We’ve got a round-up of some of the best beginner cello books today. These are books that are for very beginning cellists — we are not talking about scale or etude books here, but instead books that are intended for cello students who are completely new to cello and/or reading music. We are recommending these books as supplements to whatever you are using with your teacher or orchestra class — not in place of what you are working on with them!
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Essential Elements – A staple in many school orchestra classes and it’s easy to see why. These books are laid out very clearly and in a logical order. This book introduces you to cello parts, shows you how to do things on the cello such as set up your bow hold and left position, and also teaches note reading. As you progress through the book, the pieces get more complicated and you are introduced to more music-reading concepts. Click Here for Pricing and More Information.
Suzuki Book One for Cello – If Essential Elements is a staple in orchestra, the Suzuki books are a staple in private lessons. There is no ‘instruction’ in this, it is simply songs to play. In other words, there’s no directions on how to sit or play the cello or how to read music. This one is better to use with a teacher, or if you’re just looking for some simple songs to supplement what you’re already doing. Click Here for Pricing and More Information.
String Builder – This book is kind of right in the middle between Essential Elements and the Suzuki book in terms of how much instruction they provide. There are some very basic technique instructions, but nothing that will really help a total beginner. For instance, it doesn’t tell you how to set up any positioning, but does tell you to “draw a straight bow,” which you may not know what that means as a total beginner! It does do a much more thorough job with explaining music reading. If you’ve already got a pretty good technical foundation, but want some additional help with music reading, this might be the book for you. Click Here for Pricing and More Information.
I Can Read Music – If you’re looking for more practice just on note reading, give this book a try. Each ‘lesson’ has both a pitch and a rhythm page. It starts very basically – so just D and E on the pitch side, and just quarter notes and half notes on the rhythm side. Every couple of lessons there is either a new pitch or new rhythm introduced. By the end of the book you’ll have gotten through all the notes in first position on all four strings and things like ties, dotted rhythms and 6/8 with the rhythm. Click Here for Pricing and More Information.