Mary Cohen's Bags of Style for Cello takes you on a fantastic musical journey through ten centuries of time, from the 12th to the 21st century. This is great material for concerts, or to liven up history or drama lessons and is suitable for players of grades 2-3 standard.
Mary Cohen explores dances in their various forms from the 12th century to the 21st. Most of the important and most distinctive dances forms are used and the final piece is deliciously avant garde, inviting the performer to flip a coin to help select from a choice of musical ideas! The book is well presented and employs the 0-1-3-4 and 0-1-2-4 finger patterns, extensions and some simple positions. A good range of bowing techniques are used which are of immense value in themselves, giving the performer a thorough bowing work out. There are imaginative and well composed little miniatures capturing the essence of each dance form. A few fingering are suggested but they are sparse, leaving the teacher at liberty to use whatever will help the student most.
European String Teachers Association, Autumn 2009