Hi there! My name is Emanuel Keller and I am GRAMMY award-nominated cellist/producer seeking to share my love for music with passionate students.

Find out more about Emanuel

• When did you first develop a passion for music and your favorite instrument?

  I was 5 when I picked the cello as my main instrument but I think it was only years later when I developed my passion. I remember two significant moments in my life that really felt monumental for me. The first was when I got my first record which was Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I've never heard anything like that before and I felt electrified by this music. It also opened a huge door for me to other bands like Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and more. The other moment was when I took a 6 year hiatus from music at 18 and as I turned 24, I decided to get back to it. I had to re-learn how to play the cello and this time, I wanted to focus on all the music I grew up listening to. I felt ready to let go of my "classical" cello education and really immerse myself in new ways where I can find my own expressive voice on the first instrument I ever learned.

• Is there a particular type of music or artist that you listen to on a loop without it driving you crazy?

  In all honesty, I feel that it's always a matter of moments in your life. My regular artists in loop include Radiohead, Yebba, Lucky Daye, Cesaria Evora, Nick Drake, Beck, Dave Matthews and more. I sometimes find myself listening to any of these incredibly talented musicians for weeks if not months. But it all depends on my state of mind.

• Explain to us the most difficult or riveting course you could personally give to a student of music.

  One of the main concepts I try to focus on is the idea of "more felt than heard". It's very hard to explain and even harder to achieve. The idea is that sometimes, we add things to our playing/production that are not necessarily heard by the average listener but only by so-called experts. I find that this is a skill I still work on and learn how to refine every day through listening to music and analyzing it deeply. I try to focus on this from day one of teaching through assigning multiple production analysis assignments where we dive deep into analyzing the works of successful commercial records, dissecting them and understanding why they hit us the way they do. At a more advanced stage, we try to micro-analyze these records, identifying subtle techniqes that make all the difference and create the "more felt than heard" sensation.

• What do you think is the most complicated instrument to master and why?

  I would have to say either violin or harp. The violin is one of those instruments that you cannot be "okay" at. You have to really get to a very high level before it sounds good. It's also extremely awkward and unnatural for the body. The harp has just so many pedals and strings, it all seems very confusing and overly complicated. I did hear that french horn can also be extremely challenging.

• What are your keys to success?

  Hard work, communication, professionalism, treating others the way that you want to be treated and simply being a good hang. There's no course for the latter unfortunately. This combination will always be the winner and will get you in the doors you want to walk into.

• Name three musicians you dream of meeting in your favourite bar in the early hours of the morning. Explain why.

  I've never been to a bar in the early morning but I guess I'd love to meet Quincy Jones, J.S Bach and Paul McCartney. In all honesty, this is the weirdest combo of people I could think of but given the fact that it's an early morning at a bar, it only seems fitting. I guess the main reason why I would want to meet them is because each of them completely revolutionized music at a different era in history though I feel there is a connecting line between the works of Bach, to the arrangements of Quincy Jones and the writing of the great Paul McCartney.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to music or your days at music school.

  When I was 18 I decided to quit music. I felt completely burnt out by it and felt that the people who have taught me drained me from my passion. It took six years and eventually I decided to get back. At first, I thought I was never going to play again so I looked for schools for audio engineering as my way back into music. All the schools I applied for told me I couldn't study there because I didn't have an EU citizenship. I later visited my brother in Boston and went to an open day at Berklee College of Music and felt an instant pull. I wanted to be there. I got back to playing and eventually was accepted on an almost full scholarship.
  
  This story is a lot more complex and dense than a single paragraph, but if I've learned something valuable through this mountain I had to climb is that I can achieve literally anything if I set my mind to it. I'm so glad that this was the way I got back into music because to do what I do, I have to believe in this every single day.

• What are the little touches that make you a Superprof in music?

  For me it's always the fact that I make my students feel heard and seen. I never establish the old fashioned teacher-student dynamic where students feel scared or intimidated by their teacher. Although I am a teacher in these particular situations, I still see myself as an eternal student of life. In our lessons, I always find ways in which I can learn from my students just as much as they can learn from me.