New podcast minisode up: Q&A
Thanks to Aran from Dublin for this one! Why, indeed. As it turns out, there are real reasons why the cello is so difficult. If you’d like to ask a question to be answered on Lonely Cello, you can respond…
Emily Wright
Spotlight on National Youth Orchestras
A Lutherie Legacy
My Special Night
The following is a piece of flash fiction written over the space of a few days in the summer of 2026.
Home Shopping: Chris and Britt Jacoby make a new start in the midwest
Can’t Trade? Upgrade!
For The Slightly Scared Would-Be Community Orchestra String PLayer
New podcast episode: The Incredible Katie Berglof
After what feels like a jillion years away (2 months, but still), Lonely Cello is back! Find it on your fave podcast platform, stream below or take this link to listen directly on Soundcloud. The plan is to write here…
enjoy your lessons more: what a good teacher actually looks for might surprise you
Today's post is a prescription compounded for anyone who has anxiety surrounding lessons, feels their lessons are more performance than class, or worries they are letting their teacher down by not making enough progress.
National Survey of Orchestra Musician Safety and Culture
Unbound Symphony, in collaboration with the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, is collecting survey responses to get a better sense of the actual harm caused by gender discrimination and sexual harassment. It was authored by Katie A. Berglof, and…
Subscriber post: Why do we screw up in the easy parts?
Imagine a ruler lives in a castle, and word has spread in the realm that there will be an invading force upon his shores in three weeks. What should he do? Stock up on arrows? Probably. Order the forges to…
new! subscriptions, emails, and freebies
I’ve started working with a paywall to get paid for some of what I write. For $10 a month, members will get access to subscription-only content on the site, which will include videos, previews of forthcoming projects, and eventually occasional…
Making the most out of lesson time
Got 10 minutes? Settle in, watch this, and in your next lesson, start with the concept you have the most resistance to. Resistance tends to protect the habit that is most disruptive to your goals. Ask me how I know!…
Ooh shiny! The perils of magpie mentality.
As an adult learner, it’s common to develop a persistent feeling of rising pressure; the strong compulsion to make up for lost time, a desperation to catch up to some platonic ideal of where you imagine you should be. As…
Simple but deep shifting exercise, and a word about motivation
As I’m juggling the myriad writing projects I’ve got simmering, the time frame on the most complex one (the follow up to the now out-of-print Modern Cellist’s Manual) stretches into the horizon. I suppose one advantage of being self-published is…
What’s next?
How to follow up a post like the last one? While the subject matter might have taken a few regulars off guard, one thing I am consistent about is praxis. While it’s useful to identify an issue—whether the intricacies of…
Dear Lara
This piece originated as an assignment that sort of went rogue and proceeded to take over my life. It’s taken a long time—too long—to get it out into the world, but that’s a story for another day. Today, I want…
Pause
You may have noticed the April posts are not happening, and March was pretty sparse, too. I do have a lot written in drafts, but I’ve decided it’s probably time I stop giving my best work away for free. While…
March 2026 playlist
Oof. Take care out there, tender hearts.
the unexpected Alysa Liu tie in
SERIOUSLY have you ever seen someone skate like her? Ever? I’ve been enchanted by skating ever since I was a kid, practicing taking off from different edges of my feet on the patio whenever the Olympic coverage would go to…
Cellists I love: meet Sonya Moomaw
I’m about to do a monster day of writing and recording today so hopefully Thursday/Friday sees new YouTube and podcast stuff. In the meantime, I’d like to share a young cellist who caught my eye at last year’s Sphinx competition.…
February 2026 playlist
Never mind me, I’m just listening to one of these tracks on repeat. Can you guess which one?
Range, part 2: asking better questions
Hey friends! As promised, here’s the next installment of my examination of David Epstein’s Range, specifically relating it to what we’re trying to do as musicians. I’m dividing it up by chapter to keep things clear. Before I get underway,…
Join the Spring Salon!
Attention musicians, actors, dancers, and other creatives! I am holding a salon later this year, date to be decided to best fit the participants’ schedules. Previous iterations were more like casual master classes with only string players, but this is…
reading not your thing? now playing: vlog and podcast editions now available!
Over the years, I’ve become sort of compartmentalized in the way I consume information. I no longer zone out on Insta (though I do post there with some regularity), and I only lasted about 3 months on TT. When I…
know thyself: the dreaded dissapearing practice
I’ve talked about this before, usually in the context of structuring your practice. Since I’ve done a ton of that, I thought devoting some time to describing the issue itself in some detail might be helpful, so that wherever you…
mini post: an outrageous Popper 29
One of the things I love about working with advanced students (my studio is about 2/3 semi pros) is that they keep me in touch with the gnarliest parts of the repertoire. Just today, I’m getting to revisit Beethoven 6,…
process: what it really takes
I’ve been in conversation with a few of my more advanced students lately. They’ve adopted many elements of the Practice Modes I’m building a book around, and while they certainly clear the terrain in terms of not allowing gaps in…
mini post: park your brain somewhere new with tv practice
If you’re trying to make physical changes in your playing, I highly recommend the following, with the caveat that different brains find different scenarios pleasurable. If playing with your attention split causes calamity, it’s not a problem with you. This…
New Year and Jan 2026 playlist
I have deemed 2026 a year of distillation: to live more faithfully in line with hard earned and well-considered authenticity. And for the moments when those aspects do not inform me, I will be still, and I will listen. I…