Jurassic Blue: Monstrous Pieces for Beginners

About this piece

Jurassic Blue, subtitled 'monstrous pieces for beginners', is a book of eleven short pieces for cello and piano by Caroline Lumsden and Pam Wedgwood, with illustrations by Drew Hillier. Faber Music published it in 2002 as the follow-on to Jackaroo. Faber says it 'begins with a revision of the first finger and then moves on to second, third and fourth fingers', and each piece introduces a new rhythmic or technical point, with teaching points and a suggestion box for the teacher. The pieces have dinosaur titles such as Scary, scaly Spinosaurus, Bony Stegosaurus and Triceratops Rocks, and most carry words that can be sung. Two pieces are on the RCM Preparatory list, and Triceratops Rocks is set for Trinity Grade 2.

Technical overview

First-position pieces that add the second, third and fourth fingers after the open strings and first finger of Jackaroo. In the sample pages, Bony Stegosaurus (F major) moves across all four strings, reaching down to the C string with F, E and D (bars 17-18), with mf and f markings and hairpins. Triceratops Rocks (D major, 'Let's rock 'n' roll', crotchet = 116) practises the dotted-quaver-semiquaver 'quicker rhythm', uses C naturals on the G and A strings, accents, and a pizzicato section in which the player also sings or chants.

Technical focus

• Dynamics
• Hairpin Dynamics
• C String Notes
• G String Notes
• D String Notes
• A String Notes
• Accidentals
• Dotted Rhythms
• Pizzicato
• Articulation
• Collaboration with Piano