The Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto is a work for cello and orchestra (or piano), written at an advanced level. Studying this Concerto often takes a year or more; it’s a major work! In this blog post, you have free exercises that will help you prepare to play the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor.

While there are no clearly marked or numbered movements, the Concerto does have three fairly distinct sections that might correlate with our idea of typical concerto movements. 

Some techniques used in the first two movements are octave shifts, fast shifting (sometimes called “runs”) into the high positions, double stop fifths and sixths, spiccato, and thumb position. 

Awkward bowing is a part of Saint-Saens’ most famous works for cello, including the Allegro Appassionato, The Swan, and Concerto No. 1 in A Minor. These exercises help you prepare for some of the bowing challenges at the beginning of the Cello Concerto No. 1.

Preparatory Saint-Saens Cello Exercise: Bowing II

The first exercise here, Scale Shifting helps you work on the positions used in the Concerto. The second exercise, Rhythm and Staccato uses staccato to help you prepare for the rhythm at the opening of the piece. 

Preparatory Saint-Saens Cello Exercise: Rhythm and Staccato

These exercises continue work on the rhythm at the beginning of the Concerto. Practicing the rhythm on a scale, instead of on a single note, is an organized way of practicing the rhythm that also helps you get the feeling of motion that is in the piece. 

Preparatory Saint-Saens Cello Exercise: Rhythm II

Octave Shifts are in many major works for cello, including the Saint-Saens Concerto, the Lalo Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations. More octave shift exercises can be found in Octave Shifts for the Cello, Book One, Book Two, and Book Three. 

Preparatory Saint-Saens Cello Exercise: Octave Shifts II

From the chromatic scale on page 2 of the Concerto to one of the famous “runs”, these exercises help you work on shifting in the Concerto. 

Preparatory Saint-Saens Cello Exercise: Shifting/Bowing Study

Note: These free e​xercises are not a substitute for a full study of the Concerto like the one in The Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1 Study Book. Instead, they help prepare you for the study book and show exercises can make learning more efficient.