21st Century Cellists

(String Letter Publishing). This collection of interviews sparkles with the individual personalities of some of this century's most gifted cellists. With voices as unique as their instruments', these musicians reveal the facets and textures of their professional and personal lives. From the intrepid Bion Tsang to the dynamic Kenneth Slowik and the charming Yo-Yo Ma, these artists and many others discuss what it's like to be a soloist, member of an ensemble, composer, mentor, musical activist and recording artist. How they began, what cultural and historical forces shaped them, how they practice, and what they aspire to this and more are illuminated in this fascinating volume. Artists include: David Finckel, Ralph Kirshbaum, Laurence Lesser, Yo-Yo Ma, Kermit Moore, Carlos Prieto, Hai-Ye Ni, Kenneth Slowik, Bion Tsang, Jian Wang and Peter Wispelwey.

(Berklee Guide). Learn the contemporary techniques and practices of the modern cello. The collection is a vital exploration of 21st-century cello techniques that every contemporary cellist should know when playing music outside of the standard classical repertoire. By exploring techniques such as chopping, pizzicato, improvisation, chords, ornaments, modes, polyrhythmic playing, and more, you will be prepared to play in a variety of contexts, including folk, rock, funk, jazz, world music and accompanying yourself while singing. Compiled and edited by Mike Block, this volume of etudes contains pieces composed by: Ashley Bathgate * Mike Block * Stephen Braun * Rufus Cappadocia * Rushad Eggleston * Erik Friedlander * Eugene Friesen * Natalie Has * Giovanni Sollima * Mark Summer * Jacob Szekley * Matt Turner * Jeffrey Zeigler.

(String Letter Publishing). You've dedicated years of hard work to learning the skills needed to play the violin, viola, cello or bass. Now what? The talented contributors to Making Your Living as a String Player come from all walks of life from symphony members to street musicians, educators to impresarios. But all share one thing: each has crafted a successful career as a string player, learning to pay the bills by doing what they love the most. And you can learn to do the same. Inside this volume, culled from the pages of the award-winning Strings magazine, you will find practical tips on writing a resume, starting a freelance career, getting an edge in the workplace, creating your own chamber music series, setting up a successful teaching studio in your home, and much, much more. Let Making Your Living as a String Player help you jumpstart your career as a professional string player.

This book includes biographical information on Carlos Prieto, his contributions to music, as well as a detailed catalog of 72 pieces commissioned and/or dedicated to him. A graduate of MIT and a former director of Fundidora, the biggest steel company in Mexico, Carlos Prieto decided at the age of 38 to abandon his career as a business man and become a full time professional cellist. Since then he has premiered over 90 pieces, most of them commissioned and/or dedicated to him by Latin-American composers. These commissions and dedications represent about 50 percent of the music written for the cello by Latin-American composers. This is the first time a study has been conducted on this body of music.

In 1720, Antonio Stradivari crafted an exquisite work of art—a cello known as the Piatti. Over the next three centuries of its life, the Piatti cello left its birthplace of Cremona, Italy, and resided in Spain, Ireland, England, Italy, Germany, and the United States. In 1978, the Piatti became the musical soul mate of world-renowned cellist Carlos Prieto, with whom it has given concerts around the world. In this delightful book, Mr. Prieto recounts the adventurous life of his beloved "Cello Prieto," tracing its history through each of its previous owners from Stradivari in 1720 to himself. He then describes his noteworthy experiences of playing the Piatti cello, with which he has premiered some eighty compositions. In this part of their mutual story, Prieto gives a concise summary of his own remarkable career and his relationships with many illustrious personalities, including Igor Stravinsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, Pablo Casals, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriel García Márquez. A new epilogue, in which he describes recent concert tours in Moscow, Siberia, and China and briefer visits to South Korea, Taiwan, and Venezuela, as well as recent recitals with Yo-Yo Ma, brings the story up to 2009. To make the story of his cello complete, Mr. Prieto also provides a brief history of violin making and a succinct review of cello music from Stradivari to the present. He highlights the work of composers from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, for whose music he has long been an advocate and principal performer.

This innovative study of nineteenth-century cellists and cello playing shows how simple concepts of posture, technique and expression changed over time, while acknowledging that many different practices co-existed. By placing an awareness of this diversity at the centre of an historical narrative, George Kennaway has produced a unique cultural history of performance practices. In addition to drawing upon an unusually wide range of source materials - from instructional methods to poetry, novels and film - Kennaway acknowledges the instability and ambiguity of the data that supports historically informed performance. By examining nineteenth-century assumptions about the very nature of the cello itself, he demonstrates new ways of thinking about historical performance today. Kennaway’s treatment of tone quality and projection, and of posture, bow-strokes and fingering, is informed by his practical insights as a professional cellist and teacher. Vibrato and portamento are examined in the context of an increasing divergence between theory and practice, as seen in printed sources and heard in early cello recordings. Kennaway also explores differing nineteenth-century views of the cello’s gendered identity and the relevance of these cultural tropes to contemporary performance. By accepting the diversity and ambiguity of nineteenth-century sources, and by resisting oversimplified solutions, Kennaway has produced a nuanced performing history that will challenge and engage musicologists and performers alike.

Cello Chords is the perfect reference for the modern cellist. With 11 different chord types in all 12 keys, this is the only book on the market to focus solely on the cello's massive chordal potential. If you need a fresh way to play an A Minor 7th, you'll find 28 unique variations on that one chord. With intuitive categorization and suggested fingerings for every chord, finding new harmonic possibilities on the cello is easy. This book is suitable for cellists interested in all genres of music from rock, pop, and classical, to jazz and improvisation. Composers looking to expand the cello repertoire will also find this a handy reference. If you're interested in harmony on the cello, look no further.

String players face a bewildering array of terms related to their instruments. Because string playing is a living art form, passed directly from master to student, the words used to convey complex concepts such as bow techniques and fingering systems have developed into an extensive vocabulary that can be complicated, vague, and even contradictory. Many of these terms are derived from French, Italian, or German, yet few appear in any standard music dictionary. Moreover, the gulf separating classical playing from fiddle, bluegrass, jazz, and other genres has generated style-specific terms rarely codified into any reference work. All Things Strings: An Illustrated Dictionary bridges this gap, serving as the only comprehensive resource for the terminology used by the modern string family of instruments. All of the terms pertaining to violin, viola, cello, and double bass, inclusive of all genres and playing styles, are defined, explained, and illustrated in a single text. Entries include techniques from shifting to fingerboard mapping to thumb position; the entire gamut of bowstrokes; terms found in orchestral parts; instrument structure and repair; accessories and equipment; ornaments (including those used in jazz and bluegrass); explanations of various bow holds; conventions of orchestral playing; and types of strings, as well as information on a select number of famous luthiers, influential pedagogues, and legendary performers. All Thing Strings is expertly illustrated with original drawings by T. M. Larsen and musical examples from the standard literature. Appendixes include an extensive bibliography of recommended reading for string players and a detailed chart of bowstrokes showing notation and explaining execution. As the single best source for understanding string instruments and referencing all necessary terminology, All Things Strings is an essential tool for performers, private teachers, college professors, and students at all levels. It is also an invaluable addition to the libraries of orchestra directors and composers wishing to better understand the complexities of string playing. With the inclusion of terms relevant to all four modern string instruments played in all genres—from jazz to bluegrass to historically informed performance—this resource serves the needs of every string musician.