Wes Luke and Robin Ryan, violins, Sahada Buckley, viola, and Benjamin Whitcomb, cello, with violist Kayla Schultz perform an all-English program of music by Arnold Bax, Benjamin Britten, and Ralph Vaughn Williams.

Benjamin Whitcomb and Vincent deVries September 25, 2025 - The UW-Whitewater cellist and the globe-hopping pianist perform the Cello Sonata in B-flat Minor by 22-year-old Ernst von Dohnanyi plus Beethoven’s Variations on an aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The Ancora String Quartet April 18, 2025 - Quartet members Wes Luke, Robin Wright, Benjamin Whitcomb, and Sahada Buckley plus cellist Trace Johnson (center) perform the first two movements of Franz Schubert’s String Quin

Have you ever found your students lacking the will to practice? In my series of “Cello Chat” podcasts, I often ask professional musicians from around the world about their approach to helping students with motivation issues. Perhaps the following insights about what works for them and for their students can help in your own studio.

The Strad July 2025 issue featured my recent article. I know that I sound like a music theorist when I say this but chordal awareness is such a useful shortcut to understanding what is going on in music. I like my students to be able to glance at a score and be instantly aware, say, that they are looking at a melody constructed from a two-octave D minor triad or a diminished 7th. Just as a young child learns to read by sounding out every syllable, then becomes more fluent by