Cello shopping
The other morning, I woke up with a bee in my bonnet. That bee has a name, and that name is, “Emily, you need a better cello.” I do not like this name, or the bee himself very much, but…
Category archive
A word about regrets.
The perfect recipe for an unhappy life goes like this: make mistakes and either fail to learn anything from them or allow yourself to be so consumed by regret that you are not present for a single moment of your…
The how and what of good practice.
It happens more than it should: I walk into a lesson and the student is jaw-droppingly unprepared and the excuse offered is, “I didn’t have enough to practice.” It was a frequent occurrence in my own early lessons. I would…
HotLanta workshop!
This is starting to be a habit! For the third year running, I’m being hosted by Ann and the Atlanta Cello Project. This time around, I’ll be talking about memorization, offering tips, and passing along some handy information about short,…
The real me.
Ask anyone who has ventured into the deep end of music teaching about how they balance performance and pedagogy, and you are bound to get all kinds of answers. In my own experience, I can candidly offer the following: There…
2010: Lousy Post #2
While the last post was so awful and nebulous that it sparked a misunderstanding with one of my favorite cellists, this post showed me that people don’t come here to read about my non-cello life.† So up it goes, as…
2010: A Lousy Blog Post Retrospective, part 1
Inspired by Travis‘ idea, I now present you 2010: A Lousy Blog Post Retrospective. He noted that some of his favorite posts were the ones with either zero reaction or active disdain from his readers, and it’s funny to go through…
Happy Cellomas
It’s not uncommon to be a little more sentimental during the holidays. Heck, I’m easily touched as it is. This year I thought I would make a little video to put faces and names to some of the people who…
Talent on the horizon
They say that the North American natives were taken by surprise, even though the towering masts of the Spaniards were on the horizon for nearly two days before they landed. It is thought they didn’t see the Spanish explorers’ ships…
Thumb position Redux
I wrote this post about 2.5 years ago, and I thought that I might keep this blog perhaps a little cello-y while I finish writing my papers and whip up the Cellomas video by reposting it. The cello blogosphere has…