My Dog, Abby, Had Enough!

So here I am practicing The Swan. This must have been the 6th time in a row I played (actually butchered) this most beautiful cello music. As you can tell, Abby is a polite girl because she tries to be discreet but the hardwood floor gives her away. I’m glad I’m looking down because I […]

Happy New Year! Time to Cello-brate!

For me, 2017 is the year of the cello, because this is the year I started playing the cello again, after a 35 year layoff. On June 3rd, I rented a cello and when I got home, I tuned my cello with a tuning fork (I found my tuning fork from 35 years ago!) and […]

String Crossing Tip

Bach Suite 1 Prelude. From note 1, this piece is a series of string crossings and well, when it comes to bowing technique I’m no Yo Yo Ma, or Inbal Segev. I’m in month 6 six of my comeback and the little things, like string crossings, that make music beautiful are slow to comeback. My teacher […]

The Bow

My short cello journey has brought me back to the bow. While I was looking for a cello I ran into the issue that choosing a cello is about choosing a cello AND bow (and strings but I’ll leave that for another post). A few weeks ago, I changed strings, but for some odd reason, […]

Playing Cello – Better Than Coffee?

Is playing the cello an alternative to coffee.

Photography – My Other Passion

I love photography. Something about capturing and making a beautiful image. And well, the cello is the most beautiful instrument, not just in sound but also visually. I will be posting photos of my cello. I hope you enjoy them.

Bach Cello Suites

This week I started the Bach Cello Suites (again). In my youth, I just did not appreciate the Bach Suites. Back then, they were just etudes. And I played plenty of etudes…maybe that’s why I didn’t like The Suites. How things have changed. I’m older and wiser (debatable), and I just love the Suites. Listen to […]

Meet Slava (Yep…That’s my Cello’s Name)

I thought I would relay my cello buying experience with everyone. When I played back in the late 70’s / early 80’s, I played my brother’s cello so I played what was available to me. And it was a nice cello. Boy was it a nice cello! So this is my first time buying my […]

Finding My Voice

After 2 hours of testing instruments, we were ready to take two cellos (Ivan Dunov and William Klier models) for home trials, when I noticed a beautiful instrument,

Lessons Begin

My Lessons began on June 9, 2017. My cello teacher is Ms. Sara Haughton at the Catoctin School of Music. Lesson 1 was about setting the baseline. Sara and I discussed my past cello experience. I told her that I was a pretty good cello player back in the day. Nothing like a Yo-Yo Ma […]