cellosophies
Even the creative genius may suffer fears, doubts and vulnerabilities. Teaching must inspire, motivate, impart high ideals, and help each to discover and trust their unique talent and strengths. – Paul Katz
Artistry is in the details.
Progress is impossible without change. – George Bernard Shaw
Cello playing is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. – Janos Starker
There exists a performance nirvana, an aural and physical union of ears, hands, emotions, and instinct in miraculous interaction. Conscious, reasoned thought, critical to the learning process, still flickers and informs, but it is intuition and inspiration that are primary in this state of creative transcendence. – Paul Katz
Listening is the conduit through which all physical actions creating expressive results are filtered. – Elizabeth Aureden
Intelligence is everywhere in the body, nature and the universe.
My goal is to convey a true masterpiece in whatever I play. – Janos Starker
Everyone knows what they can't do--our weaknesses scream at us in the practice room every day. To perform, you must know what you can do and bring the attention of your audience to those strengths. – Gregor Piatigorsky
Talent has an irresistible hunger; not properly fed, it becomes angry, desperate. Talent's only food is gratification from the creative process. The talented, imprisoned by their gift, have no choice but to satisfy it. Commit, work, grow–your fulfillment and happiness depend upon it. – Paul Katz
Improper body use is like a pebble in your shoe. A nagging discomfort, it can cause severe damage over time. – Victor Sazer
Thinking is the biggest mistake a dancer can make. You have to feel, you have to "become" – Michael Jackson
Creativity takes courage. – Henri Matisse
Variety, variety--no two snowflakes are alike, no two notes are alike. – Pablo Casals
The fingers have no brains, and they have no ears! – Gregor Piatigorsky
As a teacher, my first task is to teach the students how to practice. Once they understand this, they begin to make progress. – Ivan Galamian
Even the smallest motion involves your entire body. Your body functions as a unified whole rather than as a collection of isolated parts.Those who focus too much on small motor movements can easily lose this vital connection with the rest of the body. –Victor Sazer
Our bodies continually provide us with information, yet we too often ignore or do not understand their messages. Awareness is the first step. – Victor Sazer
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. – Albert Einstein
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle
The greatest mistake you can make is to be continually fearing you will make one. – Elbert Hubbard
If you aren't making mistakes, you aren't trying. – Wynton Marsalis
Teaching moves through generations. If you believe in the principles that represent the truth in the masterpieces, then you try to preserve those principals. They can be preserved only through teaching. – Janos Starker
I still have not found anything more permanent or more beautiful than music. – Janos Starker
cellowisdoms
Create a more spectacular legato by connecting notes with a beautiful, continuous vibrato. – Midori
The body has its own wisdom: listen to it, learn from it. – Paul Katz
Tai Chi teaches us,"Tightness is Weakness; Softness is Strength."
Each hand has independent functions, yet they strongly influence each other. You cannot divide the body down the middle-- seek similar feelings uniting the two hands. – Paul Katz
Squeezing the thumb blocks flexibility of the wrist and fingers. – Paul Katz
Feel the springiness of the ricochet vibrating within the fingers of your right hand. Get so loose that you feel you have no control at all -- then you suddenly you discover you do. – Paul Katz
The left hand is your thoughts, the right hand is your tongue. – Gregor Piatigorsky
Renown violin pedagogue Shirley Givens uses the same imagery in her wonderful method book "Adventures in Violinland", Book 1C, "Meet The Bow", available through Shar Products.
Imagine that your Bow is a Ship and the Strings are an Ocean. In big playing you can feel as an ocean-liner, heavy and deep beneath the surface, pulling your boat through the resistance of the water. In soft, intimate moments, suspend your weight and feel as a toy boat lightly floating on the surface where there is no resistance at all. – Paul Katz
Playing the cello is dropping all of your weight into the instrument, or holding all of it off, and....everything in between! – Gregor Piatigorsky
A tight bow grip blocks agility, sensitivity to touch, and hence, nuance and color. – Paul Katz
A fast shift is like driving down the street one hundred miles per hour and trying to get into a tight parking space. You might make it, but the risk is high. – Dorothy DeLay
Our heart has the most wonderful partner in our hands--their gestures are the outward expression of what we feel inside. – William Pleeth
Inseparable, the bow and vibrato together create and shape the contour of the musical phrase. – Paul Katz
Vibrato is tied to the heart; how we vary it helps us express moods, characters, and emotions. Vibrato is a defining quality of each person's unique sound and artistry. – Paul Katz
Renown violin pedagogue Shirley Givens also uses the same crew of a ship imagery in her wonderful 1993 method book "Adventures in Violinland", Book 1C, "Meet The Bow", available through Shar Products.
...Balance and flexibility give us more bow control than gripping and squeezing; they are essential to mastery of the bow. – Paul Katz
Keep your left wrist flat; bending your wrist creates tension in your hand and limits finger dexterity. – Paul Katz
The choice of angle and the positioning of your fingers will help you vary your vibrato speeds. – Paul Katz
Mastery of intonation depends more on training the ears than the hand.
– Paul Katz
Sautilllé needs enough downward weight to activate the springiness of the bow stick and set the rebound in motion -- Like a bouncing ball, throw it down – it will come up by itself. – Paul Katz
Over-squeezing the thumb will block needed flexibility of the wrist and fingers. – Paul Katz
The ears reveal everything we need to know, including the solution. – Brian Hodges
There is a “place” we can go where our ears, mind, body become one with each other, and we become one with the music and the cello. – Paul Katz
There is a world of intonation possibility within a half-step. – Paul Katz
Our heart has the most wonderful partner in our hands--their gestures are the outward expression of what we feel inside. – William Pleeth
Sautilllé needs enough downward weight to activate the springiness of the bow stick and set the rebound in motion -- Like a bouncing ball, throw it down – it will come up by itself. – Paul Katz
Our heart has the most wonderful partner in our hands--their gestures are the outward expression of what we feel inside. – William Pleeth
Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, (Bach) who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it. – Pablo Casals
This man, (Bach) who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought. – Pablo Casals
