The cello world has no shortage of great players.

That is not the problem.

The level of playing today is astonishing. Young cellists can play pieces that would have terrified entire studios a few generations ago. Competitions are full of…

Over the past decade, I’ve noticed a steady increase in pedagogical content circulating in online cello communities. Videos, short lessons, practice tips, technique demonstrations, and teaching philosophies appear daily across platforms. Much of this material is thoughtful, widely shared, and…

Over time, I have noticed how easily we encourage one another to think of jobs as interchangeable, especially when looking from the outside.

Someone loses a position and immediately hears a familiar refrain: Why not just do something adjacent? Surely…

Early in our careers, it is natural to think, “If I were in charge, I would do things differently.”

A first-year music major may feel ready for a major audition. A new faculty member may feel confident about how they…

From time to time, while editing old scores or preparing repertoire from the nineteenth century, I find myself wondering what the great cellists of the past might say if they could address players today.

We often encounter them only through…

Gaspar Cassadó: Improvisation on The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II
Yuriy Leonovich, cello
Kristin Leonovich, piano

Gaspar Cassadó composed and arranged a remarkable amount of music for the cello, but many of his works remain almost entirely unknown outside…

Teaching music produces an interesting side effect. Over time, certain short remarks begin to appear in lessons again and again. They are rarely planned. Most of them arise in the middle of a rehearsal or practice discussion when a musical…

Our cooking photos sometimes remind me of a familiar type of concert photograph: a violinist playing very high on the fingerboard with an intensely concentrated expression. The image is impressive. The posture is dramatic, the bow arm is extended, and…

One common narrative in music history claims that major stylistic change occurred roughly once every hundred years before the twentieth century, whereas the twentieth century brought dramatic shifts with each passing decade. There is some truth to this idea, particularly…

Recently, I have been visiting several high schools and working with student orchestras. Sitting in those rehearsals reminded me of something that is easy to forget if you spend most of your time in one corner of the musical world.

…

Spend enough time around classical music discourse, and you will eventually encounter a familiar divide.

On one side stands the “art song.” Elevated. Composed. Serious.
On the other stands the “popular song.” Commercial. Ephemeral. Mass produced.

The boundary often feels…

I have loved Henryk Wieniawski’s music for a long time. His music has fire, elegance, lyricism, and a kind of theatrical brilliance that immediately appeals to string players. Even when the writing is dazzlingly virtuosic, there is usually a singing…