The Art of Scales: A New Approach to Mastering Scales on the Cello
by Wells Cunningham, MM. Bill’s Music Shelf, $19.95.
Scales are so fundamental to solid cello technique, and finding various ways to practice scales and keep them interesting for professionals and students alike can be challenging. One of my favorite keepsakes from studying with the cellist Bonnie Hampton was a copy of her compilation of scales, Every Which Way, which included suggestions culled from vocal warm-ups and chamber-music repertoire. Hampton suggested different rhythms, bowings, and fingerings for basic scales to keep her students challenged and interested in the necessity of practicing scales daily.
I am reminded of that book, which I still use decades later, because cellist and teacher Wells Cunningham has done something similar in his recent book, The Art of Scales: A New Approach to Mastering Scales on the Cello.
In his introduction, Cunningham says he has tried “every cello scale book in print.” What he found was that no single scale book had everything he wanted to give to students—and many books had sections he didn’t find useful at all. Over the years, he started cutting and pasting pages from several scale books, complete with his own annotations, which evolved into The Art of Scales.
Cunningham’s scale book is basic, but wide-ranging, and it contains scales and arpeggios for various levels of students and teachers—he includes scale and
arpeggio patterns made famous by violin pedagogues Ivan Galamian and Carl Flesch. Cunningham begins with showing the basic scales and arpeggios in two octaves, complete with useful fingerings and following the circle of fifths. He follows that with two pages of in-depth three-octave scale and arpeggio patterns, including scales in fingered octaves for each key, marking different levels of difficulty and varying bowing and rhythmic patterns. For some reason, though, these scales come under the heading of “2-Octave Scales and Arpeggios,” although they are clearly presented in three octaves each.
Cunningham’s book continues with more rhythmic variants for three-octave scales and concludes with advanced studies of fingered thirds and tenths, all in thumb positions. At the back of the book, there are useful pages for notes and assignments. Cunningham expects students to practice scales between 25 and 45 minutes a day, which may not be possible for all, but most teachers and students will find clear and useful suggestions for daily scale work that is challenging and varied.
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