Emily Wright's Lonely Cello Podcast

Emily Wright is a professional cellist and the host of the Lonely Cello Podcast. Emily also has a YouTube Channel, @EmilyWrightCello. Emily gives cello lessons to adult students and also teaches music theory and ear training.

Emily has an outspoken and delightful personality. She was a guest on Joel Dallow’s Cello Sherpa Podcast: “Teaching Takes Dual Personalities,” July 25, 2025. Emily was also interviewed by Ragnhild Wesenberg on her Musician’s Journey Podcast: “Emily Wright: Cellist, Educator, T-shirt Enthusiast,” November 16, 2022, Season 2 Episode 7.

I have begun listening to all episodes of Emily’s podcast, starting with Episode 1 “Effortless Mastery”, in which Emily and Benjamin Whitcomb discuss the book Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within by Kenny Werner. A result of my listening to this episode is that I’m now listening to Benjamin Whitcomb’s albums (which can be found on music streaming services):

• Bach: Cello Suites 1, 3, & 5 - Gabrielli: Ricercars 1, 3, & 5 (2007)
• Bloch, Britten, Cassadó, and Hindemith: 20th Century Music for Unaccompanied Cello (2021)

In Episode 6 “David Aks and Entry Points to Improvisation”, Emily interviews her cellist friend David Aks. They discuss learning how to improvise music on the cello. David talks about learning Celtic music on the cello through attending Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle School and the Mike Block String Camp. This led to a collaboration with fiddle player Joyce Pan called Joyce & David and an album titled New Roads. Emily and David discuss improvisation as demonstrated by Emily Haas, Mike Block, Tessa Lark, and the duo Väsen.

Episode 8 “Shop Talk with Sandra Halleran” was particularly fun to listen to for me as an adult beginner. I learned about Popper 15 Easy Studies and Scaling the Tenor Clef Dragon. I also learned that good students practice, even if it’s only for fifteen minutes a day.