String Festival Solos, Volume I: Cello Solo Book

This collection solves a real problem: finding solo repertoire that doesn't feel like finger exercises. Nine carefully sequenced pieces give cellists genuine musical material at early levels, with enough variety in style and character to keep students engaged across an entire volume.

These pieces breathe with the sensibility of 19th-century salon music and folk arrangements. There's warmth throughout: gentle waltzes, lyrical minuets, and folk melodies that sit naturally under the cellist's hand.

Cello students at the end of first year and into early second year who are ready for solo repertoire beyond etudes. Teachers building recital programs and preparing students for festival competitions will find this especially useful.

• Attend to the dynamic markings, especially in the minuets and rondes, where subtle shaping separates a polished performance from a flat one.
• Establish the tempo clearly before each piece; Applebaum's transcriptions rely on clear meter and pulse to communicate their style.
• Use the folk song settings as opportunities to practice singing tone quality, since these pieces benefit from vocal phrasing rather than strictly technical execution.

Select a single piece for an early recital to build student confidence before tackling longer works. Alternatively, prepare three or four contrasting pieces from this book for a festival performance or assembly concert where variety matters more than depth.

• Sustaining tone quality across dynamic changes
• Phrasing in folk and dance forms
• Sight-reading at transitional difficulty levels
• Interpreting tempo and style markings
• Building confidence with solo performance