Cornelia Watkins is an exceptional professional cellist and an outstanding educator. Her understanding of cello pedagogy encompasses all levels, from beginners to advanced professionals. She has taught pedagogy courses at two prestigious American universities with exceptional music schools, Rice University and Northwestern University.

She is the author of two widely read music pedagogy books, several articles for music journals, and taught master classes and presented talks at numerous music conferences. To Cornelia, teaching the cello is not to help students learn to play the instrument, it is a way to deepen students’ self-awareness in all areas —physical, mental, emotional, even philosophical — while making meaningful personal connections to the music they play.