Cello Lessons with Eric Moore

Cello Lessons for Kids

I've taught cello for since 2008, full-time since 2010, and online (with kids as young as 7) since 2013.

Now is the perfect time for kids to take up an instrument - there are so many fun opportunities to make music in San Diego :)

About Me

I come from a musical family.

My grandfather was the bass player in the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He met my grandmother at Juilliard.

My mom was a major harpist - the person who certified Suzuki Harp Teachers - and she was also a Music Theory Professor.

She had me take piano when I was little - I wasn't serious at all (and she was fine with that).

But then I started cello at age 10 and I was hooked.

I won my first professional audition at age 15 for a section job with the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra (I'm from Colorado). My mom had to come with me to my first week on the job because I only had my driver's permit!

At 16 and 17 I was accepted to the nine-week Aspen Music Festival, where I met my college cello teacher, Richard Aaron.

Learning from Richard Aaron

Richard's cello studio is the hardest to get into of any in the country.

Last I heard, he had more than 300 applicants! He accepts fewer than 10 per year.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to study with him at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

So when he announced at the end of my sophomore year that he had taken a job at the University of Michigan, it was a no-brainer to follow him.

I wound up graduating from U of M in 2008, summa cum laude, as a triple major: BM Cello Performance - BM Music Theory - BM Music History

Around that time, Richard accepted a position at Juilliard as well, but he didn't want to fly back and forth every weekend, so he started teaching his Juilliard students... on Skype.

That's right - the most prestigious cello teacher in the country teaches his students at the most famous music school in the world... on Skype!

Working with Richard on a Technique Book

There is a major early 20th-century technique book by David Popper. It consists of 40 technique studies ("Etudes") that every advanced cellist learns at least some of.

The five of us freshmen in Richard's studio gathered every Saturday morning at 8:30 AM to play them from memory for each other as a technique class. (Honestly, it was Cleveland... there wasn't anything fun to do on Friday nights anyway!)

We did one Etude a week for our freshman and sophomore years of school - they're the basis of Richard's approach to technique.

So I was flattered and thrilled when he asked, during my senior year, if I would work with him to make a new edition of it.

Over the next two years, he and I did 17 complete drafts of the 72-page technique book that I now publish.

Co-editing the Popper Etudes with Richard Aaron was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to dive deeper into Richard's theories on pedagogy. No one else has ever gotten such an opportunity - he trains his students to perform at the highest level in the country, but I also got to engage directly with him on his teaching philosophies and technical theories.

That edition became the first book I published for my sheet music company, and cellists and cello professors from literally all over the world order it from me.

Teaching Kids with Richard's Philosophy

Needless to say, in 2010 when I started teaching full-time, I had a very different approach to teaching than the average cellist.

I had done certification and training directly with the foremost Suzuki trainer in the country. She literally wrote the Suzuki Cello books as they appear today.

But the Suzuki books don't take into account any music after about 1920, which means they don't equip cellists to tackle any of the music of the last 100 years.

Which is fine - you and your kids only listen to Bach & Beethoven, right? Me too ;)

So, with the end goal of equipping my cello students with Richard's pedagogy right from the get-go... and an intention to introduce students to music besides Bach & Beethoven... and a singular goal to make learning the cello fun and rigorous, with clear instructions and a variety of brain-stretching challenges... I made my own comprehensive cello method: Cellosophy.

About Cellosophy

So ... I kind of did a Kickstarter campaign to get my method off the ground(?!) It was successfully funded with 94 backers.

Teachers across the country use Cellosophy with their students.

I've worked with kids on the first nine volumes of it.

Volume one looks like this:

And it includes music from tons of genres: Bluegrass, Musicals, Medieval, two brand-new pieces of "classical" music from the last five years, and the standards you'd expect like Bach and Mozart and Beethoven, as well as music by female composers (a major goal in a needlessly male-dominated sphere).

It also includes 48 pages of music theory homework (1,400 problems) to teach and re-enforce how to read cello music.

I supplement lesson time with a comprehensive rhythm book that my mom wrote for her college students, but kids love. It trains their rhythm to be rock-solid.

And, since I publish the sheet music for both of them, I will provide your kiddo with all the sheet music they’ll ever need, including those two volumes.

Where they’ll go:

Cellosophy Volume 1

They’ll play music by:
Hildegard Von Bingen | Bela Bartok | Felix Mendelssohn | Ludwig van Beethoven | Erik Satie | Modest Mussorgsky | Daniel Pesca | Sergei Rachmaninoff | Piotr Tchaikovsky | Johannes Brahms | Maurice Ravel | Andrew Lloyd Webber | Edgar Meyer | W.A. Mozart | J.S. Bach | And me - Eric Moore.

• 20 pages that tell exactly what to practice for each song and have space to write notes and assignments

• 48 pages of music theory (note reading) - they’ll do one page a week for the first year.
  

Cellosophy Volume 2

They’ll play music by:
Brandon Vance | Bela Bartok | Ludwig van Beethoven | Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Franz Joseph Haydn | Air (the band) | Missy Mazzoli | J.S. Bach | Daniel Pesca | Gustav Mahler | John Dowland | Eve Beglarian | and me again!

• 12 page practice guide

• 48 pages of music theory

• 13 pages of guided improvisation (encouraging spontaneous creativity)

• 13 pages of guided composition (encouraging deep thinking)

• 12 Scales (All the Major keys)

• 12 Arpeggios (All the Major keys)

Cellosophy Volume 3

They’ll play music by:
Leah Asher | Ludwig van Beethoven | Bela Bartok | J.S. Bach | Frederic Chopin | Lera Auerbach | Jean-Philippe Rameau | Gyorgy Kurtag | Claude Debussy | Martin Torch-Ishii | Antonio Vivaldi | Carl Frederich Abel | Dream Theater (the band) | and me again!

• 12 page technical guide

• 48 pages of music theory

• 13 pages of guided compositions

• 13 pages of guided lead sheet activities (to read chord charts in rock/jazz)

• 36 Scales (all the Minor Keys)

• 24 Arpeggios

Cellosophy Volume 4

At that point, they’re into professional repertoire!

The 1st Bach Cello Suite - you know... the famous one!

Plus, other beloved favorites like The Swan :)

And remember those Popper Etudes I told you about earlier? Kids start in on them here, too.

We also start on my own set of 40 Etudes, an original composition that I've been composing on and off for years that's nearing completion.

And Beyond...

After that, as I mentioned before, I've had students play Volume 5-9, each of which contains fantastic music from the cello repertoire. To get a sense of how advanced this is:

• A high school senior in Volume 5 went to college for music composition.

• A high school senior in Volume 6 went to school for music education.

• A high school senior in Volume 6 got into a music conservatory as a double major in cello and conducting.

• And a 15-year-old in Volume 8 won a professional orchestra audition against adults.

How they’ll learn

As I said, I've taught all ages, absolute beginners as young as 4 to adults well into their retirement who have never played a note. I've also taught professional cellists looking to up their game.

My high school students have gone to college and conservatories for Cello Performance, Composition, Conducting, and Music Education.

My teaching philosophy

With kids, I’m very aware that I’m teaching waaaaay more than cello.

I’m teaching…

• music

• expression

• discipline

• focus

• creativity

• spontaneity

• memory

• kinesthetic awareness

• goal-setting

• habit-forming

But more importantly I’m also another person in their life who hears them. Who looks forward to time with them. Who accepts and values who they are.

I’ve worked with kids who are homeschooled. Challenged in school. Class Valedictorian. Attending college at age 13. Montessori System. Waldorf System. Autistic. Asperger Syndrome. Perfect Pitch.

With this much diversity from student to student, I know that at every moment I’m teaching, I’m educating on multiple levels at once.

That means that sometimes, lessons need to be intellectually challenging and technically rigorous.

And sometimes, my role is to be a sounding board for them. A place to go for positive re-enforcement.

I know that the vast majority of students I work with won’t attend college for music, but I’m definitely going to equip them with the skills they need so that they could attend if they so choose.

If they’re a beginner

I’m soooo excited to introduce them to my bff, the cello :)

Once you get a cello (I've got recommendations) we'll dive in!

In their very first lesson, they’ll learn:

• How to hold the cello

• How to rosin the bow

• How to hold the bow

• The names of the cello strings

• How to read cello music (!!)

Depending on their age and experience, we may also get to go over:

• A 2-Octave Scale (which they will decipher completely on their own)

• Their first complete song (which they will decipher completely on their own)
  

Then I’ll work to get them advancing as quickly as possible.

I know that getting your kiddo to practice the cello is not the only thing you have going on in your day, so I'll provide strategies to get them practicing on a "regular" basis.

It seems like most of my kids start out practicing about 30 minutes a day on most days. For younger kids, that’s two 15-minute sessions. Kids who advance faster have carved out an hour or so… and we will have no problem filling that much time.

Once they’re intermediate

We'll work on fantastic repertoire from all eras of music.

My 3-octave scale system (beginning in Book 4) is designed to get their fingers into tiptop shape.

At this point, kiddos are generally practicing 90 minutes to two hours a day. I’ll help you help them do that ;)

Once they’re advanced

I've played the complete standard baroque, classical, and romantic-era cello repertoire.

I've also had the opportunity to teach most of it at this point.

We’ll work on 4-octave scales / arpeggios / double stops.

And if they’re preparing for a professional orchestra audition as their high school job (like I did), I'm excited to share what I learned from my two years of lessons with Jurgen DeLemos (principal of Colorado Symphony).

As principal cellist for many orchestras, myself, I've sat in on audition committees and chosen which (if any) cellists are added to an orchestra - I know exactly what the panel is listening for.

And I’ll help guide them to summer camps, potential college professors, and help prepare them for their college & conservatory auditions.

Private Lessons over Zoom (if you’d like)

Online lessons are really not that different than in-person.

Remember when I said my own teacher, Richard Aaron, teaches his Juilliard kids via Skype?

I've been using Skype (and now Zoom) since 2013 to teach online. In fact, I was teaching many hours a week on Zoom pre-pandemic (and then exclusively online for almost two years during it). There are a couple differences, of course, like we can't play duets.

But I've developed strategies to work around that.

And I never physically adjust my students in their lessons anyway (I'm hands-off), so that's not any different.

The sound of my cello may not fill their room in the same way... but I've even got some tricks for that, too… including a really nice mic setup for myself.

Often, if kiddos aren’t feeling well or the ride situation gets complicated, parents just text and ask to do a Zoom lesson. Super convenient, super easy, still super fun :)

Group Opportunities

And I've got three extra monthly classes where kiddos all play for each other.

It’s a lot of fun and provides regular landmarks (and motivation) for students’ progress.

It also helps them get more experience playing for others, and develop the skill of performance.

My unabashed resume
(so you know who you're working with)

Performing Cellist

Principal Cellist - 4 Orchestras (starting at age 21)
Assistant Principal Cellist - Symphony Napa Valley
Section Cellist - 10 Additional Orchestras (including one at age 15 and another at age 16)

"Beethoven Award” at the Ruthenberg Chamber Music Competition

"Album of the Year" recognition for TEXTUREN: The Music of Katharina Rosenberger
Awards from German RCA | The Wire | Time Out New York
with the Wet Ink Ensemble - NY Times' 2018 Ensemble of the Year

I specialize in performing new "classical" music and have collaborated with some of the world's leading composers including:
5 Guggenheim grant recipients
3 Grammy winners
2 Pulitzer Prize winners

My Studies

University of Michigan - summa cum laude

• BM Cello Performance (with Richard Aaron)

• BM Music Theory

• BM Music History

Began studying at Case Western Reserve University / Cleveland Institute of Music on a full ride scholarship - winner of the Joan Terr Ronis Recital Prize.

Primary Teachers

Richard Aaron (now University of Michigan and The Juilliard School)
Jurgen DeLemos (then principal cellist of Colorado Symphony)
Dr. Jim Fittz (then at the University of Northern Colorado)

Other lessons or masterclasses with

Alan Harris (then at the Eastman School of Music) | Anthony Elliot (University of Michigan) | Arie Lipsky (former principal of Buffalo Symphony) | Benjamin Cline (Fort Hays State University) | Colin Carr (SUNY Stonybrook) | David Geber (Manhattan School of Music) | Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick (CalArts) | Ron Leonard (former principal, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Colburn Conservatory) | Wendy Warner (Roosevelt University) | Yao Zhao (principal of San Diego Symphony) | Members of the Cavani String Quartet, Cleveland String Quartet, and Phoenix String Quartet

My Teaching

Adjunct Professor while I was in Napa.

My high school students have won auditions with adult orchestras

My students have attended college (and conservatory) for cello, composition, conducting, and music education.

Suzuki Certification, though of course I use my own method now ;)

Other cello teachers use my cello method.

I teach professionals on 3 continents including a college cello professor, through my advanced online course.

My private students play with:
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus | Grossmont Symphony | North Coast String Orchestra | Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra | UC San Diego Chamber Orchestra | San Diego Youth Symphony | Napa Valley Youth Symphony | New Youth Orchestra | Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra | San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra

As an Adjudicator

• Music Teachers’ Association of California Concerto Competition

• Music Teachers’ Association of California Goodlin Competition

• Orange County American Harp Society Competition (2x)

As a Composer

"Documentary of the Year" Nomination for Everyday People
as the soundtrack's composer and performer

My 38-minute work Soliloquy for 5 cellos was described as “a richly complex, inventive, moving and often startling work” by the Napa Valley Register.

Original Cello Duos performed around the world, recently on Brazilian TV.

Other

Publisher of 10 Sheet Music Volumes

Music Education app company co-founder with 3 apps, 50,000+ downloads

Black Belt in American Kenpo Karate

Yogi & Half-Marathoner

Addicted to puns

Cost of Cello Lessons

My former teacher teaches at the University of Michigan and The Juilliard School.

Because of our time making that new edition of the 40 Popper Etudes, it’s likely that no other cellist knows the inner workings of his teaching as well as I do.

I charge a monthly tuition of $600. It includes

• Four hour-long private lessons per month (normally $200 each)

• Monthly 60-minute drop-in online performance class (12/year, $200 value each)

• Monthly 60-minute masterclass (12/year, $200 value each)

• Separate formal 90-minute recital opportunities (2/year, $200 value each)

• Cellosophy Volume One ($35 retail)

• Rhythm Workbook ($20 retail)

• Guided Practice-With-Me videos for my entire method ($99/mo)

• Video Archive of all previous masterclasses ($49/mo)

To recap

Beyond your weekly lessons, you get

• $4,800 of group class opportunities in the first year alone

• $1,188 of guided practice

• $588 for the masterclass archive

• $400 of recital opportunities

• $50 of books in the first year

• $2,400 off the cost of individual lessons for the year

=$9,396 value

Final Details

I would love to welcome your child to our community of 28 cello students :)

The first step is applying with the button below.

I’ll reach out to you and direct you on how to acquire a cello if you don't have one.
You’ll need to call them to schedule a time to go snag it.
Once you’ve got it, we’ll set up a time for your child’s first lesson.
I’ll send you a PDF with the sheet music for the first lesson.
After the lesson, I’ll get you the bound copies of the books and we’ll officially start your kiddo on his or her cello journey.

I’m looking forward to working with them!
—Eric Moore