Embarking upon the Hohe Schule in a cellist's course of study marks a major turning point. Its being studied makes a public statement: the student has left the realm of beginning and intermediate studies and gives notice of a life-long commitment to the cello. By the time we begin learning the etudes of the Hohe Schule—and in order to begin working on them—we have made a choice that this instrument, the cello, will be our primary means of expression