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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

Thank you to Violinist.com's February advertisers

By Robert Niles
February 8, 2010 17:23

I'd like to take a moment to thank the violin shops, retailers and music programs who are advertising on Violinist.com in February. Their financial support helps Laurie and I to keep the site running and filled with great new interviews and features. (Laurie's got three new violinist interviews she's working on writing into stories right now!)

So thank you to our returning advertisers:

As well as to our new and returning advertisers this month:

Looking for financial help for college and career? From The Top is selecting approximately 25 pre-collegiate violinists this year for $10,000 awards. Please check out the link to the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award for application details. We'd also like to thank violin maker Hans Pluhar and Eldar Speiser and the "Join a String Quartet" music kit for supporting the site this month.

Also, we would like to thank Shar for making a year-long commitment to supporting Violinist.com. Shar will be highlighting many different offers on Violinist.com over the next 12 months, so we hope you'll keep your eyes open for those.

We hope that you will show your appreciation for these advertisers' support of Violinist.com by considering them when you're making a decision about violin- and music-related purchases, or your violin career.

If you run a music-related business, or are an administrator at a music school, competition or camp, we invite you to consider supporting this lively community by becoming an advertiser on Violinist.com.

Thank you, again, to everyone who has helped make Violinist.com such a fun and informative community!

0 replies

On the Mastery of Two Skills

By Clayton Haslop
February 8, 2010 13:31

Two questions came from players at very different places in their violin lives. One arose from the rather uncomfortable challenge of sight-reading Saint-Saens’ ‘Organ Symphony’ – a rhythmically tricky piece.

The other, from a beginner, and addresses the challenge of putting fingers to string accurately and reliably.

First the question regarding sight-reading. Here are the basic priorities, in order, that a good musician should hold: awareness of the BEAT; dynamics, rhythms, articulation, and finally, the notes.

Now, for some, the order of my priorities may come as a surprise. They were to me when I first learned them. After all, I thought ‘getting the notes’ was the deal.

Uh-uh.

Awareness of the flow of time is numero uno. And along those lines I have conducted experiments with myself that have proved very interesting.

When I count the beats, even as I sight-read whatever is in front of me, I find that I am no less effective at getting the dynamics, rhythms, articulations OR the notes than when I don’t, in fact I tend to be better. AND I’m a heck of a lot more steady and aware of the conductor, the other instruments, and the pace of the music as I do so...
Read more...
1 reply

Interview with Gerald Elias, author of Devil's Trill

By Mayra Calvani
February 7, 2010 13:48

Please welcome my special guest Gerald Elias, musician author of the mystery novel, Devil's Trill, recently released by Minotaur. He was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions about writing and publishing. Visit his website at www.geraldelias.com. To read my review of Devil's Trill, click HERE.

Thanks for the interview, Gerald. You’re a concert violinist, conductor and composer. What got you into writing?

I remember in second grade we had an assignment to write a comic strip, and I did one of a horse doing pushups for JFK's national physical fitness program. My teacher, who seemed to be impressed with my work, asked "Is this original?" I didn't know what the word meant, so I somberly shook my head and said, "Oh, no!" My father loved writing as an avocation and in his later years became famous for writing letters to the editor of his local newspapers. He also enjoyed writing poetry--only the kind that rhymes--so I guess writing is in my genes.

Tell us how your inspiration for Devil’s Trill came about? I understand the story was based on lessons you had developed for your violin students?

Some of the most boring stuff I had to read as a violin student were pedagogical tomes about music and the violin... Read more...
3 replies

New violinist author: Paula Yoo

By Mayra Calvani
February 7, 2010 13:30

Hi all,

I love to discover new violin-related novels and especially those written by violinists who are also authors.

Here's a new one for you: Paula Yoo. Check out her book and website.

She has agreed to an interview so I'll have her as a guest soon!

About her book:

How to make your Korean parents happy:

1. Get a perfect score on the SATs.
2. Get into HarvardYalePrinceton.
3. Don't talk to boys.*

Patti's parents expect nothing less than the best from their Korean-American daughter...

1 reply

Music as Art

By Emily Grossman
February 7, 2010 03:31

Last night's dream cannot be explained, but I must attempt, lest I forget. I played a piano/cello trio by Brahms--one of his yet unheard compositions, of course--and was pleasantly surprised to find that the melody had taken the form of a serpent, which wove in and out of the tapestry; each of us took turns carrying it along as it reappeared. The result was a work of art that lingered in visual form even though I cannot recall the sound of its sweetness.

2 replies

V.com weekend vote: Which way would you rather listen to your favorite violin piece?

By The Weekend Vote
February 6, 2010 00:27

I actually don't agree with the idea that we should worship the dead masters of the past, not to the point where we turn away from the present, refuse to support to the live artists of today and give up on having living, changing music. Certainly the great masters from the past can inspire us, but they can't....stand there, living and breathing, and play for us! So for me, I think there's nothing more thrilling than a live performance by a great artist.

Still, sometimes we draw inspiration from the masters of the past, or from the original recording of a piece. Youtube has opened up entirely new possiblities, and one can spend entire days going through the golden oldies. It's pretty thrilling to see Oistrakh, playing that cadenza from the Shostakovich, for example.

And then there is the matter of new recordings. My heart fell when a reader once wrote something along the lines of, "Why is XXX artist doing another recording of XXX, when Heifetz recorded it perfectly?" Well, why should your kindergartener sing "Silent Night" this year, when my kindergartener sang the same thing perfectly five years ago?

But I want your opinion and your thoughts on the matter, and please be honest. What do you actually prefer?

poll by twiigs.com

24 replies

G Major Sonata

By Emily Grossman
February 4, 2010 02:56

And just like that, my muse returned.

I play through Brahms at night, and the plot line sends me into bouts of chills and sweats, like a fever.

4 replies

Géza Frid Podium-Suite op.3 life + score

By Bram Heemskerk
February 4, 2010 01:13

Géza Frid is a Hungarian composer, who lived in the Netherlands and pupil of Bartok and Kodaly. Birthe Blom www.birtheblom.com ,violin + Martin Tchiba www.tchiba.com play a sonate:

3 replies

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Laurie Niles
Violinist.com's editor is a professional symphony violinist and former newspaper journalist who interviews top violin performers and pedagogues, as well as reports on her experience in violin music and education.