Having tough lessons? You have a choice.
The way I see it, there is this thing, this Difficulty (capital D, for emphasis) to playing the cello. And it’s there; sitting, waiting, towering, looming, quivering. Many a student has tried to devise strategies to get around this Difficulty. Example A demonstrates that you cannot cover the Difficulty with laundry. Example B depicts what happens when you try to use the Difficulty as a soccer ball. Ah yes, example C: the student tries to... Read More
Keeping a Bigger Perspective
I find this very useful. Want more? Read More
seasons
Must be something about summer. We all kind of fall off of the horse in one way or another. Cellists stop practicing. Bloggers quit blogging (or go all sporadic, like me). L’s work parallels the TV season, and it’s interesting to see the strange stress of not working replace the maniacal stress of being overworked during the fall through spring. Summer is the winter of productivity, it seems. I like to do a few things when I write. I... Read More
a new way to think about progress
Sometimes a change in perspective makes a long process more bearable. Enjoyable, even. I came to this realization a few days as I looked ahead with dread to the longest day of the year. I thought of the miserable summer to come, the triple digit days and only temporary relief from the searing temperatures that have me scurrying from shady spot to shady spot like some sort of cello-carrying beetle. Then it hit me. If it’s the longest day of... Read More
becoming what you are
I am a big believer in messages to (and from) the universe. I think that everything one does is a message, a request. It’s that “you get what you give” thing, where the style of life you live is, in very little time, slingshot right back to you because you asked for it by example. As we continue to live and struggle and become what we really are, there is a sort of distillation that happens, where, for good or bad, we receive back... Read More
Maximizing your lesson experience
Nearly everything about the cello is, upon initial inspection, prohibitive. It’s big. It’s low. It’s difficult. It’s expensive. It reads that clef you didn’t really master when you took piano lessons. If you manage to get past all of those obstacles and move onto lessons, there are a few things you can do to make sure you get as much out of the process as you can. 1) If you’re reading this prior to beginning lessons,... Read More
lookin’ good (soundin’ bad) (for a while)
Other possible blog titles include: Acting the partAll for showTest yer gesture (ha) As many of you know, I am in the business of teaching how to play the cello. I was about to write, “I teach the cello” but then I thought, “Teach it what? How to be a human? Latvian history? Roller skating?” (backwards and forwards) So early for a digression! Anyway, I teach people of just about every level how to play the cello. I also... Read More
practice makes perfect. if you survive.
I wish I could send my adult students to music school, just for a week. Not to be inspired by the hours and hours of practice or by the tide of talent that floods the halls every hour. No, I want them to witness the bizarre behavior of serious music students. My adult hobbyists (who range from beginner to semiprofessional) silently suffer with the same ailments any earnest student is victim to: frustration, restlessness, hopelessness, cabin fever,... Read More
