• VIOLIN MASTERY TIPS & LATEST NEWS

Like Little Hammers Hitting the String

Have you been told for as long as you can remember to make your fingers strike the fingerboard like little hammers? Often it’s not a bad idea. But in highly legato Adagio music the effect can be dreadful. Almost 30 years ago I was engaged to play the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra […]

How to Deal with Limitation

A couple days ago I was checking out a posting on a well known violin site. It seems a young person has been working the ‘Rondo Capriccioso’ of Saints-Saens and has reached the upper limit of her up bow staccato. Only problem is, it aint fast enough to fit into the piece. Now, she seems […]

How Failure Can Work For You

A few years ago I auditioned for the concertmaster chair of the LA Phil. I successfully negotiated 3 rounds of auditions and a chamber music session. Then, the audition committee unanimously recommended that I play with the orchestra. Well, it was not to be. Those of you who know orchestra politics will know that these […]

Bowing Balderdash, Why You Shouldn’t…

I saw something on the web today that really jerked my string – no, not my G string. I was cruising a few websites to see what was up with instructional DVDs for violin, and I happened on to a little ‘demo’ of detaché bowing at the frog. Now, to begin with, the quality of […]