Essential Advanced Cello Books in Order of Study

Shifting in Keys for Cello

The perfect warm-up for early-advanced cello lessons!

The shifts in this book are stress-free and help students mentally connect to the fingerboard even after a long day at school.

The focus of the book should be intonation. Having students play with a strong, clear tone can help them hear their notes better and work on learning the spaces correctly.

During lessons, Cassia makes up a piano accompaniment to these with simple chords that helps students hear their intonation. Teachers: if you don’t play the piano, drone notes can work the same way.

Learning Three-Octave Scales on the Cello

This is the book that Cassia uses to teach her students how to play scales.

Three-octave scale playing and higher positions can be introduced quite early with this book. The exercises dissect scales and teach the spaces and the shifts methodically. At the end of working through each four-page section that teaches a scale, students can reliably play that scale.

With students who already know how to play scales, this book can act as an intonation trainer. And because it works so intensively on every part of the scale, this book can be used to prepare scales for auditions!

Treble Clef for the Cello

This book gives students a comprehensive study of treble clef on the cello.  Before this book was written, treble clef was introduced to students with Learning Three-Octave Scales and Thumb Position School.

However, it became clear that a step-by-step method was needed to both teach the clef and teach students how bass, tenor, and treble clef are releated to each other.

Advanced students enjoy the relatively stress-free approach to learning the clef.

Thumb Position School for Cello

A complete study of beginning thumb position.

This book focuses on playing across strings and learning finger spacing patterns in different keys.

Each page of exercises is followed by a page of short pieces that use the skills that were just taught.

For a series that is more spare, with just exercises and a heavy focus on shifting into thumb position, check out Thumb Position for the Cello, Books One and Two.

Learning Three-Octave Arpeggios for the Cello

In the same way that scales are taught in Learning Three-Octave Scales for the Cello, arpeggios are taken apart and taught in this book.

Three separate fingering are included for each arpeggio: across strings, up the A-string, and using the thumb.

The exercises for these three sets of fingerings give students a comprehensive study of the cello fingerboard.

Arpeggios teach bigger shifts than scales do, making them absolutely essential training for advanced cellists.

Three-Octave Scales for the Cello, Book Two

Playing plain scales daily only helps students work on a limited set of skills. Assigning scale variations can exponentially increase the skills that are taught.

This book, along with Book Three and Book Four,  gives cellists daily scale variations that will provide a more comprehensive training in advanced cello technique.

In addition to all of this, scale variations help prevent boredom in a daily scale regimen!

The Popper High School Study Book for Cello, Volume One

The level and technical scope of Popper’s genius etudes for advanced cello require students to spend quite a bit of time on each etude. Even after extensive practice, however, these etudes are still tremendously difficult.

The exercises in this book support the etudes, teaching every measure and helping students master all of the technique needed.

Both this volume and Volume Two are especially valuable books for students preparing for college auditions.

Thumb Position Studies for the Cello, Book One

The seven published books in this series give students hundreds of daily thumb positions workouts that will train them for advanced repertoire.

Each exercise can be studied for 1-7 days.

As the exercises progress through the positions, they build strength and teach spacing.

Different volumes teach different skills, with this first book focusing on the spaces in major scales across two strings.

The Swan Study Book for Cello

This is a Late-Intermediate/Early-Advanced book.

Cassia uses this book to help her students work on tone and shifting into the higher positions.

Included in Suzuki Book Six, The Swan is often used as an intermediate teaching piece. Practically speaking, it is much more of an early-advanced piece, as it requires significant left and right hand strength to be able to make the higher notes sound good.

The books in the Open String Bow Workouts series are a good precursor to this book. They help prepare for pieces like The Swan that require a thick, luscious tone by letting the student focus on getting every note ringing without the distraction of hte left hand.

The Faure Elegie Study Book for Cello

This is a Late-Intermediate/Early-Advanced book.

One very memorable year, Cassia had to teach the Faure Elegie to eleven different students weekly, from June to December, for a district orchestra audition.

Several months in, she realized that she was giving out identical corrections and practice suggestions. Students would then go home, forget the suggestions, come in the next week and have to start over. That was the impetus for writing this book.

The cello repertoire study books allow teachers to assign exercises during the week that teach the notes in a section. If the technique has already been learned, lesson time can be spent on musicality, phrasing, etc.

The Allegro Appassionato Study Book for Cello

This is a Late-Intermediate/Early-Advanced book.

This exciting, bravura teaching piece is often assigned to prepare students to play the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto.

However, there is still a fair amount of difference between the two pieces technically. And if Allegro Appassionato is sloppily learned, the distance to the Saint-Saens Concerto No. 1 is even greater.

This book can help! By giving students exercises that help them master every note of the piece, this book solidifies their technique in anticipation of their first major Concerto.

The Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1 Study Book, Part One

This book helps students learn and master every measure of this piece, which is often used as a student’s first “major” Concerto.

Cassia actually chooses the first Concerto based on each student’s personality and technique. The Saint-Saens Concerto No. 1, the Haydn Concerto in C Major, and the Lalo Cello Concerto are all good choices for the first Concerto.

Whenever this piece is taught, students tend to get stuck at the top of the third page, with the double stops. This book gives ample exercises for mastering that (and every) section in this important Concerto.