I’m thrilled to announce the publication of a new book. Teaching Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass: Historical and Modern Pedagogical Practices, co-authored with Dijana Ihas and Gaelen McCormick, is the result of four years’ research and writing.
When my co-authors and I began the daunting process of compiling every pedagogical treatise ever written about bowed string instruments, we had no idea just how much literature there was.
The journey of research and writing involved the detailed help of librarians and archivists around the world (in the middle of a global pandemic, no less!), plus the kindness of strangers from various social media groups of like-minded string players, plus a large amount of Google Translate for books that had never appeared in English or any other language that we collectively knew.
It’s my hope that the resulting book will be of help to anyone seeking to understand the how and why of past and present approaches to teaching strings — fellow professors, orchestra directors, school strings teachers, private instructors, professional and amateur players, students… As a massive lifelong cello nerd, it was bliss to learn more about cellists I’d only known as the composers of hard etudes or the editors of standard repertoire. I now feel almost personally acquainted with these legendary cello teachers of history: erudite Dotzauer, misunderstood Grützmacher, generous Piatti. I learned about pedagogues whose names had previously been footnotes in my consciousness: Matz, Bazelaire, Becker. I tried everything I learned out on my own playing and in my students’ lessons. Writing this book made me a better cellist and a better teacher. I hope it will do the same for my readers.
Miranda Wilson 