As an adult learner, it’s common to develop a persistent feeling of rising pressure; the strong compulsion to make up for lost time, a desperation to catch up to some platonic ideal of where you imagine you should be. As…
As I’m juggling the myriad writing projects I’ve got simmering, the time frame on the most complex one (the follow up to the now out-of-print Modern Cellist’s Manual) stretches into the horizon. I suppose one advantage of being self-published is…
This piece originated as an assignment that sort of went rogue and proceeded to take over my life. It’s taken a long time—too long—to get it out into the world, but that’s a story for another day. Today, I want…
SERIOUSLY have you ever seen someone skate like her? Ever? I’ve been enchanted by skating ever since I was a kid, practicing taking off from different edges of my feet on the patio whenever the Olympic coverage would go to…
Hey friends! As promised, here’s the next installment of my examination of David Epstein’s Range, specifically relating it to what we’re trying to do as musicians. I’m dividing it up by chapter to keep things clear. Before I get underway,…
I’ve talked about this before, usually in the context of structuring your practice. Since I’ve done a ton of that, I thought devoting some time to describing the issue itself in some detail might be helpful, so that wherever you…
One of the things I love about working with advanced students (my studio is about 2/3 semi pros) is that they keep me in touch with the gnarliest parts of the repertoire. Just today, I’m getting to revisit Beethoven 6,…
I’ve been in conversation with a few of my more advanced students lately. They’ve adopted many elements of the Practice Modes I’m building a book around, and while they certainly clear the terrain in terms of not allowing gaps in…
If you’re trying to make physical changes in your playing, I highly recommend the following, with the caveat that different brains find different scenarios pleasurable. If playing with your attention split causes calamity, it’s not a problem with you. This…
The end of the year always makes my fingers itch for something new, or something old to make new again. A few years ago, I was inspired by Josh Roman’s Instagram post where he was being adjusted by an Alexander…
Already know you’re interested? Go to the bottom of the post and let me know! It’s been so much fun to see interest in the cello and playing pop/contemporary styles since Netflix’s Wednesday crashed into our hearts and minds in…
This course has been postponed, please do not purchase it unless you are happy to have a credit for when it actually does run! Thank you for understanding ♥️ Summer School 1 was a real-time look at the way I…
Don’t wanna read the whole post? Scroll to the end for the course description and details! Many of you know I stream my practice semi-regularly. Why? I suppose I’m trying to demystify the process a bit and build on one…
One of my favorite podcasts is If Books Could Kill, where the two hosts take a critical (good faith) look at the pop-sci books that take the zeitgeist by storm every few years. Examples of this include: What these books…
I came across this video where the delightful Ray Chen challenges some Colburn students to do crazy things for a small cash reward or a free student level instrument. Now, what these kids—who are playing on extraordinary violins purchased for…
I was incredibly lucky with my first cello teacher, Catherine Graff MacLaughlin. You’ve probably heard me refer to her as my cello mom, a riff on Jackie calling William Pleeth her cello daddy. Fun fact: Cathy studied with Pleeth, too!…
Over the last few years, I’ve noticed a trend in community orchestras: the repertoire and rehearsal schedules are becoming INSANE. Programs featuring Liszt Les Préludes, Bartók Concerto for Orchestra, that wild Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker arrangement, Strauss tone poems, and the like.…
It’s always fun to write about technique. Perhaps this is a sign of madness, but I really enjoy being assigned a massive task—in this case, creating a primer on thumb technique for beginners through advanced players—with a hard word count…
You may have seen this graphic before: Today I’m going to tease these elements apart. mechanics and approach: the foundation What we do is, at its core, a physical enterprise. Yet, sometimes it can feel like this wild mental scramble…
I’d like you to envision the musician you’d like to be. Be bold, ambitious, un-self conscious with this imagining, even (or perhaps especially) if the qualities they embody seem remote. Answer these questions to really hone in: After you’ve spent…
Just a short post on this last evening of 2024 to pass on something that has helped me remain motivated and satisfied with my progress through pandemics, spine surgeries, moving to a small town with no gig scene or in-person…
Behold! The mighty tenuto! Language of origin/root: Italian, tenere meaning to hold. I’m starting this series with tenuto because I went three decades without truly knowing what this small but transformative line atop or beneath a note really did: I…
The four aspects of excellent practice as I see them are: Today I want to talk about quality. Each of these elements contributes something powerful and distinct to the quality of your work. Right off the bat, sort these concepts…
In trying to come up with a grand unifying theory of performance anxiety, I proposed (at a talk I gave this summer) that the likelihood of its debilitating effects exist on the axes of two main components: preparation and self-concept.…
Students frequently ask/beg/lament: what should I practice? How much? In what order? For how long? Should I write it all in a journal? Count my reps? While these are decent questions, I think the better one to ask is “how…
There are a few ways to approach shifts, each featuring subtly different orders of operation. The approach I’ll be talking about in this post is commonly known as old finger shifting. This name always makes me chuckle, as I imagine…
If you have practiced, have faith that your instructor can see your work! Hitting a wrong note or three Take a moment and be reasonable. What do you think being a student is like? Why do we take lessons? Where…
Perhaps the most important thing a well-intentioned adult student can do is get out of their own way! Something I’ve noticed about adult learners is this tendency to—out of a completely wholesome desire to be polite and show their dedication—absolutely…