On the 7th day of Cellomas
My teacher told to me: 7) Take the thing you hate the most and make it your favorite. You know that measure that twists your fingers into a knot, befuddles your bow or just sounds plain awful? Well meet your…
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On the 6th day of Cellomas
My teacher told to me: 6) Practice sightreading at least once a week, if it’s not already part of your routine. There are few tricks to getting better at sightreading. You just have to do it; preferably with a metronome.…
On the 5th day of Cellomas
My teacher told to me: 5) Go slow, go fast, go slow again. The hallmark of erratic driving is a great test of true grasp of technique and timing. Take a short piece or study that you have roughly under…
On the 4th Day of Cellomas
My teacher told to me: 4) When you can’t practice your cello, there are still ways to practice being a better musician. Let’s say you’re away from your instrument during the holidays for more than 3 days (the amount of…
On the 3rd Day of Cellomas
My teacher told to me: 3) Tune your half steps. Ideally, you should have half steps between your fingers with a nice big space between 2 and 3 which is flexible enough to be tempered up or down. Using a…
On the 2nd Day of Cellomas
My teacher told to me: 2) Find a way to record yourself. Lots of my students have balked at this one. “I get nervous!” “It will sound bad!” etc. To me, those are reasons to record yourself. Unless you are…
The 12 (or so) days of Cellomas
I’m not swimming in time these days, but I thought I it might be fun to offer a few basic reminders to take into your next practice session. Whether you’re an agnostic low-layer, a celebrant of another religion or a…
once more, with feeling
I have talked big and small game about doing a swing out to a few cities for master classes and private lessons. This time, I think I’ll actually go to the trouble to make it happen. My thought is Midwest…
Haw nit to write a celllo blah
I laughed so hard at this, mainly because I use a BlackBerry and all my friends send me garbled emails and texts from their iPhones.
how not to write a cello blog
It’s quite simple. It starts with actual cello playing and teaching, which remarkably takes away from blogging. Then add in some college football, possible moving plans, and the beginnings of Holiday Mania. Finish with a completely non cello related video,…