a quick note
I’ve been largely away from the blog, but starting in June, I hope to be up to an improved version of my old tricks, with lots of content (that will be better organized and nicer to look at) and opportunities…
Emily Wright
purple rain
summertime hang out at SCOR! heartland and chesapeake
I’ll be teaching at two SCOR! camps this summer: Heartland and Chesapeake– in Iowa and Maryland, respectively. I’d love to see you for a long weekend of workshops, chamber coaching, and private lessons! All levels of adult amateurs welcomed, with…
book 2, we are go for liftoff
The second text is underway, slated to be something of a reverse how-to manual. I’m going to have some additional sections where experts (other teachers, psychologists, physicians) offer corroborating information, too- but will keep those close to the chest…
vintage srcb, part 4: help for a sore thumb
Originally posted 7 January 2008, as part of a series on the bow. Ah, the heady days of cello blogging! This is still an exercise I prescribe to develop the most relaxed bow grip possible, and one I practice, myself. …
vintage srcb, part 3: pinky pressure
Originally posted 9 January, 2008. This, and the next one, are two of the most popular posts on SRCB, according to the Google-mo-tron. Another darling of our community, CelloGirl has stress when it comes to her pinky joint. A portion…
vintage SRCB, part 2: practice makes perfect, if you survive
Post originally published 12 June, 2007 I wish I could send my adult students to music school, if only just for a week. Not to be inspired by the hours and hours of practice or the tide of talent that…
vintage SRCB, part 1: knowing the signs
Post originally published 28 April, 2009. Does this sound like you or anyone you know? Calloused hands, a closet full of full skirts and/or ‘comfy’ black pants, referring to people in strange code languages (“I was just thinking about…
music doctor
I still keep a paper calendar. Then, at the end of a year, no matter what sort of tire fire I’ve created, I can physically leaf through the months and see that I was doing stuff. Even if, like these…
the soul killers
My singing voice is an embarrassment. It is undisciplined, narrow, pitchy, with a number of breaks that make carrying a tune something like driving a car with no second gear. It can be done, but to the obvious detriment of…
Veterans Day 2015
War is seldom justified, and guaranteed to result in at least as much inhumanity as politico-branded triumph and righteousness. On this Veterans Day, I do not celebrate war, or the mechanisms that cause it, nor the facile arguments about it.…
Minneapolis
So I moved to Minneapolis. My heart is still sore from leaving my DC students and colleagues (heck, I still miss my LA folks every. single. day.) but I’m immersing myself in the business at hand until the ache…
small change, big results 4, as illustrated by The Nightmare Before Christmas
The artistic endeavor seems like the kind of thing that should just flow. The story goes like this: big feels, inspiration strikes, she works late into the night in a torrent of creativity and as dawn breaks somewhere over the…
small change, big results 3: improving your practice as illustrated by Dr. Who
In the third installment of this series, I’m going to encourage you to do something fairly radical: pay much MUCH more attention to your bow during your practice. Favor it. Examine it. Look to it as the cause of 80%…
small change, big results 2: improving your practice, as illustrated by English period drama
If we think about the relationship between you and your instrument as a romance, practice can be seen as courtship. You’re getting to know about the cello, finding out about yourself, and making your intentions known. You want this…most ardently. …
small change, big results: improving your practice, as illustrated by MXC
The goal of this series is to provide you with several small changes in approach, presented one at a time, that will streamline and improve your practice process, while also reminding you that MXC* was perhaps the only worthwhile programming…
Dear Emily: when you can’t afford a teacher
Image: Carlos Serrao. On a similar note to the previous post, I’m sure I’m not the only teacher who gets emails asking what people should do when they really want to play the cello but can’t afford a teacher.…
Dear Emily: advice on buying a cello
I get several emails a week from students asking whether they should buy cello A or cello B, although cello C is lovely and has a single-piece back, here have a look at this picture, would a serial number help?…
why I stopped posting
It can be argued that any reader/writer relationship revolves around a transaction. The writer offers an insight, or shares an experience, or somehow provides new context for something the reader is working through. The reader places value in what has…
feel the burn
I’ve been playing twice a day for about twenty minutes each sitting. It hurts afterward, but so does PT, so I figure as long as it doesn’t linger too long, I’m safe. I savor every note, and am grateful…
ridealong
Since my cello career is a bit up in the air, I’m trying out some new things. I’m brushing up on html and adding CSS via Code Academy to bolster my writing and copyediting skills. So far, so good: but…
boo
I’ve been largely resting my arm since February, playing with students and practicing in 20 minute increments. Although it hurt after each session, it would quickly fade and seemed receptive to the usual tendinitis protocol. Writing work has picked up,…
update
Been playing a little bit- just a passage here and there with students. It still hurts and I am without a diagnosis, but can stagger through Go Tell Aunt Rhody and some Lee Duets, which is better than nothing. Thank…
beethoven, nein
For better or worse, moving east was a fresh start for me. The list of pros and cons is long, with the leading con being a drastically lessened performance career until very recently. 2014 saw a resurgence in ensemble playing,…
back in the day
This used to be a blog almost exclusively about the cello. It began in 2007, when I was starting to hit my stride as an instructor, and I experienced this huge high when I could help walk folks through…
2014 in review: autumn
Ever since I can remember, fall has been my favorite season. Growing up in southern California, it was blessed relief from summer’s persistent cloudless urgency. Not a lot of color to be had; perhaps a liquid-ambar would make an ass of…
2014 in review: summer
Summer has always been my least favorite season, even though many wonderful things have happened during the June-September interval. It’s better when there are thunderstorms, but this summer seemed dry and without much character of its own. In June, my…
2014 in review: spring
Spring was punctuated by two jarring events: a move into a house that needed extensive work to be habitable, and a trip across the country to visit LA and teach at a camp in Texas. I had been…
2014 in review: winter
2014 began on crutches, as I recovered from knee surgery after a beer-league hockey accident. The highlight of the experience was having Caps defenseman Mike Green hold the door to Kettler open for me, and without thinking, I said, “Aw cheers,…
holiday transition standoff, part 7: the verdict
Olivier and Sebastian: 2.5 hours of delicious community service. Happy Thanksgiving to all.