As teachers, we are charged with a wonderful but daunting task: to formulate a path, tailored for each student, to reach their goals. The reason it’s daunting is because most students will demonstrate a sincere desire to do one thing,…
This may be the simplest “hack”, but it’s also one I wish more students used. Something as rudimentary as a bandage can work wonders to draw the physical attention (that is, the body’s awareness of what is happening while other…
The cello and the computer (and driving, and knitting, and reading…) seem to promote two dangerous postures: a chin that juts forward, and shoulders that curve inwards, towards each other. Held for short periods, no harm done. Done for hours…
I wrote about this nearly ten years ago, but it’s stood the test of time for a tense/hyperextended/jerk of a pinky. My school of bow technique asserts that the pinky is largely inert during most actions, and although there are…
I once launched my bow into the audience at a CSUN concert after a particularly zesty up-bow release. The inside chair gave me his bow and sat through the rest of the movement quietly, but the person who caught the…
Here’s another snippet from the upcoming collection of essays. One of the highlights of my college years was winning the concerto competition at Kingston University with the Rococo Variations. It was a time of immense personal and professional growth- I’d…
Vibrato may be describable in words, they’re not easy to come by. For most students, it’s a bit of a long haul to add it to the list of techniques considered well in hand (pun resisted). I’ve had several freakish students…
There are techniques that feel, for some, completely unnatural. It gets to the point that struggling students can’t even feel what right is, so they either give up on the technique (this is common with vibrato, for instance) or develop…
Keep in mind I am making fun of the art direction and not the models themselves. Lord knows they were only doing what they were told. This was supposed to be a lovely slideshow instead of some 1998 Netscape mismatched…
Having server issues, but I bet you won’t mind if Maurice Ravel and the Enso quartet occupy this space for the day. 🙂