In a moment of cheekiness (or perhaps geekiness, or cheeky geekiness or geeky cheekiness), I once told a student that cello technique is the study of geometry, physics, and ergonomics put in the service of musical expression. It is endlessly fascinating trying to figure out the best way to use a stick with horsehair (or your plucking fingers) to get four strings and a big ungainly wooden box to make exactly the sound you want, to create the character you want, at exactly where you are in the musical line or phrase. With this blog I hope to gradually introduce various thoughts and ideas regarding cello technique, covering a range of examples and issues that we face in multiple genres of music, whether in solo works, chamber music, or orchestra playing. I suppose this is a bit like writing a book or treatise in publicly viewable fragments, rather than waiting until everything is compiled and edited before publishing it all in one fell swoop, but I'd rather get any piece of useful information up as soon as it's presentable.
I also will write about various works of cello repertory that interest me and their challenges, whether technical or interpretive. There will be postings about the nitty gritty of balance, voicing, and unity of conception in an ensemble, and what it takes to learn a score and get to its expression and character. I expect to occasionally be guilty of being opinionated, but I'll leave the comment box on so you can feel free to engage and/or challenge anything here I write.
It may seem weird to be starting a blog on September 11, but I also gave my first cello lesson at Brandeis University on September 11, 2002. Life goes on and so does music. So here we go...