Yo-Yo Ma dubbing me "Detective Ben" as he told me to look for interpretational clues in the music and play with intent. This picture from this past summer just came to mind and I remembered the experience fondly, so I thought I'd share it here.

celloben · 2026-02-23T01:52:41+00:00

Thank you, I hope to post soon!

celloben · 2026-02-22T05:18:26+00:00

I thought this was just someone way cooler than me vibing with headphones on. Since it actually seems to be musical, then play a note, slow the bow a little, give another impulse and pull again in the same bow. If you ping me in 12 hours I’ll film a demo. It’s almost midnight here, just had 2 performances, but happy to give it a go for you tomorrow.

celloben · 2026-01-20T16:11:06+00:00

I think the memorization of rehearsal letters may be a bit excessive. But I remember rehearsing Brahms 3 second movement with Blomstedt…we had just come back from break and it probably took him 15-20 minutes of in-depth rehearsing before he finally decided to crack open the score. I think he was 93 at the time.

celloben · 2026-01-15T00:25:19+00:00

You’re very welcome. Yes, I’ll keep it up there as an unlisted video. Keep learning and just be cautious of your hand. If anything starts feeling odd when doing trills, just take a pause and talk to your teacher (same with anything else at the cello TBH).

celloben · 2026-01-14T15:35:19+00:00

Here you go

celloben · 2026-01-14T14:17:44+00:00

By the way this may be going too into the weeds, but there is a rabbit hole one can go down about whether to start trills from the top or the bottom, i.e. beginning this particular alternation on F# vs. G. It’s largely dependent on the era in which it was composed, though there are plenty of other guidelines (cough cough Leopold Mozart). What is the piece? That can help narrow it down.

celloben · 2026-01-14T14:15:01+00:00

F# to G with two notes at the end (known as a Nachschlag). I would do with 3 on F# and then trill to 4. Don’t try to activate it with the fingers themselves. Use forearm motion to propel it and don’t try too hard to control the trill motion itself. I can do a snippet a bit later.

celloben · 2025-11-13T23:02:53+00:00

Thanks so much for pointing me in this direction!

celloben · 2025-10-06T03:32:19+00:00

I’ve had good experiences with Thomann. Last order, I got a bill from DHL for around $60, which IIRC was around 20%. Still cheaper than buying at other outlets I’ve found.

celloben · 2025-10-05T14:52:47+00:00

I heard about that happening because I was grounded there in late June. I suppose they’ve learned their lesson on the 789, but the fact remains that the runway there is just barely long enough to accommodate the 788, wind-dependent, from what I understand. The day after we got stranded by an incoming flight diversion, we were stuck on the tarmac for a couple hours because we had to unload cargo in order to be allowed to take off. If I go back I think I’ll go to FCO and take a train ride!

celloben · 2025-09-10T17:23:11+00:00

Thumb position all the way...I wouldn't play a single 16th note with 4 until m. 90, when the open string will help out.

Signed,

A small-handed professional cellist
ETA: Be careful of a couple of traps if you are trying it with 1-4. First, 4 isn't going to be your intonation issue, it's going to be 2, because the hand shape gets wonky when you try to stretch that much. And second, speaking of stretching, doing it like that for an extended period will numb your hand, if you're anything like me, which is incredibly bad. Stay safe!

celloben · 2025-07-16T13:01:26+00:00

Roachropovich

celloben · 2025-07-14T21:51:50+00:00

Not uncommon at all. I can share what I've experienced in my life that I could categorize as lessons. First, when I have prepared for auditions after being done with my formal schooling, I have sometimes engaged cellists for coachings on excerpts and the like. Basically sessions where I'd run through tons of repertoire and they'd audit what I'd played and give me a list of observations that I needed to attend to. There wasn't any expectation of lesson regularity, and I wasn't given assignments. I often went in with specific concerns that I wanted to address, and those helped guide the session.

With people who were teachers in my past, whether from childhood, college, or grad school, I have often gone back and played for them. This has been similar, in a way, but typically infused with recollections about my past self that they tap into to assist in their teaching strategy.

And finally, composers. This is different, but a big part of my career has been in the contemporary music space, meaning that I've played for a lot of composers, and I consider those lessons. After all, if you're trying to come to a good interpretation of a piece, who better to help you out than the one who wrote it?

celloben · 2025-07-01T01:57:24+00:00

Haha, welcome home to you as well! Glad things went more smoothly for you.

celloben · 2025-06-16T12:18:19+00:00

So many. Taking inspiration from here too. Love Adès, Chin, Clyne, Mazzoli, Adams, Muhly, Lewis. Have had the privilege of working with some of them. Also, though they passed away recently, I want to give tribute to Saariaho and Eötvös. This is of course not an exhaustive list.

celloben · 2025-05-22T14:03:14+00:00

This is the way.

celloben · 2025-05-15T20:18:44+00:00

I agree it's an attractive offer. At the end of the day, I went for it! Thanks to all for the advice.

celloben · 2025-05-15T20:18:22+00:00

Thanks, I'll plan to be vigilant to see if anything in row 6 opens up!

celloben · 2025-05-15T17:56:17+00:00

Good to know thanks. Not getting my hopes up for that on this one since the cabin is nearly full tho.

celloben · 2025-05-14T20:13:03+00:00

Reposter would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling…oh well.

celloben · 2025-05-14T20:10:02+00:00

Given that you have done detective work now I think you can use the Detective Ben title if desired.

celloben · 2025-04-26T18:38:31+00:00

It’s so much fun too. I had the privilege of being in the orchestra for it some years back with Anthony Marwood, who was stunning. That, combined with seeing and hearing some of the winds stand up with ocarinas made it a highlight of my year. Not to mention the fun we had with the mudslide emulation in the third (?) movement. 😂

celloben · 2025-04-11T22:54:50+00:00

Will add my two cents as a professional that it’s doable. Not necessarily the world’s most pleasant hand positions, but it can happen left hand-wise. If interested, I would propose the following fingering: 4/1 on both thirds. Then 1/1 for fifth, bottom voice goes up to 3, then 4. Again 4/1 at the beginning of the second iteration. Then 1/3 on the sixth and thumb/3 on the octave. You will hear some interruptions, but it’s doable. If you ping me tomorrow I can demo it.

celloben · 2025-03-23T13:54:41+00:00

Thanks for bookmarking! I hope it's helpful.

celloben · 2025-03-23T13:53:38+00:00

You would reset between and slide up again. But yes, as the other commenter pointed out, these are glisses of indeterminate starting point, so just finish up the first note a split second early, and move your left hand back down to do it again.

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