POPULARITY POPULARIT Y CONTEST: MOST COMMONLY USED ETUDE BOOKS IN AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES by Dr. Ozan Tunca
Reprinted with permission permission from from AMERICAN STRING STRING TEACHER, Vo Vol. 54, No. !A"#"st $%%4&. Cop'ri#ht $%%4, Ameri()n Strin# Te)(hers Te)(hers Asso(i)tion. Scales, etudes, performance repertoire, and orchestral excerpts are the basic teaching materials for the cello student. In addition to scales and arpeggios, etudes provide both the facility and the technical foundation for the student's development. Etudes offer a concentrated study of one or more technical aspects in a short musical form. Depending upon the author and the date of composition, etudes differ both in style and technical demands. Cello students entering universities are most likely at different playing levels and although although they may reuire different different study materials, materials, there are some common cello etude books that apply to the ma!ority. It is only natural for teachers to use their o"n past training as a source for determining the proper etudes for their students. #eachers consider the level of difficulty and the efficiency of etudes and can compare them "ith a pool of other studies that they have encountered over the years. $n the other hand, in order to be informed about teaching materials other than the familiar ones, teachers need a source that lists the availability and the level of such materials. %y research "as done by sending surveys to randomly selected cello professors in &merican colleges and universities. espectively, espectively, (opper, Schroeder and Duport are the composers of the most commonly used cello etude books. (opper's book is the most chromatic one, Schroeder's is a collection of etudes composed by different cellists, and Duport's is the oldest of all the books that "ere in the survey. )hen combined, these books offer variety in terms of techniue, style and musical era. THE THREE MOST COMMON CELLO ETUDE BOOKS
DAVID DAVID POPPER
$ne of the most prominent cellists of his generation, David (opper "as born on *une +, +- in (rague. /rom +00 to +1+ he studied at the (rague Conservatory "ith *ulius 2oltermann, and graduated by playing his o"n concerto. In +1-, he gave the first performance of obert 3olkmann's 3olkmann's & %inor %inor Cello Concerto "ith 4ans von
56lo" conducting the 5erlin (hilharmonic. (opper "as principal cellist of the 3ienna Court $pera bet"een +1 and +7, and also played in the 4ellmesberger 8uartet "ith *oseph 4ellmesberger, &dolf 5rodsky, and Sigismund 5achrich. In +7, he gave up his posts in order to undertake concert tours to 2ermany, /rance, England, and ussia "ith his "ife, pianist Sophie %enter. (opper "as the first to perform concertos of *oseph 4aydn and obert Schumann, "hich are among the most popular "orks of the cello repertoire today. /ran9 :is9t recommended (opper for the teaching position at the ;ational 4ungarian oyal &cademy of %usic in +1, "here many famous musicians of the future, such as 5 Dohn?nyi, and @olt?n Aod?ly "ere students. :eaving an impressive output of music for cellists and students, (opper died in 5aden, near 3ienna, on &ugust 7, +B+. (opper "rote four concertos +7+, +, +, +B Re*"iem for Three Cellos )nd +r(hestr) 4amburg, +BF, t"o suites op. +1 and 0, and a string uartet, as "ell as a considerable number of character and salon pieces. 4e also composed teaching materialG Hi#h S(hool of Cello l)'in# , op. 7 :eip9ig, +B+H0 Ten Medi"m -iffi("lt St"dies, op. 71 +B7 E)s' St"dies for Cello, op. 71a +B. High School of Cello Playing, op. 73 (Leipzig !"#
%$%ost of the op. 7 studies are musically appealing, "hich makes practicing them en!oyable for the student. & uniue feature of (opper's studies is that they are more chromatic than most of the studies that "ere "ritten earlier in the nineteenth century. #his makes them more challenging for accurate intonation. %any passages consist of ascending and descending seuences, "hich are effective for learning the relationship of one position to the next. + In etude number F the left hand moves by half step playing many notes in each position Ex. +.
E)mple /. opper, Et"de no. 0, mm. 012. <hough the op. 7 studies cover many aspects of cello playing, they do not really explore a "ide range of bo"ing techniues. &lso the difficulty of the studies does not progress gradually.
Some etudes have very specific technical goalsG F, , -, 7, , +F, F+, FF, F, F-, F1, F, FB and reuire the ability to play many notes in one bo". #hese studies address a variety of leftHhand problems "ith a "ellHsustained bo" Ex. F.
E)mple $. opper, Et"de no. $, mm. /14. ;umber 1 is designed to improve agility and synchroni9ation bet"een the t"o hands. ;umbers B, + and +7 are double stop studies in thumb positions. ;umbers and +F emphasi9e the grouping of the left hand in thumb positions. ;umbers +- and F are staccato studies and, number F7 is clearly for spi(()to. ;umber 7 is a study on mordents and number - is on harmonics. #here are also those etudes that are more musical and include a combination of techniues, such as numbers +0, F, FF, + and 1. Tab! " ## E$u%!& $'a$ In()(! S*!c+,+c T!c'n+-u!& T!c'n+ca C'a!n/!& A%%r!&&!%
E$u%!&
:eft 4and &gility
1, F7, 7, F, 7, +F, +, F-, F1,
#humb (ositions
+-, F, F, , +, -, F, FF, F+, 7, +F, +0, +, , F1, F-, 0, FB, , B,
(osition Establishment
+, F, , 1, F, ++, ,
#rills, grace notes
7
Double #rills
+
Double Stops
-, +7, F, FB, B, +,
$ctaves
F, F, +, B,
5o"ing #echniues
+, F, 0, ++, +0, +B, F7, F0, 0,
Slurred Staccato
+-, F
J Etudes "ere put in order in terms of their difficulty AL&I' SCHROEDER
2ermanH&merican cellist and pedagogue &l"in Schroeder "as born in ;euhaldensleben, Saxony, on *une +0, +00. 4is older brother Aarl Schroeder "as also a distinguished cellist "ho taught at the :eip9ig Conservatory. &l"in first studied the viola in 5erlin at the 4ochschule f6r %usik and "as engaged by several orchestras as a violist. In +70, he started to play the cello in Aarl :iebig's orchestra in 5erlin. & year later he "ent to 4amburg to be a cellist in :aube Aappelle. %oving to :eip9ig in +, Schr>der "as appointed to share the position of principal cello "ith *ulius Alengel in the 2e"andhaus orchestra, and began teaching at the conservatory after his brother left. 4e toured "ith great success as a soloist in 2ermany and ussia. &round +B+, he accepted an appointment as solo cellist in the 5oston Symphony $rchestra. 4e also played in several uartets such as the Aneisel and 4ess 8uartets. Schroeder died in 5oston, $ctober +7, +BF. 4e published some study material and made transcriptions for cello. 7" o)n*a+ion S+)*ie fo- Violoncello
&l"in Schroeder's +7 studies are in three volumes. /eaturing "orks of cellists from several different countries, most apparent benefit of this compilation is of its diversity. #he etudes are selected and progressively arranged from the "orks of 5uchler, Cossmann, Dot9auer, Duport, /ranchomme, 2r6t9macher, Aummer, :ee, %erk, (iatti, Schroeder, and Servais. In general the studies are arranged in terms of their difficulty very "ell. &ll of the first and most of the second volumes rather belong to the preH college level student. Due to the large uantity and the diversity of the etudes in the third volume of the etude book, information related to specific etudes "ill be limited to #able F. Tab! 0 ## E$u%!& $'a$ In()(! S*!c+,+c T!c'n+-u!& T!c'n+ca C'a!n/!& A%%r!&&!%
E$u%!&
:eft 4and &gility
+, +-F, +-1, +0H+0, +1+, +10
#humb (osition
+01, +0, +1F, +1-, +10, +1B
(osition Establishment
+, +7, ++, ++B, +0, +-F, +07, +1
%ultiple Stops
+-, +-, +-0, +0-, +0, +-7, +11H+1
$ctaves
+1, +01, +17
5o"ing #echniues
+, +B, +-+, +-, +--, +-, +-B, +0, +0+, +0-, +0, +0B, +1F, +1, +11, +1B, +7
:eft and ight 4and Coordination
BF, B-, +, ++, +B, +-, +-1, +-B, +0, +0+, +10, +7
J Etudes "ere put in order in terms of their difficulty EA'#LO/IS D/POR0
*eanH:ouis Duport "as born in (aris on $ctober -, +7-B, and began studying the cello at an early age "ith his older brother *eanH(ierre Duport. &t the age of eighteen he made his debut in the Con(ert Spirit"el , accompanied by his brother. Subseuently he performed in (aris under the patronage of (rince of 2u
E)mple . -"port, Et"de no. , mm. /14. 1 e+)*e (c23%
%ost of the etudes are "orks by *eanH:ouis Duport himself. #here are three exceptionsG numbers 1, and +. %artin 5erteau, *eanH(ierre's teacher, composed the first one. It is a very musical study and also a good introduction to thumb position. ;umber and + are compositions by *eanH(ierre. #he first of these, number , is especially challenging for the coordination of the hands. Double stops combined "ith highly challenging bo"ing techniues make the etude an excellent study for left and right hand coordination Ex. -.
E)mple 4. -"port, Et"de no. 7, mm. /1. ;umber + makes use of thumb positions and virtuoso bo" techniues such as s)lt)ndo, Ex. 0. F
E)mple 5. -"port, Et"de no. /%, mm. /1. #he studies are not placed in order of difficulty and some are very lengthy. ;umbers F, +F, +7, + and F+ are five pages each, and number B is six pages. #he first study, for example, is composed entirely of double stops and is much more difficult than some of the later ones Ex. 1.
E)mple 0. -"port, Et"de no. /, mm. /10. #he ma!ority of studies includes both thumb and neck positions. ¬her characteristic of Duport's etudes is that almost all of them have detailed dynamic
markings similar to regular performance repertoire. )hile the etudes are musically appealing, most of them make use of various techniues. #here are also studies concentrating on a specific problemG numbers +, , +- and +1 are for double stops numbers -, 0, 1, 7, and + are for bo"ing techniues. Tab! 1 ## E$u%!& $'a$ In()(! S*!c+,+c T!c'n+-u!& T!c'n+ca C'a!n/!& A%%r!&&!%
E$u%!&
Scales regular and chromatic
, +, F+
#humb (ositions
++, B, +, +, 1, +F, +-, +, +7, F+
(osition Establishment
+B, F, +, B, +7, F+
%ultiple Stops
B, +, , +0, +F, +-, +1
5o"ing #echniues
-, 0, 1, 7, , B, ++, +, +, F
String Crossings
-, 0, 7, F
:eft and ight 4and Coordination
-, 0,
J Etudes "ere put in order in terms of their difficulty EA'S O 0HE 4OO5S
#he participants numbered the etude books according to the freuency of use. $n a scale of eleven, the number one indicated the most freuently used etude book. In the KothersK column, some participants suggested *anos Starker's An +r#)ni8ed Method of Strin# l)'in# , Areut9erHSilva -F Etudes, and /rancis 2rant's several books of etudes. Tab! 2 ## T'! M)&$ C)33)ny U&!% C!) E$u%! B))4& E$u%! B))4
M!an ), $'! U&a/! 5r!-u!ncy
(opper
+.B7
Schroeder
F.B7
Duport
-.+F
(iatti
1.17
Dot9auer
7.+F
/ranchomme Etudes
.0
/ranchomme Caprices
.0
2r6t9macher
.1+
Servais
B.-
%erk
B.7B
$thers
+.
