Introduction

The cello is one of humanity's greatest inventions for musical expression. But the cello is also a very difficult instrument to play well. Compared to the violin, the distances between notes on the cello are much larger, its strings are thicker and vibrate much more slowly, and its string height is much taller.

For many of us, it is the physical aspects of playing the cello that stand in the way of our mastering the instrument. No matter how long and hard we practice, we run into a barrier we can never seem to cross over. As a result, the music we produce is nowhere near as good as that to which we aspire.

Many cellists trying to solve their technical problems look toward their bow hand and arm. While correct and thoughtful use of the bow is a critical concern, the left hand and arm are not given nearly enough attention. Inefficient use of the left hand and arm, combined with an indifferent approach to fingering choices, are really the central problem facing many cellists whether they know it or not.

The finest cellists possess both superior musicality and bodies that do not stand in the way of their musical expression. Their bodies work with intuitive efficiency to avoid problems that many other cellists continually face.

The Reis Method® tool is for those cellists whose bodies are less intuitive, but who still want to overcome their technical deficits and achieve their ultimate goals for the instrument. It attempts to provide universal principles of left hand and arm structure and motion that, when applied consistently over time, will become intuitive.

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I have been playing the cello since I was 10 years old. I have always been a very hard worker, and I have studied with some wonderful teachers. But for years, no matter how much I practiced, playing the cello well was always a struggle. No matter how hard I worked, I rarely achieved a true technical mastery--the kind of mastery I knew was possible by listening to, and observing, the finest cellists.

Hoping to finally overcome my technical deficits, I decided to devote myself to the study of what many consider the "Bible" of cello technique: David Popper's High School of Cello Playing. As an undergraduate at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, I had worked on a small handful of Popper's etudes with my teacher Cordelia Wikarski-Miedel. She must have been very patient as the results were never particularly stellar. So I certainly could not guess if my plan would succeed. I just hoped that by attempting to climb this mountain, to learn all 40 of the etudes, I would somehow find what I needed along the way.

Fortunately, my last cello teacher was the marvelous Toby Saks, a proud student of the great American cellist Leonard Rose. I worked with Toby while completing my Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Washington in Seattle, where a larger portrait of Leonard Rose loomed over her studio.

Leonard Rose made many brilliant observations about cello technique. These observations, as conveyed by Toby, stuck in my mind long after my final lesson with her. As I worked through the many challenges presented by Popper's great etudes, I pondered Rose's observations, looked at them from different angles, and combined them with ideas from other cellists including Lynn Harrell, Eva Heinitz, Joel Krosnick, and Aldo Parisot. Some of Margaret Rowell's techniques--as conveyed by Bonnie Hampton, my teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music--also proved very useful.

So, after many years of hard work and study, I can now present to you the result of my labor: Reis Method® A Concise, Comprehensive Guide to the Cellist's Left Hand and Arm.

Much can be done to improve one's playing through a full understanding and awareness of the things we do with our left hand and arm that are unproductive, and even counterproductive. Through repetitive practice of inefficient, less than optimal motions, we waste countless hours in our practice room. Furthermore, we ingrain bad habits that make a successful performance ever more unlikely, and that can lead to injury.

By knowing which motions to embrace, and which to avoid, we can become the cellists we always wanted to be. Our full musical expression can finally shine through.

Put simply, my method advocates an unbroken flow of energy from the left shoulder blade to the nerve endings in the tips of your fingers and thumb. It calls for maximum efficiency and harmony in fingering and movement to eliminate musical line destroying tension. It employs a highly limited collection of hand/arm structures and motions that, when applied over and over, will become intuitive and can help in the development of a rock-solid, even a virtuosic, left hand and arm technique.

I have first applied Reis Method® principles to David Popper's High School of Cello Playing. The etudes are, of course, extremely challenging, and there are so many of them. Clearly Popper intended these etudes to represent everything one needs to know to become a virtuoso.

Popper included very little explanatory text with the etudes. He shows us what we must be able to do without really telling us how to do it. And formerly, unless one was destined to be an exceptionally fine cellist anyway--possessing both superior musical instincts, and a body that intuitively moves with great efficiency--most of the etudes would prove too difficult to play well. But my method offers the cellist a new approach: if you can form one note (structure) correctly, move on to the next note with maximum efficiency, then form that note (structure) correctly too, with dedication you will eventually be able to play all 40 etudes well. And you will be on your way to mastering the cello.

I have also applied my method to the Bach Suites because it has always been my highest aspiration as a cellist to play these pieces well. Now I can spend much more time thinking about Bach's music instead of struggling so with the notes.

After applying the method to your playing, you will be able to approach any piece with confidence. Your left hand and arm will no longer stand in your way.