Starker - An Organized Method of String Playing. Left Hand Cello Exersizes. by Peer Music.

The exercises in here will strengthen fingers and enable more precise intonation. They are simple to play, at one level, but tough to get right, and they work the left hand very hard indeed.Starker uses a system of positions based on the chromatic scale, so that what most cellists think of as "first position" he calls "second"; traditional "fourth position" is "seventh". There are 8 "four finger positions" (on the A string, first finger on B flat through F); then 8 "three finger position", starting with the first finger on F sharp; then thumb positions going all the way up. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the system is much more logical than the traditional one and it avoids the nonsense of "lower second", "upper third" and the like.A series of "control exercises" is used to relax the hand and test the effectiveness of the main exercises. It is helpful but not essential to read his essay, "An Organized Method of String Player" in conjunction with this book. It is also useful to read through the whole book before starting into the first set of exercises. Best of all would be to work with a teacher who studied with Starker, but the book is useful even without that help.This book is expensive for what it is, but I have found it very useful.

If you approach the book in the sense that it is a guide to help solidify your left hand position, and not to be followed "slavishly" which can cramp your hand, then you will find the book is a great tool to help you discover the geography of the fingerboard. Don't play one exercise too long - it isn't for that. You will never find a place in the literature that requires you to play double stops like this for an extended period of time, so don't hurt your hand trying to play every single exercise without taking a break for your fingers.

We are so glad to find this book on Amazon. Our teacher asked to get this for practice and it's been serving very well with easy to read pages and the book has high quality level paper. Thanks a bunch!!!

The supplier, Imagine This Music, sent a perfect copy of the book carefully and protectively wrapped..so for Imagine The Music, five stars. After I use the book to perfect my knowledge of the cello keyboard and left hand skill, I'll write another review about the content

Not basic or for beginners.

Very objective book for mastering the hand positions!It can be torturing at some points, but pays off.The serial examples from repertoire is a great tool, i apply that principle of transposition in all the repertoire I learn.

clean, fast and good protection of the score.

I like it