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About this piece
Superstudies for Cello, Book 1 is a set of 16 original studies for unaccompanied cello by Pat Legg, a cello teacher and former professor of cello at Trinity College of Music, published by Faber Music (© 1993). Faber calls them 'original, imaginative studies' for young players of about Grades 1–3, in which 'progressive technical points go hand-in-hand with musical development.' The studies cover a range of keys, modes, rhythmic patterns and styles, including jazz. Each study opens with a box naming its left- and right-hand points in English and German, and descriptive titles set the character: Feargal's Lullaby, The Clown, The Train, Phrygian Frolic, The Swing, Calypso, Medieval Drone. The book is widely used for exams. The RCM Cello Syllabus (2016) sets ten of the studies as etudes, from Grade 1 (Feargal's Lullaby, The Clown, The Train) to Grade 4 (On Tip Toes, Calypso, Medieval Drone). Trinity's list from 2025 sets The Swing at Grade 1, Calypso at Grade 2 and Medieval Drone at Grade 3. A second book of studies follows, and Faber's companion Superstudies books for violin and viola are by Mary Cohen.
Technical overview
Sixteen short solo studies (No. 3 comes in two versions, Slow Waltz in D and Slow Waltz in G) in 16 pages, most under a minute and a half. The printed teaching points run from crossing strings while holding fingers down, slurs, détaché and C-string intonation in the early studies, through fourth-finger work, accents and double stops in The Train. They end with backward and forward extensions, third position and hooked bowing over an open-string drone in Medieval Drone (No. 16).
Technical focus
- Legato
- Detaché
- 2 Note Slurs
- 3 Note Slurs
- String Crossings
- Double Stops
- Dotted Rhythms
- Dynamics
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Shifting
- C String Notes