of note
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…
Emily Wright
The Swan: a practice guide.
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!
introducing practice guides!
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…
what do you play for?
…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…
be smart.
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…
on cold-calling, swashbuckling, and sleep.
I think the reason I’m “self made” is because I’m impatient. While everything I do is long-term process oriented (developing a studio, creating a brand as a teacher, improving as a cellist, publishing, learning to work on bows) and…
DVD project!
I wrote AMCM to try and fill some of the gaps in the “how-to” canon. Mostly, I thought we needed a text featuring a bunch of pictures and the occasional justification/explanation for certain bits of technique. There’s another volume…
letting go
Lindy hop as metaphor: my instructor constantly has to remind me to wait for a lead and then follow it to the end of the momentum, as I’m awfully clever at guessing what I think will happen… …and even…
new adventures in music geekery
Perhaps it was growing up around a dad who seemed to know how everything worked (right down to the subatomic level) or maybe I’m just a junkie for the pedagogical process, but I’ve always wanted to learn how to…
adding it up
Now and again I go for a jog without music. After the crunchy/clear headed/isn’t this moment grand thing passes (and it does, without fail), I return to the usual fragmented contemplation that running is supposed to help alleviate. Cresting a…
from the big man himself
Whoa. Click to enlarge what Santa had to say in response to our letters!
’twas the night before christmas
Click to enlarge our letters to Santa…
be careful what you fail for
Part of what makes my blog a little different from those of some other professional musicians is that I tend to expound about the sorts of things that highlight my frailties rather than serve as promotional material. It’s a…
perfectly imperfect practice
Practice is good. Common sense tells us it’s necessary for progress and essential to maintain our skill. In my lessons, I rarely teach people how to play- it’s mostly about diagnosing what makes something difficult and then developing strategies and…
If
I was watching SportsCenter when the coverage turned to NASCAR, whose championship was determined last night by the narrowest margin in history. It came down to the wire with Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart, who had been in…
Today
Veterans Day. This morning, I was scanning what people had to say in their blogs and various social media outlets. One guy, a friend of mine, said something to the effect of “Happy lip service day! Too bad…
bubbada bubbada
By hook, crook, bell, book and candle, I managed to infiltrate the ranks of the jazz department when I was at CSUN. Classically trained folks are usually a liability in such settings: stuck to the page, desperate for…
on happiness
Note: I sat on this post for nearly two weeks, debating whether or not to publish it. Few topics are as sensitive and reflective of one’s world view as happiness is. It’s easy to glibly opine about the stuff burbling…
Quantico
As a kid, people always asked what I wanted to do when I grew up. Maybe they could already detect my ill-fated and inconvenient relationship with music and were testing the waters for a more rational direction. It was around…
up and down
Getting good at something happens in cycles. My latest learning adventure has been Lindy hop. After my first 2 lessons, I was emboldened. I dove into the deep end and got crazy serious about it. I’ve had a few rough…
Beltway fandango, take 2
Ok peeps. Here’s the flyer for the Rockville lesson preview. I’m typically more old-school: I revere word of mouth and taking the time to establish a reputation, so being enterprising about lessons is a little uncomfortable for me. Nonetheless, I…
Beltway Cello Event!
EDIT: The date has changed for this event! I’ll have confirmation up ASAP. Thanks. As part of my expanding private studio, I’m brewing up a little sample lesson/Q&A session in Rockville on the 25th. Here’s the flyer for…
In love with Slonimsky, part 1
I’m going back through Slonimsky’s Lexicon of Musical Invective (a title that is as much fun to say as it is to actually delve into) and thought I’d share a few of the entries. In case you’re not familiar, it’s…
on regrets, dancing, and being alive
I had a pretty significant health scare back in the spring. It was to the point that they thought I may have had less than 5 years left. I remember seeing the doctor’s number on my phone about 20…
Borodin 2, in a day.
As part of my gig at AACC, I come in every other week and play with their orchestra and do stuff like run sectionals and make terrible puns from the back of the cellos. I emailed the conductor and asked…
lesson gold
I don’t teach many young peeps. The few that I do manage are always characters, and my two Monday kids are no exception. Yesterday, Noah and I were talking about his impending move to a full size cello, and…
PSA
When you walk any distance at all in the rain with a cello strapped to your back, the water drips down the case and soaks your butt.
cogito ergo sum, or not.
I’m noticing a trend among younger students. When I ask them a question that requires critical thinking, introspection or deduction they first respond… with silence. And then I press them a little. Perhaps goad them with, “Go on-…
on having faith
I was recently asked if I’d always had faith in my path as a musician. It’s a good question, and one that provoked some decidedly non-soapbox/swashbuckling answers. Folks come here for a dose of upstream boldness. And I suppose in…
quick update
I have neglected this blog lately, but for good reason. Between teaching private lessons, starting the new college gig, performing, and attending more dance events than is actually humanly possible, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks. Just…