Behold! The mighty tenuto! Language of origin/root: Italian, tenere meaning to hold. I’m starting this series with tenuto because I went three decades without truly knowing what this small but transformative line atop or beneath a note really did: I…
Enjoy!
In the coming weeks, the podcast will surge back to life with new interviews and episodes focusing on every possible aspect of performance anxiety: what it’s like, how and why it manifests, strategies that help, strategies that…don’t help…As well as…
The four aspects of excellent practice as I see them are: Today I want to talk about quality. Each of these elements contributes something powerful and distinct to the quality of your work. Right off the bat, sort these concepts…
Once a month, I’m going to stream a practice session on Zoom that is free to join, and afterwards, you can ask questions about anything you saw/heard or your own practice! The next practice stream will be on Tuesday, October…
In trying to come up with a grand unifying theory of performance anxiety, I proposed (at a talk I gave this summer) that the likelihood of its debilitating effects exist on the axes of two main components: preparation and self-concept.…
This is NOT rot! Delightful, semi-effervescent vinho verde. If it’s called vinho verde, it’s from Portugal, and although the literal translation suggests “green wine”, in practice, it just means young wine, not aged very long. Lower alcohol (as is the…
In 2015-16, there seemed a real chance that my spinal issues would cost me my career in music. My mind raced, trying to imagine a skill I was already in possession of that could become a new full-time profession. The…
Students frequently ask/beg/lament: what should I practice? How much? In what order? For how long? Should I write it all in a journal? Count my reps? While these are decent questions, I think the better one to ask is “how…
There are a few ways to approach shifts, each featuring subtly different orders of operation. The approach I’ll be talking about in this post is commonly known as old finger shifting. This name always makes me chuckle, as I imagine…
First off, if you’re here because you were looking for the Tamarack Arts website, hi! In the next month or so, this site will relaunch with a new, simplified look, and will gradually populate with new posts, events, podcast topics,…
Thank you for stopping by! The first iteration of this site was Stark Raving Cello: a Blogger site where I took turns opining, explaining, and ranting about whatever came into my 28-year-old brain. The name of the blog was accurate!…
If you have practiced, have faith that your instructor can see your work! Hitting a wrong note or three Take a moment and be reasonable. What do you think being a student is like? Why do we take lessons? Where…
Perhaps the most important thing a well-intentioned adult student can do is get out of their own way! Something I’ve noticed about adult learners is this tendency to—out of a completely wholesome desire to be polite and show their dedication—absolutely…
Things have been quiet here, but behind the scenes, I’ve been working furiously. The remainder of 2024 is set to be a busy time. I’m slowly populating the calendar here: Top of the list is submitting a proposal for…
Wendy is an absolute institution in the Los Angeles string world, and her latest project to catalogue and promote the work of women composers is just one example of her tireless efforts to make a difference in the music community.…
If you have lesson anxiety or find it hard to strike a balance between caring about the result (essential!) and holding yourself accountable for every tiny flaw (misery!), have a listen to this. Lots of love to all the tender…
There is a nature preserve not too far from where we reside that has a bench with an excerpt from Thoreau’s Walden pressed into it. In the spring and summer, the place runs wild with ferns, soft moss and lichen,…
Making a podcast is such a cool way to have conversations with interesting people that you’d otherwise have no excuse to talk to. One thing I really miss about being in an academic environment is having (and hearing) discussions with…
read part 1 here and part 2 here! I had beaten P to the house by only a few minutes, and figured that a surge must have done something to the power. It was incredibly warm and I was covered…
read part 1 here. The route from DC to Litchfield county has a number of variations, most of them involving whether to cross into NY via Manhattan or Yonkers. Strangely, it is frequently faster to go through Midtown, but I…
The last two years have been just…really…something. Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of a particularly gnarly moment in what has been a period of almost exclusively gnarly moments, and it made me realize that only a few people have…
For about a month now, there has been a post nearly ready to publish. For some reason, I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it. I’m not certain if this is a sign of maturity or lack of…
As promised, here are some lesson notes. This student is a marvelous and highly motivated student whose main outlet is playing in a community orchestra. These notes are from a period of time when I was also introducing them to…
Back when I started this blog, social media was a sort of nascent entity—we had no idea if it would stick around or fall into the waste bin of internet things that didn’t last. It was easy to do what…
Thom is a friend and colleague who offers some practical tips for anyone who wants to write music but feels like they don’t know how to start!
This is one of my favorite episodes, ever. What a treat.