Spice for the recipe
In the baseball game of Audition vs Emily, the pitcher is kicking the dirt on the mound, leaning forward to consult the catcher’s sign, and has risen up: coiled and ready to pounce. Less than a week till the audition,…
Emily Wright
Newsletter, part deux.
Practicing with marteles
Just a quick response to Terry’s question about practicing with martelés in the previous post. My apologies to those of you who get this on RSS or other subscription and got this yesterday with the very Kermit-like still frame before…
The comforts of home
When I decided to take a break from Los Angeles, things were on the rough side. I couldn’t seem to hold onto enough students to make the ends meet, I was still healing from my surgery, and it felt as…
Oniony practice
There are many ways in which practice, especially as a rumored professional, evokes the oniony images. First off, it makes you cry. ha. What I’m after today are the peeling layers, ever-emergent, even at this stage. With a few weeks…
a lot for a little
I was watching SportsCenter this morning and found myself unexpectedly cheered by the sight of Giants pitcher Barry Zito. No, I haven’t traded in my allegiance to the Phillies. It was his socks. Allow me to explain. There are certain…
Oh shift!
I wrote a wee little article about shifting over at Tom’s blog, and thought a mini exercise might be just the thing to accompany it. One of the points I was driving at is the sense that a shift is…
An experiment
newsletter 1 It’s a little rough, but as I start to migrate the blog over to the site, I’m thinking about making some changes. This came into my head this morning, so I thought I would knock it out and…
The good, the bad, and the jackass
Back from New York, brimming with the kind of cheer that only Mozart, NYC, and new friends can bring. There’s so much coming down the pike I am surprised that I even had time to check my YouTube channel’s inbox.…
Report from the field
Day 2 (my last) of Cosi Fan Tutte: “some assembly required” is upon us. I spaced and forgot my USB cable, so none of the nicer real camera photos are going to be up until I get back to Brooklyn at…
la doleur exquise
Based on what I’ve seen @ Twitter and the contents of my email inbox, it seems like this past week beat the crap out of the ol’ CelloFamily. Not to toot my own horn *pulls out sousaphone* but I give a…
Vlog: flying with the cello and surgery Q & A!
Hey all: sorry to any of you who tried to watch this earlier and got no sound! I had to chop this into two halves rather inelegantly, but hopefully the content makes up for it. Zero stars to QuickTime for…
The contents of my cupboard vs. an intruder
I woke up this morning, certain there was an intruder in the house. Lucy D. WonderCat had the big eyes, and I could hear what sounded like someone rifling through the contents of my toilette in the adjoining bathroom. I…
Mixed bag o’ stuff
Part of the reason I’m going to be revamping my web presence is because numerous people who know me well say my website makes me seem mean. It’s a tricky thing: sounding structured and “together” while trying to show just…
Auditioning, “Oops” edition.
The audition pieces are chosen for very specific reasons. They want to see you hold down a sense of time when rushing is what feels good, they want to see huge flexibility in dynamic range, tone quality and color, intonation,…
Auditioning
I’m taking some auditions around town in a month or two, so that means more than ever, routine and repetition rule my life. I love it: the sense of purpose and direction, the hours that seem to disappear, the wondering…
Today’s SRCB is brought to you by the letter…
Ed: Back up and running! Go! Buy it now! A Modern Cellist’s Manual is temporarily unavailable: the spelling error (p. 44, fig. 59) was remedied by a complete re-upload of the content. Of course, when you mess with a 451MB…
Stoked.
Ed: Now with more soundy sound!
Pie eater.
Sorry folks, I was so overworked at Hopkins this week that I ate your deathbed pie charts, mistaking them for actual pies. They were pretty tasty! (especially Wendy’s because she and I really like food, so it made up a significant…
Lost.
So I’m new to the area and the GoogleMaps app on the iPhone wasn’t cutting it when I would miss a turn or there would be an unexpected closure, etc. As a stop-gap between getting a full on Garmin, I…
Deathbed Pie Chart, volume 2.
Ok, so here’s one submission from a regular reader and also what my DBPC would have looked like in 2nd grade. His: Mine, age 7: Your assignment: send me what you would LIKE your pie chart to look like. You…
Deathbed Pie Chart, volume 1.
The only thing† worse than having anxiety about something is the clarity of hindsight when you realize how much time you’ve spend senselessly worrying. As a former procrastinator who paid dearly for her dithering, I made a switch many years…
Happy Birthday, USA.
A good read, in case you haven’t taken the time. When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of…
On being sure-footed
Traveling with Lucy the WonderCat has been an adventure. I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it when she gets her typewriter back. Anyway, as a loyal JetBluer, I went out to get the “Jet Paws” pet carrier in accordance…
It’s a cello-y post!
Oh, internets, how I missed thee! I seriously hugged my laptop just then. Due to a screw up of epic proportions, it looks like your friendly neighborhood cellist will be sleeping on the floor in her swanky (vacant) new place…
Steps
I shed the first of what are sure to be many tears today as I reflected on one particular student’s journey. My strength as a teacher (and possibly as a human) is the same as my greatest weakness: I invest…
The Big Game
I am so on fire for this game. Win, lose, or tie, I am living and breathing USA Soccer! …and since I promised that the next post would be about cello: Um, practice with the metronome. And then watch the…
My hero.
By now, most of you know who this guy is. In case you don’t, he’s Jim Joyce, the umpire who, if you believe the media who like to speak in catchphrases, “blew a perfect game” for Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando…
Memorial Day
Someone whom I respect and care very much for said about Memorial Day, “It really has no meaning for me at all.” I had my jaw sewn back on before she could turn around to see it hanging completely agape.…
Yeah, what he said.
Hey all: I’ve been under the weather a bit which has caused me to miss lots of lessons and neglect the blog this week. Today was rescued by the important things in life: lots of Skype with friends and loved…