Lessons and Master Classes

For the Betterment of Humanity

The great Yo-yo Ma once said to me in my formative years as a cellist that "it does not matter that you played Bach's first cello suite when you were four years old, nor will it matter that you won first chair at all-region. What matters is that you have a true love and passion for music. That and that alone is what makes a true musician." Over 20 years later, I have had time to reflect and meditate on those words, and I think I now understand them in a way I never could when I was a young student. 

My primary objective when teaching isn't simply to produce a better cellist. Improving upon one's skills as a musician is what I consider a happy byproduct of helping to build better people. This is my foremost priority, and I firmly believe that as artists and as educators our first duty is always for the betterment of humanity. If our art is not deeply rooted in our own human experience, then what good purpose does it serve? Further still, if our art does not help to improve upon the human condition, why make it? For me, making music is not a competitive venture and it is certainly not a mindless grind until one achieves technical perfection. We must first start with a proper understanding of how our bodies work, which often leads us to question how our minds work, which inevitably leads to a greater sense of clarity regarding who we are at heart. It is with this sense of clarity that we can begin to understand how we make music that is true to ourselves, and therefore make music that can broaden others' understanding of the world around them.

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My pedagogical pedigree and philosophy of teaching stem primarily from two 20th-century titans of the cello: Paul Olefsky and Janos Starker. Both taught three of my former teachers. Olefsky was a guru of all things technical and scale-related, and Starker was a genius in the physical art of playing the cello. Both of their areas of expertise remain critical components of my teaching. Additionally, I am also trained in the Suzuki approach to teaching and favor this methodology when teaching beginner students. With that said, after over 15 years of teaching, I have come to learn that no singular curriculum has all the correct answers for every student. In fact, the reality is that teaching requires a full and ready knowledge of several different techniques, exercises, and philosophies that can be employed according to one's individual needs. It is this bank of knowledge that I have worked so hard to cultivate over the course of my own education so that I may better help you as my student.

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Teaching is a lifelong passion of mine, and I sincerely look forward to sharing it with you.