Tight in the thumb position

For advanced cellists, the thumb position opens up the high register. Learning this complex technique is sometimes taught rather dryly in older teaching materials. This is quite different in Gabriel Koeppen's booklet Thumb position. Each position is introduced with a short, basic exercise. And then you can start playing. It is very cleverly designed that most of the pieces are composed in duo form. This offers pupils a great intonation aid so that they can quickly gain confidence in the "eternal snow of the colophonium". In addition to arranged folk songs and original compositions by the classical cellists Dotzauer and Romberg, the musical exercises also contain numerous original pieces and arrangements by Gabriel Koeppen, which entertainingly cover the areas of serious and popular music.

Gabriel Koeppen: Thumb position, duets and exercises for the introduction to thumb playing on the violoncello, ED 22567, € 22.00, Schott, Mainz 2017