Sassmannshaus, Kurt – Early Start on the Cello Book 2 Published by Baerenreiter Verlag

Volume 2 in our series, with colour illustrations and easy-to-read fingering charts, is designed to expand the technique of the left and right hands and above all to introduce playing in other keys. In addition to nursery rhymes and folk songs, it contains classical recital pieces for two cellos to help learners improve their ability to read music and to prepare them for ensemble playing. The second finger is included, and students become acquainted with and receive training in dotted notes, 16th notes (semiquavers), first double stops, the extended finger pattern and alternating between normal and extended finger patterns. Depending on the pupil’s level of achievement, Volume 3 of the cello tutor can be used in parallel. It is subdivided by finger patterns and key and provides easily locatable sections with additional practice material.

The authors
In 1976 Egon Sassmannshaus, one of the most experienced and renowned violin teachers in Germany, published his tutor “Früher Anfang auf dem Cello”. This standard work for young string players quickly became the most popular and best-selling tutor in the German-speaking countries for beginners on this instrument. His son-in-law Michael Corssen, the co-author of Volumes 3 and 4, is a baroque cellist and conductor who heads a music school in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Egon Sassmannshaus’s son, Kurt Sassmannshaus, functioned as co-editor of the English-language edition, “Early Start on the Cello” (BA 8996, BA 8997, BA 8998, BA 8999), adapting his father’s successful tutor to meet the needs and requirements of English-speaking children.

The combined knowledge and experience of the Sassmannshaus/Corssen family make these four volumes the most thoroughly researched and thought-through cello tutor for beginners all over the world.