Brant Taylor Archives

In the Practice Room with Brant Taylor

What is on your music stand right now? https://youtu.be/Regfkiv1UiM What is the first thing you do on the cello every day? https://youtu.be/neIt_yb0hYc Why do you practice? What drives and motivates you? Anything that helped during the pandemic? https://youtu.be/gDuModB0VO0 How do you cultivate inspiration in the practice room? What motivates you? https://youtu.be/pyN0D2lwaW4 How do you stimulate creativity and imagination in the practice room? What is your favorite way to change things up/get new ideas? https://youtu.be/7Tv4EAeAPtE In your mind, what is it that makes an effective practice session? https://youtu.be/Regfkiv1UiM https://youtu.be/MAxveqAY5oI What are the best ways to prevent injury? https://youtu.be/pLVxnguxoS4 What is your balance between technique and repertoire? https://youtu.be/F3ha0jwZGOM How do you manage lots of repertoire at the same time? https://youtu.be/as5W_gi6tlA How [...]

By Brant Taylor|2024-06-25T20:12:31-04:00June 9th, 2024|Categories: Artistic Vision, Interviews, In the Practice Room, Performance|Tags: practicing, Brant Taylor, practice tips, creativity, daily practice, inspiration, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, how to practice, New Piece, Practice Room, Learning a new piece, motivation, effective practicing, practice habits|

Audition Preparation Workshop 2023

CelloBello’s Audition Preparation Workshop is a virtual seminar designed to help prospective undergraduate and graduate students prepare for their school auditions, including the prescreening process. This two-week intensive features masterclasses, private lessons, and panel discussions, all centered around empowering students with the tools to succeed in their auditions.

By CelloBello Webmaster|2023-09-19T04:20:52-04:00September 15th, 2023|Categories: Audition Preparation Workshop, Virtual Events, Workshops|Tags: Astrid Schween, Hans Jorgen Jensen, Yeesun Kim Kitchen, Daniel McDonough, Kee-Hyun Kim, David Ying, Brinton Averil Smith, Horacio Contreras, Paul Katz, audition preparation workshop, Brant Taylor, Julie Albers, Jeffrey Zeigler, Brandon Vamos|

CelloChat: Brant Taylor – Finding Simplicity in the Bow Arm

Brant Taylor’s varied career has included solo appearances and collaborations with leading artists in chamber music, orchestral, pedagogical and popular music settings on five continents. Before his appointment to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Daniel Barenboim, he was cellist of the Everest Quartet, prize winners at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, as well as a member of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He made his solo debut with the San Antonio Symphony at the age of 14.

By CelloBello Webmaster|2022-10-17T12:08:31-04:00September 12th, 2022|Categories: CelloChats, Virtual Events|Tags: Brant Taylor, Chicago Symphony, DePaul University School of Music|

CelloChat: Brant Taylor

By CelloBello Webmaster|2021-11-02T05:32:55-04:00September 27th, 2021|Categories: Virtual Events, CelloChats|Tags: DePaul University School of Music, Brant Taylor, Chicago Symphony|

HIP, To Be Fair — by Brant Taylor

During my years in high school and college, discussions of what is now referred to as historically informed performance (HIP) could generally be summed up like this: a player belonged either to the “modern/romantic” camp or to the “authentic baroque-y” camp. Highly impressionable students forming fledgling opinions tend to view such things through an unnecessarily black-and-white lens. But something’s also changed in the larger musical community’s awareness and acceptance of what “historically informed” means. While a certain tribalism existed during the early decades of the HIP movement, today we are in a more enlightened and accepting place where, for example, wonderful and highly varied performances of Bach’s Cello Suites are noticed first for their musical merit rather than for whether the player uses gut strings or an endpin. In teaching [...]

By Brant Taylor|2022-03-07T00:11:22-05:00December 17th, 2015|Categories: Artistic Vision, In the Practice Room, Performance, Repertoire, Self Discovery, Teaching|Tags: Brant Taylor, Historical Performance, Chicago Symphony, cellobello, CSO|

Beneath the Surface of Brahms — by Brant Taylor

Brahms' 3rd Symphony Cello Excerpt A successful audition performance involves showing many different sides of yourself, musically, in a condensed period of time. Therefore, it is useful if not imperative to conceive each excerpt on a list in its own distinct world of character and color. Despite being works from the same composer, the well-known cello audition excerpt from Brahms’ Second Symphony, which we previously discussed, and the cello audition excerpt from Brahms’ Third Symphony, which is the subject of this post, present quite different opportunities. While these suggestions are not the only solutions to the challenges presented by this excerpt, they are a starting point for practice and discussion and illustrate some of the details that must be carefully considered in any successful performance. Sound Production In thinking about [...]

By Brant Taylor|2023-03-13T23:04:08-04:00March 4th, 2015|Categories: Auditions, In the Practice Room, Orchestra, Repertoire|Tags: cellobello, Brant Taylor, audition excerpt, CelloBlog, 3rd symphony, Brahms|

The Holy Sextet (Part 2) — by Brant Taylor

Part 1 began an exploration of three bow variables that—in addition to the three well-known concepts of weight, speed, and contact point—make up a sextet of basics that should be known and practiced to maximize your control over the string with the bow. We discussed the first and most important, bow angle, in Part 1. The remaining two variables may seem relatively minor, but they are by no means unimportant. If practicing means attempting to find solutions to the challenges of successful instrumental control, you should attempt to understand every potential reason for success or failure with the bow. FLATNESS OF HAIR, or how much of the hair makes contact with the string. Many cellists hold the bow with the stick tilted up (toward the fingerboard) to some degree. This means that [...]

By Brant Taylor|2017-09-01T21:58:08-04:00December 4th, 2012|Categories: In the Practice Room, Self Discovery|Tags: cello, Shostakovich, cellobello, contact point, Brant, Pinchas, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Zukerman, CSO, variables, Taylor, bow strokes, cellists, Brant Taylor, Bach, frog, Concerto, bow, success, weight, Technique|