Music Practice as Self-Care: A conversation with Cellist and Composer Bianca d’Avila Do Prado

On this week’s episode of the Time to Practice podcast, we’re speaking with cellist, composer, and music educator Bianca d’Avila do Prado about her journey to the cello and later composing music. We talk about music practice, the importance of seeing people we connect to and identify with doing inspiring things in the world of music, and using our music practice as self-care. Enjoy!

To Listen to the full episode you can find the Time to Practice Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. You can also listen directly from the link below: 

Highlights of our conversation with Bianca d’Avila do Prado include:

• Bianca’s early musical experiences, including learning the recorder and guitar as a child, and then finally getting to star the cello as a teenager, after wanting to for some time.
• The importance of having a supportive and inspiring music teacher, like her recorder teacher Patricia, who fostered a love of music and a sense of community. Our relationships with our teachers are so important!
• Bianca’s unexpected journey into composition, which began with her first piece “Brazilian Habanero” , and has since led to her composing a cello suite and other works to diversify the classical music repertoire. 
• Bianca’s involvement in the Resonance project, a new multicultural Suzuki-inspired cello method, and her work with the bilingual cello program at the Music Institute of Chicago. 
• The idea of thinking of our own music practice self-care and maintaining a regular practice routine as a musician and teacher, and having that come out of care for ourselves, our I loved that!

On what she remembers practice being like as a teen, preparing for college auditions:

“Every time I could get my cello and make a sound was just like a gift because when you wait for so long to do something, every time you do it, you just really treasure it.”

On starting to compose in recent years:

 I didn’t know a female composer, so maybe that’s why I never thought I could do it, because I just, so I’m representing that maybe some Latino girls see me and they’ll say, oh, I might be a composer too . . . See that it’s something that is possible and that real people like me can write music.”

Links in this episode: 

Bianca d’Avila Do Prado’s website where you can find links to her music & work: https://sites.google.com/view/biancacellist/home

Connect with Bianca on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bibi_cello.br/

Connect with Christine on Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/suzukitriangle

Recorded Parent talk from earlier this month with Christine about “Working with our Child’s Strengths in the Practice Room” Get the Recording Here