unexpected road trip
After a long decline with COPD and two years of dementia, my mom passed away last week. Ours was a complicated and difficult relationship, and while there is a surreal quality to the days that have followed, the nature of…
Emily Wright
July 2025 playlist
Sending peace and calm to anyone who needs it. Enjoy this serenity inducing playlist, dear friends.
Open call for requests!
“Don’t mistake yourself for your audience”. Just want to vote? Head to the bottom of the post! ⤵️ I know from too much experience that what people need is not always what they want: Tamarack folded in part due to…
New podcast! Loud and Wrong with Tamarack Arts fave Rachel Gawell Burns
One of the best things about having a podcast is being able to share my beloved friends and colleagues with the rest of the world. I can’t say that my life has been all smooth sailing, but the number of…
Summer school, part 1
Don’t wanna read the whole post? Scroll to the end for the course description and details! Many of you know I stream my practice semi-regularly. Why? I suppose I’m trying to demystify the process a bit and build on one…
Rot or not: Opstal Sixpence white blend
Welcome to another installment of RoN! This was a surprising, high acid wine that I would buy again…if my other budget buys weren’t in stock. Making it a little unexpected is the combination of SauvBlanc and Semillon grapes combined with…
June 2025 playlist
Hoping to usher in some summer feelings with this playlist! I’m not normally someone who looks forward to summer, especially on the east coast with the mosquitoes, humidity, and infrastructure that was built for cooler weather. But this year has…
May practice stream
Hey friends! It’s time again— come join me for an unvarnished look at my practice and hang out for a while. 7pm Eastern May 23. Send an email, leave a comment, or text 323 657 9444 and I’ll get you…
new podcast: panel discussion time!
In preparation for the course I’m putting together about time and texture, I thought I’d get together with some colleagues and see if we can distill the nuts and bolts of making music down to something—if not simple—at least more…
Range
One of my favorite podcasts is If Books Could Kill, where the two hosts take a critical (good faith) look at the pop-sci books that take the zeitgeist by storm every few years. Examples of this include: What these books…
May playlist
This one has selections I wish the DJ at the roller rink would play! In hard times, living well is the best revenge. Oh, and promise me you’ll wear wrist guards next time you skate. 😘
New podcast episode: Miranda Wilson
Miranda is just the coolest, and was an absolute delight to talk shop with. She is also going to be featured on the upcoming panel discussion I’m hosting about time and texture as tools in our expressive arsenal; the other…
whatever this is, is how I feel right now
It’s been super uphill the last two weeks: Spotify keeps taking down podcast episodes, the new MemberPress Course setup is more cumbersome than I anticipated (but ooooooweee do I have some killer classes coming), someone keeps trying to steal my…
Email list redux
Hi friends! I’m officially putting together a no-spam email list with the intent of sending a handful of alerts throughout the year when a new class or in-person teaching date is announced. Over the years, I’ve had a few list…
How would you fare?
I came across this video where the delightful Ray Chen challenges some Colburn students to do crazy things for a small cash reward or a free student level instrument. Now, what these kids—who are playing on extraordinary violins purchased for…
April 2025 playlist
Persephone! Pollen! Political protests! Welcome to spring, friends
March practice stream!
This month’s practice stream will be a little different: the last one had one of the attendees a little mystified as to why I didn’t do anything involving scales. I’m working on some pretty wild repertoire these days, so it’s…
Upcoming Workshop Series!
For the first time since I shuttered Tamarack Arts (RIP, you were a good little org 🥹) I’d like to get a month-long focused class going. Please vote below to indicate interest. If you’d like to suggest a topic, you’re…
New video: using a tuner effectively
I was incredibly lucky with my first cello teacher, Catherine Graff MacLaughlin. You’ve probably heard me refer to her as my cello mom, a riff on Jackie calling William Pleeth her cello daddy. Fun fact: Cathy studied with Pleeth, too!…
What the hell, community orchestra conductors?
Over the last few years, I’ve noticed a trend in community orchestras: the repertoire and rehearsal schedules are becoming INSANE. Programs featuring Liszt Les Préludes, Bartók Concerto for Orchestra, that wild Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker arrangement, Strauss tone poems, and the like.…
March 2025 playlist
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Read it now: thumb position fundamentals in Strings March/April 2025 issue, now with 86 percent more rat!
It’s always fun to write about technique. Perhaps this is a sign of madness, but I really enjoy being assigned a massive task—in this case, creating a primer on thumb technique for beginners through advanced players—with a hard word count…
February practice stream!
The next practice stream/Q&A will take place on Tuesday, February 25 at 6pm eastern. Change of plans! Monday, February 24 at 6pm. You are welcome to join me—to observe, ask questions, do some of your own practicing, or hang out…
Warchal Brilliant Strings, an unbiased trial
I’ve been looking for the right strings for Henri since, well, forever. As soon as the set he came with started to go weird and sound old, I replaced them with an identical set up: 2 Larsens, 2 Spirocores. It…
February 2025 playlist
A little delayed what with the looting of my home country by teenage hackers in service of a lunatic racist on ketamine and a malignant narcissist signing executive orders.
eeep
It’s been quiet, but there are several monster posts in progress—the average working time on the larger technique-focused detailed piece is 10 hours from start to finish—and a video that follows the break-in process on a new set of Warchal…
Deeper dive: practice quality
You may have seen this graphic before: Today I’m going to tease these elements apart. mechanics and approach: the foundation What we do is, at its core, a physical enterprise. Yet, sometimes it can feel like this wild mental scramble…
Dear Future Me
I’d like you to envision the musician you’d like to be. Be bold, ambitious, un-self conscious with this imagining, even (or perhaps especially) if the qualities they embody seem remote. Answer these questions to really hone in: After you’ve spent…
Rot or Not 2: Aveleda Alvarinho 2022
In this edition of RoN, I am pleased to present a total banger of an Alvarinho that I paid $16 for at a local shop. Aveleda Solos de Xisto Alvarinho 2022 is just phenomenal! NOT ROT! I used to avoid…
January 2025 playlist
I just canNOT get enough of Mk.Gee. His music has been in my head since October.