Welcome!

Thank you for stopping by! The first iteration of this site was Stark Raving Cello: a Blogger site where I took turns opining, explaining, and ranting about whatever came into my 28-year-old brain. The name of the blog was accurate!…

Adding to your lexicon: tenuto

Behold! The mighty tenuto! Language of origin/root: Italian, tenere meaning to hold. I’m starting this series with tenuto because I went three decades without truly knowing what this small but transformative line atop or beneath a note really did: I…

Lonely Cello voice inbox!

In the coming weeks, the podcast will surge back to life with new interviews and episodes focusing on every possible aspect of performance anxiety: what it’s like, how and why it manifests, strategies that help, strategies that…don’t help…As well as…

Practice streaming

Once a month, I’m going to stream a practice session on Zoom that is free to join, and afterwards, you can ask questions about anything you saw/heard or your own practice! The next practice stream will be on Tuesday, October…

Reconsidering practice, part 1

In trying to come up with a grand unifying theory of performance anxiety, I proposed (at a talk I gave this summer) that the likelihood of its debilitating effects exist on the axes of two main components: preparation and self-concept.…

Rot or Not 1: Brisa Suave vinho verde

This is NOT rot! Delightful, semi-effervescent vinho verde. If it’s called vinho verde, it’s from Portugal, and although the literal translation suggests “green wine”, in practice, it just means young wine, not aged very long. Lower alcohol (as is the…

Introducing: Rot or Not

In 2015-16, there seemed a real chance that my spinal issues would cost me my career in music. My mind raced, trying to imagine a skill I was already in possession of that could become a new full-time profession. The…