Back in bid’nis

Well, summer is officially over, as I am officially back in rehearsals beginning tomorrow. It’s been some weeks since I’ve been on the podium- my last major concert was Bruckner 4 on June 30, and then the OES Camp Honors Orchestra in late July. I’ve not conducted in...

Fiddling around

One of the nice things about having done a fair bit of teaching is hearing what your former students are doing, and this morning I had an update on one of my cello students from my days teaching at Eastern Oregon University. Jacie was already a prize-winning fiddler...

FAQs- Bach Cello Suites

From my inbox comes a nice question from Felicity in Colorado, which gives me a rare, and nice, chance to answer a cello related question. “Dear Ken,” she writes, “when you’re playing the Bach Suites, do you use a baroque bow or baroque cello, what sort of A do...

The right way to do things….

I’m tempted to start a new column here called “things that people state as facts but that aren’t.” Of course, I won’t because I don’t want this blog to be too much of a downer. Nevertheless, every once in a while, I hear or read a comment about music that I think...