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The Rules

Brant Taylor


A while back, I accepted an invitation from my good friend Pansy Chang to teach her cello students.  Pansy teaches cello at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  She was taking a sabbatical for a semester and wanted to make arrangements for her students to receive lessons from different teachers in her absence.  I had a very enjoyable time meeting and working with the cellists in Oxford.

It is always enlightening—and sometimes highly entertaining—to observe the various posters, photos, educational degrees, cartoons, and other items which adorn the walls of teaching studios around the world.  Among many other things hanging on the the walls of Pansy’s studio, I noticed a piece of paper which I immediately knew could occupy a prominent place in my studio as well.  Titled simply “The Rules,” it summarizes very succinctly many of the things any instrumentalist would do well to keep in mind for successful practice and steady improvement.

 

 

1.  ALWAYS make a beautiful sound.

2.  SAY something with the music.

3.  KNOW what you are doing.

4.  You can only play as fast as you can THINK.

5.  Play what is ON THE PAGE.

6.  ALL notes must be audible.

7.  If you can’t play it SLOW, you can’t play it FAST.

8.  CONTINUOUS vibrato—until further notice.

 

 

You will notice that the concepts outlined in many of the commands above relate to each other and even overlap when their deeper meaning is examined.  Any why shouldn’t they?  Playing with real artistry (read the blog: finesse) isn’t about isolated ideas or rudiments of cello technique or musical thinking.  It is the seamless combining of these things that we aim for.

As this list is definitely not considered complete, I invite comments from those wishing to add to the Eight Commandments…

Subjects: Practicing

Tags: Brant, cello, cello technique, cellobello, concepts, continuous vibrato, education, finesse, improvement, instrumentalists, lessons, posters, Practice, rules, Taylor, Teaching, Technique, University, vibrato

AUTHOR

Brant Taylor

Born in New York, Brant Taylor began cello studies at the age of 8.  His varied career includes solo appearances and collaborations with leading chamber musicians throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as orchestral, pedagogical, and popular music activities.  After one year as a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Taylor was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Daniel Barenboim in 1998.  In Chicago, Mr. Taylor's recital appearances include the Dame Myra Hess Concerts, First Monday Concerts, Rush Hour Concerts at St. James Cathedral, the Ravinia Festival's Rising Stars recital series, and regular live radio broadcasts from the studios of WFMT.  He has appeared regularly with the Chicago Chamber Musicians and on the contemporary chamber music series MusicNow.

Mr. Taylor made his solo debut with the San Antonio Symphony at the age of 14 after winning a concerto competition, and has since been soloist with numerous orchestras, performing the works of Dvorak, Haydn, Elgar, Shostakovich, Lalo, Boccherini, Saint-Saens, and Brahms, among others.

From 1992-97, Mr. Taylor was cellist of the award-winning Everest Quartet, prizewinners at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.  The Quartet performed and taught extensively in North America and the Caribbean, and gave the world premiere performance of a work by Israeli-American composer Paul Schoenfield.

In 1997, Mr. Taylor was a member of the New World Symphony.  He has returned to appear as soloist with that orchestra under the batons of Michael Tilson-Thomas and Nicholas McGegan, as well as to teach and participate in audition training seminars.

In 2002, Mr. Taylor began a seven-year association with the band Pink Martini.  With this eclectic ensemble, he has appeared on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", "The Late Show with David Letterman", at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in venues ranging from nightclubs to concert halls across North America. He can be heard on Pink Martini's 2006 release, "Hey Eugene.”

Mr. Taylor is a frequent performer and teacher at music festivals, including the Festival der Zukunft in Ernen, Switzerland, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Shanghai International Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, the Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Music Festival Santo Domingo, Michigan's Village Bach Festival, and Music at Gretna in Pennsylvania, where he has made repeated appearances as a concerto soloist. Mr. Taylor has also served as Principal Cello of the Arizona Musicfest Orchestra since 2006.

Active as a teacher of both cello and chamber music, Mr. Taylor serves on the faculty of the DePaul University School of Music.  He has also been a faculty member at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts and Northwestern University's National High School Music Institute, and has led classes on pedagogy and orchestral repertoire at the University of Michigan.  Mr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he won the school's Concerto Competition and performed as soloist with the Eastman Philharmonia. His Master of Music degree is from Indiana University.  Mr. Taylor's primary teachers have been Janos Starker and Paul Katz.

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