unfair
I got a letter from your pinky the other day. I’m used to whole cellists writing to me asking for technical advice, but this was…a little awkward. What a conflict of interest! But I have decided to address the issues…
Tag approach
Tax Man
I went to the tax guy last week. After reviewing my finances, he advised me to “go to school and learn some real skills” to ameliorate the situation. My first instinct was to go home, open up my in-progress Glossary…
Avoidance mode
You have étude books. And in those books are certain pages that make your guts churn and your eyes sizzle. I know because I, too have Popper’s High School of Cello Studies. But you don’t need to bust out Popper…
a reminder
I’m in my Atlanta hotel room, watching tv. This show comes on about kids playing music, and this guy still has me smiling. There were some other kids too, including an amazing brass band made of siblings. Sometimes I hear…
chop wood, carry water
Anyone who knows me knows that I love sports. In fact, with the exception of golf, I have a hard time walking past any television with some sort of sport on it without sitting down and talking trash. It follows…
getting ready for a master class or one-off
I don’t know that I ever really got the most out of the master classes I participated in. I might have gotten marginally more out of the one or two-off lessons I had with visiting artists, but as I frequently…
The impossible dream
Though we sometimes hesitate to admit it, even professional cellists and teachers have bits of technique that we develop “work arounds” for. It seems like forever ago that I developed one such habit to adjust for my weak left pinky…
take one!
What a learning curve this week has been with Final Cut Express. I’m posting this as an exercise in humility as much as a beneficial lesson for students. Clearly, I got the compression wrong…I recorded this in HD (without a…
the secret Zen of clamshell packaging
So we are in yet another Hell house. I am now on a first-name basis with the people at all of the local plumbing, hardware, and lumber stores, which also means that I have had to do the self-checkout tango,…
upon your return
The early stages of coming back from an injury or a long break can be like starting over, except that you have these remnants of knowledge, muscle memory, and expectation to tempt you right back into pain and frustration again…