Email list redux
Hi friends! I’m officially putting together a no-spam email list with the intent of sending a handful of alerts throughout the year when a new class or in-person teaching date is announced. Over the years, I’ve had a few list…
How would you fare?
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…
April 2025 playlist
Persephone! Pollen! Political protests! Welcome to spring, friends
March practice stream!
This month’s practice stream will be a little different: the last one had one of the attendees a little mystified as to why I didn’t do anything involving scales. I’m working on some pretty wild repertoire these days, so it’s…
Upcoming Workshop Series!
For the first time since I shuttered Tamarack Arts (RIP, you were a good little org 🥹) I’d like to get a month-long focused class going. Please vote below to indicate interest. If you’d like to suggest a topic, you’re…
New video: using a tuner effectively
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!…
What the hell, community orchestra conductors?
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.…
March 2025 playlist
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Read it now: thumb position fundamentals in Strings March/April 2025 issue, now with 86 percent more rat!
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…
February practice stream!
The next practice stream/Q&A will take place on Tuesday, February 25 at 6pm eastern. Change of plans! Monday, February 24 at 6pm. You are welcome to join me—to observe, ask questions, do some of your own practicing, or hang out…
Warchal Brilliant Strings, an unbiased trial
I’ve been looking for the right strings for Henri since, well, forever. As soon as the set he came with started to go weird and sound old, I replaced them with an identical set up: 2 Larsens, 2 Spirocores. It…
February 2025 playlist
A little delayed what with the looting of my home country by teenage hackers in service of a lunatic racist on ketamine and a malignant narcissist signing executive orders.
eeep
It’s been quiet, but there are several monster posts in progress—the average working time on the larger technique-focused detailed piece is 10 hours from start to finish—and a video that follows the break-in process on a new set of Warchal…
Deeper dive: practice quality
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…