this company (and these hungry musicians) would not be able to run!

Here's a little bit about the new books:

All duets are compatible between instruments (violin and viola, violin and cello, and viola and cello can play together!)
All duets are intermediate. The violin and viola books are all in first position but are musically and technically challenging. The cello book uses first through fourth positions (but no tenor clef.)
Myanna picked a really neat selection of carols and Christmas music! I love her other Christmas duet book, Sailing Into Bethlehem, and I'm excited to have new music to play with my students this year.
These duets can be played for gigs, in lessons, or just for fun. They bring an enchanting, lively warmth to the Christmas season!

And to Celebrate the Release,

Here Are Some Free Mini Books of Carols!

These free violin, viola, and cello duets are compatible between instruments, just like the duets in Sailing Into Bethlehem and Dancing Into Bethlehem.
These duets are not included in either of the two Christmas duet books; they're only available here!