Portamento, or the expressive slide connecting two notes, is one of the cello’s most human gestures.
In his tonebase lesson The Art of Portamento, internationally recognized cellist Julian Schwarz demonstrates how even the simplest slide can tell a story.
Schwarz isolates the essential ingredients of a beautiful slide in the featured video segment below...from coordinating the bow and left hand to choosing whether to slide on the old or new bow.
“Instead of plucking notes out of thin air,” Schwarz explains, “a slide can reveal yearning: a sense of journey between one tone and the next.” Using clear examples, he shows how varying bow changes, fingerings, and vibrato can completely alter the emotional character of a passage.
Download the PDF workbook, which guides you through these exercises so you can experiment directly on your instrument, elevate your phrasing, and make your cello truly speak.
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