I did promise there would be more on Mary Cohen this month, but before I get to her etude books, I'd like to brag a little on the great review the anthology received in this month's American String Teacher journal! A few of my favorite quotes:
Cooper presents fun pieces by women in a variety of styles, for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students... The pieces are pedagogically sound and musically rewarding...Students, teachers, and audiences will enjoy all the wonderful works in this collection...This collection of ideal recital pieces includes material every student should encounter.
Ok, enough bragging. I'm a proud mama.
The core, to me, of Cohen's pedagogical material consists of Superstudies, Books 1 and 2, Technique Takes Off!, More Technique Takes Off!, and Technique Flies High! These are terrific, fun books that introduce more advanced issues of counting, bow technique, minor keys, left hand pizzicato and shifting at earlier levels than we generally consider. It's done in such a gentle manner, though, that students can be successful before they realize it's "hard."
In Superstudies Book 1, "Really easy original studies for the young player," Cohen gets right down to business introducing half- and quarter-string harmonics to pre-shifting students. Titles are descriptive and sometimes reflect the rhythm ("Blast Off!" and "Operation Space Station"). The first three have a lot of good old sixteenth-note bow scrubbing, with some slower eighth-note slurs in number 2. Number 4 switches gear to slurs in 3/4, with a dotted half-note bow speed and a lot of 3rd and 4th finger action. Number 5 sticks to pizzicato for contrast. Slurs and an aquatic theme dominate in numbers 6-8. Number 6 ("Rocking Rowboats") keeps the bow at a constant half-note speed with gentle string crossings. "Floating in the Swimming Pool" (number 7), slurs two measures of 3/4 time together throughout. Finally, number 8 ("Wave Machine") picks up the pace with slurred string crossings at a faster tempo.
There is a YouTube performance of number 9, "Gliding Along at the Octopus Ball," which is in 6/8 and features numerous half-string harmonics on the D string.
The core, to me, of Cohen's pedagogical material consists of Superstudies, Books 1 and 2, Technique Takes Off!, More Technique Takes Off!, and Technique Flies High! These are terrific, fun books that introduce more advanced issues of counting, bow technique, minor keys, left hand pizzicato and shifting at earlier levels than we generally consider. It's done in such a gentle manner, though, that students can be successful before they realize it's "hard."
In Superstudies Book 1, "Really easy original studies for the young player," Cohen gets right down to business introducing half- and quarter-string harmonics to pre-shifting students. Titles are descriptive and sometimes reflect the rhythm ("Blast Off!" and "Operation Space Station"). The first three have a lot of good old sixteenth-note bow scrubbing, with some slower eighth-note slurs in number 2. Number 4 switches gear to slurs in 3/4, with a dotted half-note bow speed and a lot of 3rd and 4th finger action. Number 5 sticks to pizzicato for contrast. Slurs and an aquatic theme dominate in numbers 6-8. Number 6 ("Rocking Rowboats") keeps the bow at a constant half-note speed with gentle string crossings. "Floating in the Swimming Pool" (number 7), slurs two measures of 3/4 time together throughout. Finally, number 8 ("Wave Machine") picks up the pace with slurred string crossings at a faster tempo.
There is a YouTube performance of number 9, "Gliding Along at the Octopus Ball," which is in 6/8 and features numerous half-string harmonics on the D string.
Number 10, "Hear That Whistle!," also in 6/8, uses hooked bowing in eighth-notes and ups the ante for the half-string harmonic by shifting up to it on a 3rd-finger D on the A string grace note! There is also a two-measure glissando up the G-string (without a fixed landing note). Number 11 mixes up two-beat slurs, quarter notes, and sixteenth notes for bow speed work. Cohen returns to the association of words and rhythms in numbers 12-19, usually with the title supplying the rhythmic guide, but sometimes with words. Technical features in this batch include blocked fifths, chromatic lines, hooked bowing, syncopation, and an introduction to spiccato. All in this book of "really easy" studies!
In Superstudies Book 2, the etudes get longer and a bit more complex. These ten pieces are just "easy original studies"! Etudes feature key changes, quick changes between high and low 1st and 2nd fingers, more complicated string crossing passages, syncopation, some third position (number 5, "Heidi Hi!), 5/8 time (number 8, "Fivepenny Waltz"), and harmonic minor (number 7, "The Snake Charmer's Lament" and number 11, "Magic Carpet Ride"). I love "Magic Carpet Ride"! Here it is, played by a real kid:
In Superstudies Book 2, the etudes get longer and a bit more complex. These ten pieces are just "easy original studies"! Etudes feature key changes, quick changes between high and low 1st and 2nd fingers, more complicated string crossing passages, syncopation, some third position (number 5, "Heidi Hi!), 5/8 time (number 8, "Fivepenny Waltz"), and harmonic minor (number 7, "The Snake Charmer's Lament" and number 11, "Magic Carpet Ride"). I love "Magic Carpet Ride"! Here it is, played by a real kid:
Technique Takes Off! and More Technique Takes Off! are the intermediate offerings in Cohen's etude series. They were published fourteen years apart and show a difference in approach. The first of the two contains 14 etudes in a traditional style. Third position is used freely, and there are some etudes with fourth position. The opening etude, appropriately titled "Prelude," features some easy chords and alternation between duple and triplet eighths. Here again is an honest-to-goodness student playing:
One of the things I like about these books is that each study has a header which points out the challenges of the etude, and often gives helpful tips. For "Prelude," students are told to "Use open strings where possible, Play 3-note chords as 2+2 notes, Lighten the 2nd note in duplets, and Keep fingers down on strings where possible." Titles are evocative-- "Gossips in a London Street," "Village Bagpipes," etc.-- and the etudes portray the characters musically. There is much more emphasis on double stops in this book, from the chords in number 1 to the bagpipe drones of number 6, and 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and 5ths in number 7, "Dragon Dance." Number 10, "Catch Me if You Can," features the same tune played in first position, and an octave higher with the same fingering in fourth position. Number 12, "The Bee's Knees," is fast and full of slippery chromatic finger work. The last two etudes are a repeated note perpetual motion ("Will o' the Wisp"), and a "Romance" reminiscent of the Mazas etudes. The end of this one, and the middle of number 11, "Skater's Waltz," both go up to fifth position. Here's "Skater's Waltz" played by a teacher:
In More Technique Takes Off!, Cohen explores more styles than traditional "classical" playing, and writes nine of the fifteen etudes in duet format. Of these nine, three are then rewritten as solo etudes with double stops-- genius! I have since learned of the publications by Martha Yasuda which use this same technique-- what a great way for students to know what the piece sounds like before tackling the double stops. The first of these, "Intrada," is similar in technical demands to the "Prelude" of the first volume. The second, "Quite a Character!," is more of a foot-stomper, and the third, "Far distant..." is impressionistic and features mixed meters and lots of rubato. In between are duets that focus on slurpy shifts ("Asleep in the Hammock"), spiccato ("On the Spot"), a passacaglia, a sarabande and double, and a rag. Two solo etudes round out the collection. "Clouds of blossom are mirrored in the lake" is pentatonic and invites the player to supply his or her own dynamics in the last three lines. "Howdy! hoedown" is exactly what you would expect from the title.
The final book in the series, Technique Flies High!, has "14 advanced studies for solo violin." Nine of the etudes focus on techniques or material a player would encounter in 20th and 21st century compositions-- string crossing patterns in 5/4 (number 2), an etude entirely in harmonics (number 3), mixed meters (numbers 8-10), sul tasto, finger exchanges on the same pitch, quick and continual changes between arco and pizzicato, sevenths and tritones (number 11) and other dissonances (number 12), and improvisation (number 14). "Threnody" (number 13) is a great chance to use consonance and dissonance expressively. The more consonant etudes include an arpeggiation study (number 4), another atmospheric pentatonic piece (number 5), a ground with divisions, a sort of czardasy-tangoey thing (number 7), and the first, "Take to the Hills," which is more of a celtic romp. Quite and eclectic collection, and not for the faint-hearted! Cohen does a great service in expanding playing technique here, along the lines of Lilian Fuch's Characteristic Studies for viola.
Let's close with some music! Here is "Take to the Hills" from Technique Flies High!
The final book in the series, Technique Flies High!, has "14 advanced studies for solo violin." Nine of the etudes focus on techniques or material a player would encounter in 20th and 21st century compositions-- string crossing patterns in 5/4 (number 2), an etude entirely in harmonics (number 3), mixed meters (numbers 8-10), sul tasto, finger exchanges on the same pitch, quick and continual changes between arco and pizzicato, sevenths and tritones (number 11) and other dissonances (number 12), and improvisation (number 14). "Threnody" (number 13) is a great chance to use consonance and dissonance expressively. The more consonant etudes include an arpeggiation study (number 4), another atmospheric pentatonic piece (number 5), a ground with divisions, a sort of czardasy-tangoey thing (number 7), and the first, "Take to the Hills," which is more of a celtic romp. Quite and eclectic collection, and not for the faint-hearted! Cohen does a great service in expanding playing technique here, along the lines of Lilian Fuch's Characteristic Studies for viola.
Let's close with some music! Here is "Take to the Hills" from Technique Flies High!
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