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featured blogs
Conversation with Frans Helmerson (May, 2001)
By Tim Janof|2024-07-29T13:36:03-04:00August 5th, 2019|
The Shape of Brahms: Looking at His Music
By Anssi Karttunen|2024-07-29T13:32:00-04:00March 9th, 2019|
Practice Time: Inspiring and Productive?
By Natasha Brofsky|2024-07-29T13:35:32-04:00March 16th, 2011|
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cellosophy
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Wynton-Marsalis-e1586050067832.jpg)
If you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t trying.
Wynton Marsalis
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Anonymous-Photo.jpg)
Artistry is in the details.
Anonymous
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Janos-Starker.jpg)
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
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Victor-Sazer-e1585433171475.jpg)
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
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Yo-Yo-Ma.jpg)
When we have a good balance between thinking and feeling… our actions and lives are always the richer for it.
Yo-Yo Ma
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Gregor-Piatigorsky-e1586049510614.jpg)
Many people are too small to be teachers, but no one is too big.
Gregor Piatigorsky
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Selma-Gokcen-e1586049951267.jpg)
Living in question is the most creative and stimulating state of being. Doors are always opening in the mind, one is motivated to explore, to observe and to take note.
Selma Gokcen
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Anonymous-Photo.jpg)
Intelligence is everywhere in the body, nature and the universe.
Anonymous
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Janos-Starker.jpg)
Cello playing is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration.
Janos Starker
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Michael-Haber.jpg)
Practicing is the art of making your ears happy.
Michael Haber
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Zoltán-Kodály-e1586049633455.jpg)
Real art is one of the most powerful forces in the rise of mankind, and he who renders it accessible is a benefactor of humanity.
Zoltan Kodaly
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Pablo-Casals.jpg)
The art of interpretation is not to play what is written.
Pablo Casals
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Janos-Starker.jpg)
My goal is to convey a true masterpiece in whatever I play.
Janos Starker
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Paul-Katz-e1586044464173.jpg)
Creative talent has an irrepressible hunger, and for the musician, music is the food it cannot live without.
Paul Katz
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Sergei-Rachmaninoff-e1586049405584.jpg)
Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Janos-Starker.jpg)
Music is one of the essentials in human existence, almost identical with eating, sleeping, making love, the basic functions that keep a human being alive. Music simply, is one of the blessings and joys of civilized human existence.
Janos Starker
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Paul-Katz-e1586044464173.jpg)
There is a performance nirvana, a miraculous interaction of ears, hands, and emotions. Listening awareness is primary in this zone of creative transcendence.
Paul Katz
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Gregor-Piatigorsky-e1586049510614.jpg)
Everyone knows what they can’t do – our weaknesses scream at us every day. To perform, you must know what you can do and bring the attention of your audience to those strengths.
Gregor Piatigorsky
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Bernard-Greenhouse-e1586049457248.jpg)
Cello playing begins in the back, before the sound.
Bernard Greenhouse
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Victor-Sazer-e1585433171475.jpg)
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
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/George-BernardShaw-e1586050278883.jpg)
Progress is impossible without change.
George Bernard Shaw
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Sally-Chisholm.jpg)
Just a little progress every day makes big progress over time.
Sally Chisholm
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Jascha-Heifetz-e1586049997386.jpg)
Practice like it means everything in the world to you. Perform like you don’t give a damn.
Jascha Heifetz
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Ivan-Galamian-e1586050131918.jpg)
As a teacher, my first task is to teach students how to practice. Once they understand this, they begin to make progress.
Ivan Galamian
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Felix-Galimir-e1586049888554.jpg)
Vibrato is like lipstick – too much is ugly – the right amount and color is beautiful.
Felix Galimir
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Ida-Kavafian-e1586049843970.jpg)
Tension is our biggest enemy. We must spend our life undoing it.
Ida Kavafian
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Ludwig-van-Beethoven.jpg)
Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.
Ludwig van Beethoven
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Yo-Yo-Ma.jpg)
With every year of playing, you want to relax one more muscle. Why? Because the more tense you are, the less you can hear.
Yo-Yo Ma
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Yo-Yo-Ma.jpg)
Music is powered by ideas. If you don’t have clarity of ideas, you’re just communicating sheer sound.
Yo-Yo Ma
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Janos-Starker.jpg)
I still have not found anything more permanent or more beautiful than music.
Janos Starker
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Albert-Einstein-1024x1024.jpg)
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Aristotle-e1586044590217.jpg)
Through discipline comes freedom.
Aristotle
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Pablo-Casals.jpg)
I was born with an ability, with music in me, that is all. No special credit was due me. The only credit we can claim is for the use we make of the talent we are given.
Pablo Casals
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Elbert-Hubbard-e1586050099453.jpg)
The greatest mistake you can make is to be continually fearing you will make one.
Elbert Hubbard
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Michelangelo-e1586049358888.jpg)
On artistic conception: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free”.
Michelangelo
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Albert-Einstein-1024x1024.jpg)
Compassionate people are geniuses in the art of living, more necessary to the dignity, security, and joy of humanity than the discoverers of knowledge.
Albert Einstein
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Thomas-Edison-e1586049563493.jpg)
The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Thomas A. Edison
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Jascha-Heifetz-e1586049997386.jpg)
Criticism does not disturb me, for I am my own severest critic. Always in my playing I strive to surpass myself, and it is this constant struggle that makes music fascinating to me.
Jascha Heifetz
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Paul-Katz-e1586044464173.jpg)
Listening awareness is primary in the zone of creative transcendence.
Paul Katz
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Gregor-Piatigorsky-e1586049510614.jpg)
The fingers have no brains, and they have no ears!
Gregor Piatigorsky
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Pablo-Casals.jpg)
Variety, variety – no two snowflakes are alike, no two notes are alike.
Pablo Casals
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Albert-Einstein-1024x1024.jpg)
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
Albert Einstein
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Yo-Yo-Ma.jpg)
My involvement in the political arena is to make sure there’s a place for culture.
Yo-Yo Ma
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Michael-Jackson-e1586050206168.jpg)
Thinking is the biggest mistake a dancer can make. You have to feel, to “become”.
Michael Jackson
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Aristotle-e1586044590217.jpg)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Gregor-Piatigorsky-e1586049510614.jpg)
I’ll stop teaching when I stop learning.
Gregor Piatigorsky
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Paul-Katz-e1586044464173.jpg)
Teaching should support, inspire, motivate, impart high ideals, and help each to discover and trust their unique talent and strengths.
Paul Katz
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Anonymous-Photo.jpg)
Art is an activity in which one human heart communicates with another human heart.
Anonymous
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Kevin-Olusola-Cellosophy.jpg)
Like love, performance is not about me, it’s about the other person – giving to the audience.
Kevin Olusola
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Jascha-Heifetz-e1586049997386.jpg)
There is no top – there are always further heights to reach.
Jascha Heifetz
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Elizabeth-Aureden-1.jpg)
Listening is the conduit through which all physical actions creating expressive results are filtered.
Elizabeth Aureden
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Bobby-McFerrin.jpg)
Don’t perform – just be yourself.
Bobby McFerrin
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Kathleen-Winkler-e1586049731512.jpg)
Play the fear out and then tone it down.
Kathy Winkler
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Henri-Matisse-e1586050033773.jpg)
Creativity takes courage.
Henri Matisse
![](https://www.cellobello.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Victor-Sazer-e1585433171475.jpg)
Improper body use is like a pebble in your shoe. A nagging discomfort, it can cause severe damage over time.
Victor Sazer
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