One of the very first things that I teach every beginner student is how to take care of their bow, and especially the hair. The basics are actually pretty straightforward. When you take your violin and bow out of the case, tighten the bow hair, then rosin the bow. After you have finished playing, loosen Read more about Bow Tension[…]
Last week I received an email from my orchestra conductor about the upcoming season. As usual, I’ll be auditioning for the principal second violin chair again. in the meantime, I have to design the posters well ahead of the season, which is something that I’m not always able to do in past seasons. I’m not Read more about Hart House Orchestra[…]
Last Saturday I had the privilege to give a workshop on how to read music at my church. Music is a language in and of itself, with its own syntax and traditions and rules, so for someone who has never tried to understand how to read a score, it’s incredibly intimidating. But then, for someone Read more about Music Workshop at My Church[…]
“Studies” are basically long exercises that focus on one or two crucial aspects of improving violin techniques. Some of these studies are just downright boring (Schradieck and Ševčík’s exercises come to mind), but we still use them nonetheless because they give you good results fast. Occasionally we also have the joy of playing more lyrical Read more about Kreutzer No. 2[…]
An early version of this article was posted on the website of Elite Music Academy (where I taught violin and viola) a number of years ago. I no longer work for the school, and their website has gone through a few generations of changes. As such, this article has vanished from the internet…until now. By Read more about Old Things[…]
The Hart House Orchestra (of which I am a member of) will be performing its final concert of the season on Thursday, April 2, at the Hart House Great Hall on the University of Toronto campus.We’ll be performing Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto with soloist Erion Tulina, Richard Strauss’ Dance of the Seven Veils from his Read more about Hart House Orchestra Spring Concert[…]