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Violin Blogs

Violinist.com members may keep personal journals on the website. Violinist.com's editor selects the best entries for the column below. Links to all other recent blog posts may be found in the column on the right.

Top Blogs

Fraternity of peers and Russian music...

By Carlo Mauricio
December 3, 2008 09:16

You greet the end of a hard, stressful Tuesday afternoon with either a snide goodbye or a true embrace. Retire into the evening sitting by the fireplace dreaming about the beaches of Miami. Consider seeing the Jupiter String Quartet play with the Russians.

The sophistication of yesterday night's program was warmly bearable, though the Russian pieces highlighted in the program may have raised eyebrows. The quartet launched its program with Haydn's Opus 77, one in F major, followed by Shostakovich's F-sharp Minor quartet with a segue to Gubaidulina. The evening ended with Britten's bright Opus 36 in F major.

1 reply

Music and language: Is there a connection?

By Jodi B
December 2, 2008 11:44

My daughter was very excited about learning a language this year at school; she chose Spanish. I was amazed how quickly she has been learning the language, it comes very natural to her.

When I talked to her Spanish teacher at conferences, she was surprised to hear that it was her first year of a language class; she thought that she was at least in her second year.

One time, in gym class, my daughter told one of her friends in Mandorin Chinese that "he was crazy". He did a double-take and ask her to say it again. He went on to tell her that she was the first of his American friends to actually get the accent perfect and told her to say something else....

13 replies

Accidental Christmas Experiment

By Dottie Case
December 2, 2008 08:56

The Christmas season is really busy for everyone. That is a given....it's almost become a cultural norm that December is about people rushing about, shopping, decorating, cooking, baking, entertaining, attending 'events' , mailing cards and packages, etc. (All on top of the usual job/family commitments, or course).

So, it's established that Christmas is a busy season for everyone. Performing musicians have an additional layer of busyness to add to the norm, with rehearsals, gigs and concerts. Teaching musicians have another layer still..... conducting orchestra concerts/rehearsals, organizing Christmas recitals and providing students for the many requests for special music. Finally, church musicians have a further layer of commitment on top of all else. Tis the season to go nuts. I'll bet that not many of you have even one free weekend on your calendars between now and 2009. ...

0 replies

Thoughts…

By Drew Lecher
December 2, 2008 05:51

"The ideal vibrato position is counter-productive to a nice straight bow."

Re: touching the neck of the instrument with the side of the 1st finger in the lower 3 or 4 positions.

Re: Developing good vibrato elsewhere on the instrument.

Re: the bow hold position and type.

Re: Bow change at the heel/frog. Read more...

6 replies

Karlowicz, Kabalevsky, Conus

By Bram Heemskerk
November 30, 2008 07:23

More rare violinconcerto's where you can read the solopartscore. The violinconcerto's of the Polish Mieczyslaw Karlowicz, Russian Dmitri Kabalevsky, Julius Conus, also from Russia. The last 2 Russian concerto's are techniqual not so difficult.

Karlowicz, Mieczyslaw (1876-1909) violinconcerto op.8 movement 1 (begin) Allegro moderato attacca

7 replies

The smell of Frustration

By Jodi B
November 29, 2008 08:57

We once owned a dog, Gareth. He was a beautiful, huge Chesapeake Bay Retriever that could lap from the bowl in 7/8 time and eat from a fork on command. However, he could also detect my husbands moods, one of which was frustration, long before my husband showed any signs.

As you know, in the previous blog, I have decided to "let go" and have my daughter be in total control of practicing her violin. This worked out really great, the first week and a half. But, like my dog Gareth, I can also detect frustruation long before my daughter shows any signs.

Take, for example, yesterday the day after Thanksgiving. Of course, she didn't practice over the holiday; which is okay with me :) I had offered (just a suggestion) that she should practice whatever she wanted to practice. What did she choose? A Mazas Etude with double stops.

27 replies

Family Music

By Karen Allendoerfer
November 29, 2008 07:49

A few years ago, at some holiday conversation where I don't remember the holiday, around when my daughter first started taking violin lessons, my brother and I talked about what we had gotten out of our music education growing up and what we wanted to do with our kids.

My brother is a talented singer, after a few years in school with a baritone horn bigger than he was, he decided to use his voice as his primary instrument. I'd always been somewhat envious of his singing abilities, and it turned out that he in turn had been somewhat envious of my orchestral and instrumental playing. We'd been told over the years to do one thing and not another. He wasn't allowed to play the trombone by the elementary school band teacher, which was what he'd really wanted to do. I'd been told I couldn't sing.

And this was generational: our father has told us the story several times of how he, in the early 1950's, was steered away from playing the flute and toward the clarinet by well-meaning music teachers wielding various assessment tools. He claims that, because he already had braces, they told him the flute embouchure would be too difficult, and that because he "couldn't carry a tune in a bucket" they told him he couldn't play anything else. He never took to the clarinet and gave it up after a few years.

This year we had another conversation, and a concert. My brother and his family came to our house for Thanksgiving this year for the first time. They have two kids now ages, 2 and 5. Their 5-yo daughter, like our 5-yo son, is in kindergarten this year. They look alike, too: two little tow-headed kids at the computer. Like their parents, they like the computer, maybe a little too much. For a change of pace, my brother suggested that we play something on the violin.

5 replies

First Impressions, Second Guesses

By Emily Grossman
November 29, 2008 02:55

Beginnings tend to leave a stain if improperly handled. That's why I wanted so badly to win her over at the very first lesson. We sat down at the piano, 88 keys presenting themselves like question marks, all waiting to be answered. She played and I watched, hoping to find some clues about her past teacher, hoping to guess what was on the slate and what was yet to be slated. Besides technical foundation, there was also the subject of personal taste. What did she like? "Do you like classical music? Do you know Mozart? Like Beethoven? Recognise this little bit of Bach?" I played for her and waited for a response.

"How about we get on with the lesson?"

Stunned by the curt remark, which slapped the question mark from the bubble over my head, I reacted with a scumble of steam: "Okay then, turn to page 13." Hoping she wouldn't notice if my face was pink, I grilled her mercilessly on the rhythms, lashing at every last flaw until the piece she had prepared for me lay in shambles, much to my satisfaction.

So much for first impressions.

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