keepin’ it real
I live a dangerous life. Cave diving? No. Ebola specialist at the CDC? Nope! Sword swallower? Nah. No, I base my income on the wispy whims of people whose ability to pay me is a direct reflection of sentiment about…
Emily Wright
Not even a little bit cello related
So you wanna go to music school?
This list, like the last one, is drawn directly from my experience. This is hopfully going to be the emphasis of my next book, tentatively entitled something like, “Ignore This Book if You Want to Go to Your 9th Choice…
Excalibow
The 2nd movement of Beethoven 5 has claimed many a victim at symphonic auditions. It seems to be custom made to sound great in a section, but like utter chaos when played alone. For years and years, I have chipped…
Be Prepared
Maybe you don’t need this list. But maybe your students do! Things to have in your cello case: 1) spare bow and rosin 2) at least a good spare A (whole set is ideal, but pricey, I know) 3) nail…
up there
Back in June, I wrote about extensions. I recently revisited the post and noticed that Terry had posed a question of upper position whole tone movement, and thought I would go over my approach to this potential nightmare of advanced…
wamma wamma
Like an athlete on the DL, I have slowly been working my stamina up to where it was when I was in college. Sure, I’ve been playing 5 hours of lessons a day with my students and doing studio doubles,…
Recommended
I had the the Stahlhammer endpin taken out and replaced it with a deadly-looking, lesser-angled tungsten carbide one. If any of you out there are considering a new endpin, I cannot say enough good things about this bad boy! No…
Devin
Devin Barlow is a student of mine. We meet once a week, for 30 minutes. Sometimes it feels like 2 hours to Devin, and not just because I am long winded and overexplanatory. Devin has very little short-term memory because…
Bah
When I originally submitted my manuscript to Oxford, I received a very cordial letter of not-quite rejection, not exactly acceptance. It praised the vibe of the book, the formatting, content, and even the images I selected. The editor suggested that…