Best books about cellos according to redditors
We found 50 Reddit comments discussing the best books about cellos. We ranked the 32 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 50 Reddit comments discussing the best books about cellos. We ranked the 32 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Scales, my dear. Scales are you greatest friend and enemy. Also, slow practice enables faster learning. Sometimes the most efficient way to learn something is to go slow. Do not get frustrated at the time it takes to learn it.
When I first started learning cello, this book was my best friend. It will help you learn your finger positions, as well as provide music for you to practice it with.
Good luck!!
Well's Cunningham's Art of Scales is the best I've found, and I've been through all those mentioned here and more.
Cossman and Yampolsky are both pretty standard for building good technique. They both have scales and arpeggios and shit. I'm making the undergrads do segments of Cossman this semester for their scale classes and they are PISSED.
I haven't read it myself but Cello Playing for Music Lovers advertises it self as comprehensive and focused on adult beginners specifically . As a bonus one of the top reviews runs down multiple book options. Myself I'm also going through Essential Elements like you mentioned and enjoy it.
Since you're not going with a teacher I would highly suggest some YouTube channels like Johnathan Humphries and Sarah Joy.
Lastly, I would be iffy about being purely self taught, there are many teachers who do half hour lessons and will probably do it cheaper. Especially people who are current music students and don't have 15 years of teaching. Even if you had to go with once a month. There are ways in which you can give yourself unhealthy habits that could even be painful later on. So an occasional correction and instruction might really help. If you really can't... Play with a mirror.
You’ll get good advice from others- probably lift your elbow round etc etc.
But, this book is excellent- https://www.amazon.com/Bach-Cello-Suite-Study-Book/dp/1635230187
and, look into low tension strings. Holy shit I wish someone had told me that at uni. Life saver for people with little fingers.
And finally, think about the melodic contour/timbre you want; should it be a brighter sound, so A string, or do you need a mellow warmer D string tone? Are you breaking up the phrasing by changing strings or shifting?
Edit: nycellist to the rescue (that happens often on this sub!)- perhaps low gauge strings rather than low tension. I love my low tension strings but it might actually be the gauge rather than the tension that makes the playing easier.
You truncated a bit too much off the URL, here's a working one: https://www.amazon.com/Faure-Elegie-Study-Book-Cello/dp/1635230055/
Yup! Here's an Amazon link for you: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1491041900/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1376338926&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX110_SY190
Sorry if formatting is bad, I'm on my phone
I'd recommend Abby Newton's Crossing to Scotland as a decant collection of arrangements of Scottish Music. Also be sure to listen to the recording, since there's a whole lot that isn't necessarily on the page. My only issue is that not everything is in the traditional key signature. Someone else recommended Liz Davis Maxfield's Irish Cello book and that's also decant introduction to the genre with lots of text about how to adapt fiddle tunes to the cello. There's also a vast collection of tunes on thesession.org, though you should expect to have to transpose down one or two octaves.
If you're more focused accompaniment, take a look at some of the albums Natalie Haas has released. She also released an instructional DVD with PDF sheet music. Or, go all the way back and see the original arrangements Neil Gow wrote down. There's a long history of cello accompaniment in Scottish Music.
https://www.amazon.com/Bach-Cello-Suite-Study-Book/dp/1635230187
Both paperback and kindle formats available.
Grab
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-Cello-Suites-Mandolin-Unaccompanied/dp/1494347377/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1522833361&sr=8-3&keywords=bach+mandolin
and maybe this would be good too
https://www.elderly.com/two-book-set-the-raffaele-calace-method-for-mandolin-volumes-i-ii-english-edition.htm
I really like Yo-Yo Ma's album Solo. It has his rendition of Kodaly, but also several other really fun pieces, including the Alexander Tcherepnin Suite for solo cello which I ended up playing on my senior recital.
I also really like Phoebe Carrai's Bach suites.
Another favorite is Matt Haimovitz's Suites and Sonatas for Solo Cello, especially the Ligeti which is largely responsible for the success of his career.
Also, since you're interested in alternative takes on the Bach suites, a book of keyboard-oriented realizations of some of the movements was published last year. I haven't seen/heard it myself but I'm interested.
http://store.allthingsstrings.com/pages/series
http://thestrad.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Tipbook-Cello-Best-Guide-Instrument/dp/9076192472
Hi, I'm here to help! It sounds like you have a lot of natural talent you just need a little push in the right direction.
Etude Books
Janos Starker's Organized Method of String Playing is really useful for squaring out your left hand, which will ultimately aid you in speed, vibrato and intonation. Make sure to go slowly with each exercise, but they have nifty blurbs about each exercises intention.
Any of the Popper etudes will do. They look really scary at first, and they don't go in order of difficulty. My suggestion is to start with 1, 6, 7, 11, 19 and then just pick ones that sound pretty or that you're interested in tackling. Joshua Roman has played every single one, so if you ever want to hear what it sounds like or just be awed by his virtuousity, I highly recommend. Each etude focuses on a different aspect of cello playing, so try to hone in on whatever the etude is trying to work on, and focus on it when playing.
One of the best ways to practice technique is to practice scales while applying different aspects of cello playing. That way, you're essentially killing two birds with one stone. Playing scales can be tedious at times, but it is so worth the effort, I can't emphasis that enough. Mark Yampolsky has a fantastique book of just scales, and for each scale he goes through triads, thirds with doublestops, sixths with doublestops, broken thirds, and more. He also puts little footnote things at the bottom of most exercises so that you can make the most out of them.
I never used this book (my teacher probably made me buy it at one point and then forgot about making me buy it) but looking through it, it has a lot of the really good things I talked about with the other etude books. S. Lee's Method for Cello includes both scale work and etudes/studies for various kinds of techniques. It's pretty all inclusive so even without ever using it, I'd say it's pretty good, since it basically includes the best of the other etudes I mentioned.
Other books I've gone through in my early days, I'm not writing a review on them all, you can check them out.
Justus Johann's Dotzauer 113 Studies, Book 1
Position Pieces for Cello: Book 1 by Rick Mooney
Also by Rick Mooney, Thumb Position For Cello Book 1
Grant's Intermediate Etudes in the Positions for Violoncello
Extra
Alistair McRae has an excellent tumblr that he has since stopped updating, but he is very philosophical and knowledgeable about cello techniques, and he posts some fantastic videos/posts on vibrato, posture, and practice tips which are actually genius. He has his own ideas for technique books which I won't post here for redundancy's sake but they're there.
Last but not least, I have my own suggestions for practicing better. Practice with intention. I know you said that you started practicing the orchestra music for an hour a day, but I'm a little skeptical as to how meaningful this practice is. It must either be really difficult orchestra music, or you know it like the back of your hand and you are running it through during your practice sessions, because a solid hour a day for a week should be enough to know the music almost entirely. Instead of practicing an hour, practice when you feel ready to work, that is, spend a lot of time on small segments of music/scales/techniques, and stop practicing when you feel your attention slipping, because practicing bad habits is the worst thing you could possibly do. Spend 15 minutes practicing bad habits and waste an hour trying to correct them. Don't give up hope! I know I just threw a lot at you, and I'm going to stop now, but if you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, take a step back, relax, and breathe. You don't have to dive right into any of these etude books. If you're just coming out of a cellofunk, in which you were unmotivated to practice, trying to work on technique is probably the worst thing you could possibly do. It's tedious, it's hard, and progress is so slow that it almost feels like you're slipping backwards. My suggestion right now, is probably to find a pretty cello piece that you really really like listening to, and work on that, because then you'll be motivated to practice. Then, you can start incorporating the technique books, and not only working on them in etudes, but applying them to the piece you're working on. Buy a book of cello solos like this one and just go crazy. Hope this helped! Good luck :)
Bow hand: Other guys have said it, closer to the bridge, even contact point. I would add that you want to apply pressure through your pointer finger because the shorter the string gets (the further up the fingerboard you go) the harder it will be to produce a loud and strong sound, so you will have to compensate.
Left hand: Learn all of the thumb position patterns. This is the book I used, it covers all of the basics with the thumb resting on the first harmonic. A problem I always had learning thumb position at first was my brain was used to the same spacing for whole and half steps, but as you get higher on the fingerboard, the spacing changes, so it will take a little bit of time to develop the muscle memory. Once you get it, you get it, there's not much too it after that.
I have used a book called "Cello Playing for Music Lovers - a self teaching method" by Vera Mattlin Jiji for teaching one of my adult students. You can look inside the book on Amazon.com and see if you like it. It includes a CD which helps you hear the proper sound. The writer is a retired English professor who writes well, and provides accurate word descriptions and reference photographs.
It is much better to have a teacher, but if you need to start on your own, this book may be useful reference material for the correct hand position, posture, etc. and it has a number of songs to play arranged in a progressive sequence.
If you buy this book, don't pay list price for it. You should be able to find it for under USD $40.00.
You got great musical tips so far, but there’s some technique you might want to go with it.
I recommend the book “The Irish Cello Book” by Liz Davis Maxfield. Not easy coming from a classical background (from my experience) but it’s a lot of fun and gives you a lot of the same techniques used for American folk music like bluegrass too.
Music for the cello: http://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_Compositions_Featuring_the_Cello
Etude book to learn 1st position: http://www.amazon.com/Krane-Charles-School-Studies-Publishers/dp/B0049BQOFG
Online Lessons from great cellist: http://www.cellobello.com/
Some Tips: http://www.cello.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Tips
Hopefully these resources help you some.
As this thread suggests, I recommend renting a decent instrument instead of buying right off the bat. Also, if you have a choice, ask for a wooden bow if your rental place typically rents out fiberglass bows. Fiberglass bows are heavier than wooden bows.
I have that book, and I think there's a second volume as well. But I think this one is better and it actually uses the Galamian acceleration method for scales, arpeggios, and more:
The Art of Scales, by Wells Cunningham
You should take it to Kinko's and get it spiral bound so it stays open.
This is the one I have... and I am in no way affiliated, blah, blah, blah :) There's a series of these fiddling for cello books that go from basic to regular and then encore, so there's a nice skill progression, I think? They also have a series of traditional american fiddle songs, I'm thinking of grabbing that. It's really cool to find stuff that's in range for both my violins and I that we can all play and enjoy together.
https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Fiddlers-Philharmonic-Celtic-Fiddle-ebook/dp/B00EUR3ADS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492691390&sr=8-1&keywords=philharmonic+celtic+cello
No problem! Here's a link to where you can get it....
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Force-Awakens-Instrumental/dp/1495060160/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465522723&sr=8-1&keywords=star+wars+cello+force+awakens
Looking over the list again and going through the books, I'd start with Star Wars, Piatti, Yampolsky, The Royal Conservatory of Music (this is a book from Canada, but a very well organized grade system - maybe consider the Grade 2 book and Technical one as well), Schroeder, and Position Pieces Book 1. That should give you a solid start!
J. S. Bach The Cello Suites for Mandolin: the complete Suites for Unaccompanied Cello transposed and transcribed for mandolin in staff notation and tablature https://www.amazon.com/dp/1494347377/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1yzwDbAEGHEP2
Thanks! For anybody else on computer, here is your link: http://www.amazon.com/Changes-Position-Cello-Op-8/dp/1491041900/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376339135&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=Amazon.comChanges+of+Position+for+Cello%3A+Op.+8+%28Paperback%29
David Popper: High School Of Cello Playing Opus. 73 (Schirmer Library of Classics) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1458418561/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_jnKxDbDWFR26Y
Bach: Six Suites for Violoncello solo BWV 1007-1012 (Cello) Sheet Music https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00006M06L/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6nKxDbZBFQ6CC
The Great Cello Solos https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/071192998X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_vpKxDb17V51HW
These are my bibles. The Popper is used for studies and the Bach for both. The final book is some of the greatest cello pieces and accompaniments (like Faure’s Elégie and The Swan, etc) however it misses out the Rachmaninoff sonata (the third movement is my favourite)
there are students who are more advanced than me, but everyone is < 1 year. 3 students in total, I think, including myself.
I have been thinking of supplementing with online lessons, or perhaps a book like this one: https://www.amazon.ca/Cello-Playing-Music-Lovers-Self-Teaching/dp/1412095603/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481493285&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=cello+for+music+lovers.
But only as a supplement, not a replacement.
I only played in Junior/High school. I quit for 7 years for college. I picked up the cello again once I had a steady job and musician friends needing a cellist.
Since I still remembered all of the foundational information, I just focused on carving out time for self-teaching. I found this book super helpful:
https://www.amazon.com/Cello-Playing-Music-Lovers-Self-Teaching/dp/1412095603/
You’ll be surprised how fast things come back. Focus on the mechanics, and then the polishing. A tuner app can get you going to make sure you’re in tune to start. The app Intonia is amazing for visualizations your intonation in real-time.
The next really important part, more so than a teacher in my opinion, is finding your reason to play and play constantly. Do it for your self-expression, do it for fun, do it to make mistakes. Just enjoy playing.
I’ve been playing for about 10 years now. I’ve done community orchestras, small cello quartet ensembles (continued learning class @ community college), a few bands doing folk/Jazz/Swedish music, etc.
What will kill your efforts is self-criticism. I had to learn to be okay with mistakes and find the joy in playing.
Good luck!
Here are some resources:
The Fiddling Cellist by Renata Bratt: https://www.amazon.com/Fiddling-Cellist-Renata-Bratt/dp/0786686308/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
The Irish Cello Book by Liz Davis Maxfield: https://www.amazon.com/Irish-Cello-Book-Traditional-Techniques/dp/0876391374/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0876391374&amp;pd_rd_r=HSVQMVQYS80GS8MS1P73&amp;pd_rd_w=sBI0P&amp;pd_rd_wg=iZr7i&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=HSVQMVQYS80GS8MS1P73