Lesson 97 - New Piece, Popper Op. 76 No. 3

Last week's double stops exercises really focused my attention on slow and steady playing. Attention levels and overall discipline of bow control and breathing were all pushed beyond the usualness of practising; all good things.

We headed to Feuillard page 37 for the double stops preparatory exercises - 3 staves of deceptively simple but possible the most challenging finger acrobatics exercise I've had the pleasure of performing on the cello.

After a good run through of double stops, Deryn decides that it was time for a new piece to help improve finger dexterity; one of the areas of techniques that we haven't looked into. This was something I've observed recently as I receive new pieces that require me to play at faster tempos.

Popper Etude 3 from 15 Easy Etudes and 10 Grand Etudes Op. 76. For Cello has a wonderful melody and challenges finger flexibility and discipline at the higher registers and especially at thumb positions, which is another area of technique that hasn't been explored as much.