A handbook to develop freedom of movement, balance and fluency at the cello.

Rather than being a “method” this book is simply a collection of exercises which attempt to explore and develop some of the sensations which I believe are essential to cellistic fluency and freedom of movement. They stem from my constant aim, both in teaching and practice, to uncover the essential sound-sensation connection – to find motion pathways that help us to release sound from the cello more effortlessly, and enable us to make connections more naturally from one musical gesture to the next. For those who are advanced players or simply feeling more adventurous, all of the shifting exercises should be transposed into different keys and played on different strings for a more complete warm-up

This booklet started as a way of collecting some of these exercises for my pupils, and it has been under a constant process of revision – and will continue to be, I am sure. The exercises are divided into units according to the type of challenge they address, and are accompanied by text explanations. I hope you will find some of them useful in your practice and possibly in your teaching work – some of them are quite advanced, and some really quite simple in execution.

Although some of the following ideas evolved through trial and error in practice and teaching, a great many (including some I probably think I “discovered” myself) were suggested by my own teachers directly, or were hinted at indirectly by distinguished colleagues.

Flesch - Scale System - Cello adapted by Boettcher Fischer O5131