Just been glancing over the January issue of Strings magazine and happened on the following pronouncement that has me steaming like a teakettle on high heat. In an article entitled, ‘Towering Titans’, a mister Laurence Vittes says, of the greats artists of 50 years ago, ‘Even the greatest violinists played the works as if they […]

Received an email from a gal a couple of days ago. It touches on an insight shared with me recently, so I’ll share both with you. She writes; ‘Hello Clayton, I really loved your performance on youtube. My teacher studied extensively with Erick Friedman, she also has me hold my violin with the left hand. […]

You may have gathered, from things I’ve written, that I made a lot of changes in my playing after coming to work with Milstein. ‘Tis true. It’s also true, however, that by most standards I had some very good training before I arrived in London. You know, the violin can be played in any number […]

You may’ve heard this one before, but I’m going to tell it anyway. A young person, holding a violin case, stops a passing cab in New York city and asks the driver, ‘Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall.’ The cabbie, without hesitation, quips, ‘Yea, practice.’ Yes, it does take practice if […]

Wow! The response to our Holiday Extravaganza has been amazing. Of course it is wonderful to see so many more fiddlers getting on board with the Kreutzer program, but the reception given my newest course, ‘Kreisler and Bach for Violin Artistry’ really sent me to the moon. So I don’t forget. We had a glitch […]

And NOW…the pièce de résistance. Today I’m proud to launch a Brand New course. It takes Violin Mastery into new, exciting territory. You’re just a hop, skip and click away from Day Three’s BIG Surprise. Just so you know, the ‘special holiday price’ for this item, and it’s really good, is revealed on the order page. […]

I read a wonderful little Kreisler anecdote last night. Let me begin with it. A woman comes backstage after one of his concerts and says. ‘I’d give my life to play like that.’ Kreisler responds, ‘I did.’ Well, there’s no getting around it, I guess. If you want to be one of the greatest of […]

When I think of the great names of violin playing and what the most identifying elements of their playing are, vibrato comes up near the top of the list. Vibratos, like fingerprints, are quite individual. Mischa Elman, whose tone is legendary, had a very full, lush vibrato for much of his career. And he generously […]

Today’s write in comes from Sheila who has a concert bearing down on her this week. She emailed the following; ‘Right now, I would like some urgent advice. This coming Saturday, the second of December, we are going to have our end of term concert. I have practiced and know all my notes. In the […]

I don’t know about where you are, but the temps are getting pretty cool out here in Appalachia. This morning I did a silly thing. Tuesday is trash and recycling day in our neighborhood and I got up early to beat the pick-up. Everything was going fine ‘til I tried to come back in the […]

Yesterday we were at a concert of our local symphony orchestra. Surprisingly there was some very good playing to listen to. Unfortunately there was also some playing that had us squirming in our seat. On the second half of the concert the conductor had programmed ‘Scheherazade’ of Rimsky Korsakov. Big mistake. The concertmistress was not […]

Many of us today have difficulty staying on track with practice. Milstein told me it was easy for him to practice when he was young because there was literally nothing else to do in Odessa in those days. We, on the other hand, are bombarded with options for spending our time. Some are relatively easy […]

I don’t know about you, but sometimes, usually during a sustained period of practice on one work or limited body of repertoire, my practice may become rather stale and predictable. I notice that progress on whatever I’m working on is stalled. When this happens you can do one of two things. And both have their […]

I was 19 years of age, concertmaster of the USC Symphony, and 1st violinist of the Vuillaume String Quartet – one of the top collegiate string quartets in the country at the time. But on the occasion I’m about to relate, I was also unusually nervous. My quartet, along with most members of the above-mentioned […]

The other day I sat listening to a violinist of excellent technical ability play the Bach D Minor solo sonata. Everything was in time. Everything was in tune. And yet I was bored to tears. One of the standard devices a player encounters in Bach is known as a ‘sequence’. Simply, a sequence is a […]