5 things I wish more adult students would do: 1. Stay focused on whatever we’re working on in lessons. You would not believe how tough this is! I understand the inclination to want to patch every hole in…
I tell my students that much like gasoline is a byproduct of the oil refining process, frustration is a symptom of learning. It means that changes are happening, that you’re bumping up against things that hold you back.…
Guess which part I screamed “YES” at?
In late October, I watched the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “Broke”. It details the oft-repeated parable of young professional athletes coming into giant sums of money in the early part of their careers and the subsequent inability to cope…
The day before Veteran’s day is the Marine Corps’ birthday, and this year I was lucky enough to score an invite to the MCB Quantico ball. As the evening began, we had cocktails and chit-chatted with the people at…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rpOvYWd4KW4
I have spent much of my life being critiqued. As musicians, we never stop being on the receiving end of strong opinions from our instructors, conductors, snarky colleagues and music critics. Mostly, we vacillate between periods of…
As a thank you for helping him choose an instrument, one of my students drew this for me: a Marine playing the cello. This could not be a more timely reminder of what’s important. I really do need my…
Once there was a tree, probably germinated in the Bavarian forest around the turn of the 19th century- and this tree was felled, bucked, hauled and delivered to the workshop of a luthier. Although we cannot be sure of…
So I write for Strings. Some reviews, some technical pointer style pieces- for the past 6 months, I’ve been churning out a series of articles condensing some of the workshops that took place at this year’s ASTA conference. They’re…
Through the magic of Twitter, I was contacted by the fabulous English composer Alison Wrenn, who wanted some stick-figure illustrations for her book of beginning cello trios. Of course, I couldn’t resist. They just went on sale here,…
This.
I was chatting with a friend from California the other day and he said it seems like I’ve adjusted to east coast living. It got me thinking about the differences between the two places, and how moving away from…
I just realized that my primary aim as an instructor is not to convey information but rather to do whatever it takes to foster the bravery required to continue learning. In this respect, I guess I’m more of a coach than…
I keep thinking about some Yeats I read a while back. Labour is blossoming or dancing where The body is not bruised to pleasure soul. Nor beauty born out of its own despair, Nor blear-eyed wisdom…
When I was taking flying lessons, I joined the Cessna Diamond Club. That’s the group of pilots who have a perfect diamond-shaped scar on their foreheads from walking into the trailing edge of the wing, usually in preflight checklist haste.…
I’m a city girl. I’m an escapist. I love road trips. Maybe it doesn’t matter how I begin this stupid post. To put it bluntly: I love this city but hate this apartment. I was in such a hurry…
Excerpted from Rupert Brooke’s sonnet 1914: III : The Dead Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead! There’s none of these so lonely and poor of old, But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold. These laid the world…
What the hell is going on around here, anyway? Where am I? Teaching? Playing? Dancing? Hiding under the sofa? All that, and more, my friends. So I went to Hopkins. No, wait. Let’s go back. In LA,…
Everyone knows this picture, a demonstration of the lengths we’ll go to preserve a delicate instrument. Don’t know about you, but I find this to be more along the lines of accurate. It’s been really rainy lately.
This poor blog! Withering and fading from neglect. It’s been a combination of frenetic activity, other priorities, and to be truthful, not having much to say (that would be appropriate for this venue, at least). Still, I don’t mind a…
As a kid, I was no stranger to being bullied. I was as weird then as I am now, only smaller, with a better vocabulary and the optimistic assurances of those around me that things improve once you get…
Finally whipped up the next 2 chapters in the YouTube series previewing AMCM. Recorded in the conservatory of the Josephine Butler center here in DC.
I was talking to a friend of a friend the other day and the inevitable question came up: “What do you do?” These days, there are few things I don’t do- and before you say at least I’m not resorting…
Summer leaves the student musician with two options. 1. Get completely rusty and sound like Dorky McDorkersons come September. and 2. Be completely invigorated and sound like RockStar McAwesomepants come September. Like Black Sheep said:…
As the blogsophere continues to change under the fickle and shifting sands of internet cachet, one thing remains: good stuff is good stuff. The advent of Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr has made it easy for anyone with access to…
It lives! First off, thanks to the people who bought the first guide. Here’s the second one, dedicated to a piece that means so much to so many. Next up, some Bach!
Designed to be affordable mini manuals for pieces commonly studied, practice guides are packed with miniature exercises, technical reminders, and tips on approach. The first one, La Cinquantaine, is available now for $3.50 here. Stay tuned for more, and…
…and by play, I mean “do your thing”. I know this blog is read by all kinds of people who have nothing to do with cello: members of the military, lindy hoppers, business owners, retired folks (whose schedules are now…
Fact: I had to counsel a 9-year-old to lay off for a few weeks because she was developing tendinitis as a result of tension and misuse of her 4th finger. Fact: I began dealing with tension-induced injuries…