For when you just don’t want to practice…
One of my students sent this to me, and I burst out laughing! All I can hear is a demonic rendition of twin-kle twin-kle lit-tle….star…
Category archive
Do you really warm up?
Ask yourself this: is my warmup a truly physical warmup? There is a difference between warming up your technical chops and just plain getting your body used to the crazy things we ask it to do while playing. This is…
A close call
Dear Friends, I lead a very good life. I would generally say that I am upbeat, resilient, and able to cope with the painful and stressful stimuli that present themselves to me from time to time. That is, until yesterday.…
Warning: Post May Trigger Defensiveness
We’ve all been there: stuck sitting next to some kid at dinner, doing your best to appear kind and attentive, maybe even striking up a little conversation to pass the time. Inevitably, the kid will do something naughty like say…
never good enough
I have a long-term student who has been very up, very down, all over the map in terms of her dedication to the cello. Of late, prodded on by the Galamian scales with martelé that every one of my students…
Having tough lessons? You have a choice.
The way I see it, there is this thing, this Difficulty (capital D, for emphasis) to playing the cello. And it’s there; sitting, waiting, towering, looming, quivering. Many a student has tried to devise strategies to get around this Difficulty.…
Cool.
It won’t be long until they retire these magnificent birds. I grew up in the triangle formed by March, Norton and Edwards AFBs, so it’s no wonder that I have such a love for all things aviation. The sonic booms…
Not just another day.
In memory, not just today, but always.
how to get good
One of the hardest things about teaching kids is that you have to watch talent languish. I routinely run into situations where a student just turns off to the whole learning process but, thinking that I can be fooled, turns…
the post with no name
Chameleon drawing from this online coloring book site!