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Imagine trying to walk in a straight line while four three-hundred pound linebackers repeatedly shove you from different directions. That’s what playing the cello feels like when your shoulders, arms, and hands are tense. It’s exhausting, frustrating, and constantly working against you — It's the worst conditions to play cello under, aside from being tackled by four linebackers while performing Prokofiev, of course. Tension is one of the biggest enemies of cello playing. It r

Why Being a Perfectionist Cellist Is Sabotaging Your Progress (and How to Turn It Into Your Greatest Superpower) Hey there, fellow cellist/musician. I’m Jezreel Houtz, founder and cello teacher at Houtz Cello Academy, and I have a confession: I used to be a card-carrying perfectionist (I still am, but in a much healthier way). The kind who would loop the same four measures for forty-five minutes straight because one note didn’t quite sing the way I wanted. If that sounds even