Hmmm, maybe no retreat?
After getting lots of emails asking for a retreat or other such event, I’ve only gotten 2 people saying they’re more likely than not to come to the tentative event in Middleburg. I know it’s tough because I have only…
Category archive
Thoracic Outlet Update
Thoracic outlet syndrome is complicated. It can be caused by any number of things, from trauma (like a car accident or fall) to genetic predisposition to, as is my case, a subtle accumulation of overuse injuries that led to a…
Retreat email list and quickie update!
If you are interested in this (or future retreats), please subscribe to the mailing list (halfway down the main blog page) or send me an email, and I’ll add you- so you can be kept in the loop and we…
Wellbourne Cello Retreat!
About an hour south of Washington, DC, nestled between acres of rolling farmland and a two-block colonial downtown area is the Wellbourne Inn. An old farmhouse that has, since the 1770s, been lived in, added onto, loved and adored…
advance and retreat
A few people have contacted me either here or on social media to ask what’s up with my arm- I’ve been posting pictures from rehab and expressing frustration with the various setbacks. I’d intended to make the “long and winding…
Non cellists you should listen to more
It’s easy to get lost in the struggle to be an excellent cellist. We take lessons, go to concerts and master classes, listen to recordings, flail away in the practice room. Remember that in the end, the cello is vehicle…
Cellists you should listen to more
Natalia Gutman’s tone absolutely drenches you. This is a woman who knows how to use the bow with great efficiency, subtlety, and power.
the long and (re)winding road, part 3
A slight rewind. On October 20, 1997, my parents and I were in a car accident. They had come into LA to celebrate my birthday, and as we crossed Nordhoff St. on Etiwanda Ave., an octogenarian having a diabetic seizure…
Playing Scared
I’m interrupting the “long and winding road” injury posts to try and collect some data and design a workshop series dealing with stage fright. I’ve had spells of performance anxiety several times in my career, and have done extensive trial…
the long and winding road, part 2
Pictured: Cathy and Doug (middle two) on their wedding day. Oxford, England, 1967. Part 2. Through high school, things got worse. My parents had Kaiser, so I was confined to the Kaiser system, and I don’t think they even considered going outside…
the long and winding road, part 1
I had a lot of time to think, driving back and forth from Heartland SCOR this weekend. It’s about 12 hours round trip from Minneapolis to Le Claire, Iowa. This picture was taken after nearly running out of gas in…
goings on
After 8 months in Mpls, I’m headed back to DC! Nothing against the Twin Cities: in fact, I am inspired by so many people and things about this place. But DC feels like home, and I’ve been offered a…
pardon the mess
Now that the new theme has been installed, it will be a week or three until things look and function like they should : posts need to be retrofitted with images, colors changes, logos designed, all that stuff. Still, the…
a quick note
I’ve been largely away from the blog, but starting in June, I hope to be up to an improved version of my old tricks, with lots of content (that will be better organized and nicer to look at) and opportunities…
purple rain
summertime hang out at SCOR! heartland and chesapeake
I’ll be teaching at two SCOR! camps this summer: Heartland and Chesapeake– in Iowa and Maryland, respectively. I’d love to see you for a long weekend of workshops, chamber coaching, and private lessons! All levels of adult amateurs welcomed, with…
book 2, we are go for liftoff
The second text is underway, slated to be something of a reverse how-to manual. I’m going to have some additional sections where experts (other teachers, psychologists, physicians) offer corroborating information, too- but will keep those close to the chest…
vintage srcb, part 4: help for a sore thumb
Originally posted 7 January 2008, as part of a series on the bow. Ah, the heady days of cello blogging! This is still an exercise I prescribe to develop the most relaxed bow grip possible, and one I practice, myself. …
vintage srcb, part 3: pinky pressure
Originally posted 9 January, 2008. This, and the next one, are two of the most popular posts on SRCB, according to the Google-mo-tron. Another darling of our community, CelloGirl has stress when it comes to her pinky joint. A portion…
vintage SRCB, part 2: practice makes perfect, if you survive
Post originally published 12 June, 2007 I wish I could send my adult students to music school, if only just for a week. Not to be inspired by the hours and hours of practice or the tide of talent that…
vintage SRCB, part 1: knowing the signs
Post originally published 28 April, 2009. Does this sound like you or anyone you know? Calloused hands, a closet full of full skirts and/or ‘comfy’ black pants, referring to people in strange code languages (“I was just thinking about…
music doctor
I still keep a paper calendar. Then, at the end of a year, no matter what sort of tire fire I’ve created, I can physically leaf through the months and see that I was doing stuff. Even if, like these…
the soul killers
My singing voice is an embarrassment. It is undisciplined, narrow, pitchy, with a number of breaks that make carrying a tune something like driving a car with no second gear. It can be done, but to the obvious detriment of…
Veterans Day 2015
War is seldom justified, and guaranteed to result in at least as much inhumanity as politico-branded triumph and righteousness. On this Veterans Day, I do not celebrate war, or the mechanisms that cause it, nor the facile arguments about it.…
Minneapolis
So I moved to Minneapolis. My heart is still sore from leaving my DC students and colleagues (heck, I still miss my LA folks every. single. day.) but I’m immersing myself in the business at hand until the ache…
small change, big results 4, as illustrated by The Nightmare Before Christmas
The artistic endeavor seems like the kind of thing that should just flow. The story goes like this: big feels, inspiration strikes, she works late into the night in a torrent of creativity and as dawn breaks somewhere over the…
small change, big results 3: improving your practice as illustrated by Dr. Who
In the third installment of this series, I’m going to encourage you to do something fairly radical: pay much MUCH more attention to your bow during your practice. Favor it. Examine it. Look to it as the cause of 80%…
small change, big results 2: improving your practice, as illustrated by English period drama
If we think about the relationship between you and your instrument as a romance, practice can be seen as courtship. You’re getting to know about the cello, finding out about yourself, and making your intentions known. You want this…most ardently. …
small change, big results: improving your practice, as illustrated by MXC
The goal of this series is to provide you with several small changes in approach, presented one at a time, that will streamline and improve your practice process, while also reminding you that MXC* was perhaps the only worthwhile programming…
Dear Emily: when you can’t afford a teacher
Image: Carlos Serrao. On a similar note to the previous post, I’m sure I’m not the only teacher who gets emails asking what people should do when they really want to play the cello but can’t afford a teacher.…