Even if you can hear the music in your head when you look at a piece, it’s never a bad idea to listen to several recordings and study the score as part of your general practice curriculum. To experience mastery,…
Part of the reward of teaching is grafting new students onto the lineage of instructors who influenced me, and in effect, into the legacy of the instructors who influenced them. It always tickled me to hear Cathy’s tone change when…
It’s frequently said—even among people who are smart and insightful, even among people who study the psychology and neuroscience of education— that children are simply better at learning. It’s easier for them. Endless sheaves of journal pages devoted to critical…
I can always tell how someone practices after a few lessons. The most frustrated (and frustrating) students are those who spend hours laboring every week but don’t make substantive progress over the course of a month or two. Occasionally,…
To celebrate my second favorite month, I’m going to post every single day in December (giant meteor notwithstanding). I would absolutely love to devote some of these posts to Q and A, so please lob some questions my way! Today’s…
I’ve got all kinds of irons in the fire these days: NaNoWriMo has inspired me to get rolling on some projects, including a book of essays. The following is a favorite memory from my development as a young professional, and…
The previous posts were designed to provide conceptual and technical underpinnings of a solid shifting practice. Today’s is all about developing inner hearing and the ability to generate music inside of your mind, because when you shift, you’re not just…
So last post we talked about getting a feel for the distance the arm travels to put the hand in the right place for an accurate shift. Today is all about the mechanics involved and a bit of the mental…
There are only a handful of reasons we miss shifts: no clear idea of the note’s physical location on the fingerboard technique is inconsistent or maladaptive cannot hear the interval between the first and second note Any one of these…
Just a fun randomizer for those times when you know you need to practice but then fall into a well of ponderous ennui. [advanced_iframe securitykey=”a603d5b9c02c6917edfc85ab48202ee80258aaea” src=”<iframe src=”http://wheeldecide.com/e.php?c1=long+tones&c2=sight+reading+&c3=half+speed+repertoire+run+through+with+metronome&c4=orchestral+excerpts&c5=listening+along+with+the+score&c6=record+yourself+and+listen+back&c7=one+measure+of+a+Bach+Prelude+50+times&c8=anything+but+Popper&c9=cat%2Fbaby+goat+videos&c10=left+hand+tuner+work&c11=go+back+to+an+old+piece+and+apply+new+technical+adjustments+&c12=all+12+major+scales%2C+slurring+2&c13=time+to+map+out+shifts+in+that+tricky+passage+you%27ve+been+avoiding&c14=audiation%2Fvisualizing+for+phrasing+and+musicality&c15=get+out+the+Grout%3A+research+the+historical+context+of+the+piece+you%27re+working+on&c16=mirror+practice%3A+where+should+the+bow+be+to+get+the+sound+you%27re+after%3F+&c17=Schroeder+mix-up-+add+dotted+rhythms%2C+add+or+remove+slurs%2C+or+play+notes+in+groups&col=light&t=cello+practice+randomizer&time=5″ width=”500″ height=”500″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″></iframe>” width=”100%” height=”600″]