Category archive

much better merch!

I’m adding more stuff to the new TeePublic shop all the time. Don’t be fooled by the name: it’s not just tees (although I chose them specifically because their shirts are soft and excellent quality- I was a customer before…

Lonely Cello Podcast!

Now streaming, wherever you get your podcasts! In case you’re not a huge listener, you can also listen to it below! Huge thanks for Dr. Whitcomb for spending some time talking shop.

first time in a long time

I started the Prokofiev sonata last week. It’s the first brand new solo work I’ve started in several years, and it’s been fun to try and apply best practices and really enrich the experience. Here is my process, thus far:…

2021 project

2020 was a year of extremes. While my finances have rarely been so dire, I have also rarely felt so supported. With virtually everything at a standstill, a vision for what I want the middle third of my career to…

Lonely Cello

While purists snipe and decry their very existence as folly, the fact remains that there are legions of solitary cellists out there. Perhaps you, gentle reader, are one yourself. Some folks choose to live far from populations centers where music…

send me your problems!

Everyone has reacted to the changes brought about by covid-19 differently. Many of my musical colleagues have become prolifically creative; the sudden confinement and lack of performance outlets funneling their energies into new compositions and inventive self-accompanied recordings. I, on…

next stop: Geneva

Geneva, New York is situated at the top of one of the famous Finger Lakes, so named because, well, look at the picture below. Zooming in a little further, Geneva (named for its resemblance to the one in Switzerland) is…

Oregon

To get to my accommodations in the unincorporated town of Temmile, I took two flights: DC to MSP, MSP to PDX. I landed around 8pm, went to the wrong rental car place (twice), and was routed, terrified, around the shipping…

help for a sore thumb

Originally published 7 January 2008. The main takeaway I have, now that an additional 12 years have elapsed, is that while the larger aspects of this post hold true, bow hold is wildly variable. The video I posted about visualization…

Does your bow grip work?

Originally published 5 Jan 2008. I really wish I had somehow been able to wrangle the bow in the picture into my life. While the current Sasano bow (I’ve had since my second year at CSUN) is wonderful, I can…

music from another time

Originally published 11 Dec 2007. I still haul these pieces out now and again, and they continue to surprise me! Maybe I’ll spring them on some of my more advanced students who are working on the elusive perfectly tapered “long,…

new podcast thingy

Originally posted 17 Nov 2007. Somewhere over the course of platform and server migrations, these podcasts have gotten lost: I think they may be on one of the external drives gathering dust on a shelf in the studio. Podcasts and…

dream big

Alternate title: financial advisors, angel investors, and becoming a Spreadsheet Person After two decades of trying to find the perfect place that marries all of the things that are important to me—and not finding it—I’ve decided to create the place,…

Idyllwild Arts

Originally posted 1 Aug 2007. I think about things I learned at Idyllwild every single day. I hope I have not spent my last summer up among the dusty cedars and A-frame cabins. On Friday, I drove up Mt. San…

an army of cellists

I had a session today for a film whose composer had the genius concept to score the whole movie…..with cellos and basses. 28 cellos! It was nice to hear the sound, of course, but it was also a great hang…

I heart my students

Originally posted 5 July 2007. This brings back so many memories! One of these students, Jeremy Boersma, is now a professional cellist with a bustling studio of his own and a busy performance schedule. Look him up if you’re in…

extend-o-matic

Originally posted 26 June 2007. It’s wild that this is all words and no images, although I suppose there is some utility in having to visualize the movements independently. It reminds me of the Eddie Izzard skit where he talks…

the bow

Originally published 18 June 2007. I’m still a bow-centric teacher. Maybe even more so now, even though there are lots of really insightful instructors whose philosophy centers intonation as the first goal. It’s not that I don’t think intonation is…

it’s all in your mind

Originally posted 31 May 2007: These students are the foundation of my enduring interest in working with students with traumatic brain injury and other neuro-atypical learners. While the phrasing may be a tad jejune [cello is hard for everyone, some…

stark raving retrofit

Gah, remember that page? So many things have changed since the founding of this blog 12 years ago, including the way I think about playing, teaching, and learning. It’s actually a little painful to go back through some of the…