CelloBello is thrilled to present a blog series: In the Practice Room! We wanted to expand the conversation around practicing and help our readers get an idea of how each of our wonderful contributors think about and approach their own practice. Throughout these series, we will ask our CelloChat hosts a series of questions that revolve around this topic, and include short video clips of their answers to each question within these blog posts. We hope this will be an informative and exciting way to get an inside look at the practice process of some incredible cellists. In our first installment of this series, we begin with Benny Yi-Bing Chu.
What is the first thing you do on the cello every day?
Why do you practice? What drives and motivates you? Anything that helped during the pandemic?
What do you enjoy the most about practicing? What inspires you? Is it all classical, or are there inspirations outside of this genre?
In your mind, what is it that makes an effective practice session?
How many hours a day should one practice? Quality or quantity?
What are the best ways to prevent injury?
What is your balance between technique and repertoire?
How do you manage lots of repertoire at the same time?
How do you start learning a new piece? How does this differ between chamber, orchestral and solo rep?
How has your practicing evolved over the years, or even recently? Is there anything that has surprised you?
With such a big workload, how do you avoid burnout and maintain balance?
