About

Your Cello One-Stop Shop

For students of all ages, You Had Me at Cello provides cello education, inspiration, and encouragement. Your one-stop shop for everything you want to know about the wonderful world of cello playing

Breadth

Whitcomb’s approach demonstrates his commitment to lief-long learning and research. He has published on an amazing variety of important aspects of cello playing.

Theory

Dr. Whitcomb is a professor of both cello and music theory and has an extensive track record of research in both areas. Studying with someone who knows both fields so well will allow the student to be grounded as much in the why of cello playing as the what.

Inspiration

Benjamin Whitcomb is the only person to have studied with Phyllis Young, George Neikrug, and Evan Tonsing. On a daily basis, Whitcomb draws on what he learned from each of them and incorporates their approaches into his own.

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Meet Dr. Benjamin Whitcomb

Dr. Benjamin Whitcomb is a musician, teacher, scholar, and performer who has received numerous awards for his teaching, research, and service. Through reading his books, viewing his publications, listening to his CDs, and watching his performances, you can gain more insight into his cello style and teaching philosophies.

As a Professor of Cello and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, he helps his students develop an understanding of how to play the cello, provides guidance on cello career paths and how to integrate practice throughout your life, and enjoys teaching music theory to provide a foundation for how music works.

Benjamin also coordinates the UWW Cello Day, the Theory/History Colloquium speaker series, the Musical Mosaics Faculty Concert Series, the Chancellor’s Quartet program, and the Summer String Camp.

His teaching philosophy was uniquely influenced by his studies with Phyllis Young, George Neikrug, Evan Tonsling. Phyllis Young who emphasized using imagery to connect life to cello playing. Inspired by Neikrug’s theory of manufactured talent, Benjamin believes you were not born with the talent, but you can create it on your own and continues to inspire his students to reach their full potential. The influence of Evan Tonsling brings an artistic approach to expressing how we live life, feel strongly, and how to connect with our music.

Affiliations

Musician, Teacher, Scholar

800+

Solo & Chamber Music Performances

6,000+

Books and CDs Sold by Dr. Whitcomb

100+

UWW Cello Studio Graduates

20+

Awards Won by UWW Cello Students

30+

Articles Published

100+

Masterclasses & Paper Presentations Worldwide

Publications & Articles

“A Novel Dataset and Deep Learning Benchmark for Classical Music Form Recognition and Analysis,” Proceedings of the 23rd ISMIR Conference, Bengaluru, India, December 4-8, 2022.
20th Century Music for Cello, Vol. 2. MSR Classics CD 1798, 2021.
“Developing a Good Warmup Routine,” Strings, September 2021.
“Remembering George Neikrug,” The Strad, January 2021.
“Improvisation, Classical Style,” The Instrumentalist, October 2020.
“Guidelines for Devising Good Cello Fingerings,” Arco, August 2020.
“My Studio,” Strings, June 2020.
20th Century Music for Cello. MSR Classics CD 1587, 2019.
“How to Practice Mark Summer’s Julie-O,” Strings, November 2019.
“Using Technology in the Studio,” American String Teacher, October 2019.
“Tuning String Instruments,” The Instrumentalist, December 2018.
“Helping Students Master Rhythm,” The Instrumentalist, October 2018.
“Playing in High Registers on the Cello,” The Instrumentalist, August 2018.
“How to Practice Bach Suite 1 Prelude on Other Instruments,” The Instrumentalist, June 2018.
“Understanding and Playing Chords on the Violin, Viola, or Cello,” Arco, July 2018.
A Guide to Practicing David Popper’s ‘Hohe Schule’ Etudes. Authohouse, 2018
Compendium of Chords for the Violin. Authorhouse, 2018.
Compendium of Chords for the Viola. Authorhouse, 2018.
Compendium of Chords for the Cello. Authorhouse, 2018.
“Intonation on a String Instrument,” American String Teacher, May 2017, 20-23.
“How to Practice Max Bruch’s Kol Nidre,” Strings, May 2017, 54-58.
“Memory Banks: 6 Strategies to Help Students Memorize Music More Effectively,” Strings, February 2017, 58-59.
Bass Fingerings: Improve Your Left-Hand Game. Wingert-Jones, 2016.
Cello Fingerings: Improve Your Left-Hand Game. Wingert-Jones, 2015.
“Cello Ensembles: Repertoire and Rehearsal Techniques,” American String Teacher, November 2014.
“Common Problems of Young Cellists,” American String Teacher, June 2014.
The Advancing Violist’s Handbook. Wingert-Jones, 2013.
The Advancing Violinist’s Handbook. Wingert-Jones, 2013.
“Creating Your Own Cadenzas,” The Instrumentalist, Fall 2013.
The Advancing Bassist’s Handbook. Wingert-Jones, 2012.
“My Turn”, American String Teacher, February 2012, 92.
The Advancing Cellist’s Handbook. Wingert-Jones, 2010.
ASTA String Syllabus: Chairman of the committee to edit and revise the section on cello literature for 2008 revision.
“Overcoming Performance Anxiety,” American String Teacher, November 2008.
“Practicing Without Your Instrument,” Stringendo, Fall 2008.
"A World of Possibilities," In Sharpen Your Technique. String Letter Publishing, 2008.
"A World of Possibilities," Strings magazine, Feb. 2008.
Performance article on “Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring” in Teaching Music Through Performance: Orchestra, vol. 3. GIA Publications, 2007.
“Improving Intonation,” American String Teacher, November 2007, 42–45.
Bach and Gabrielli. MSR Classics CD 1177, 2007.
“Reinventing the Ear: Twentieth-Century Theories of Pitch Perception and the Coincidence Theory of Consonance,” Theoria: Historical Aspects of Music Theory 12 (2005): 69–92.