Friday afternoons I can be found in the outdoor eating area of my daughter’s school. Nope, we aren’t dining out together. The benches have been pushed away, and 28 kids and a hand full of parents are learning a little ‘attitude’, which, according to our teach, is synonymous with hip-hop. But hang on, what’s the […]

When I met my wife, Tania, a number of new things came into my life. One of these was an appreciation for figure skating. And when you think about it, figure skating has quite a bit in common with violin playing. Holding an edge whilst gliding across an area of ice is a remarkably apt […]

Some of you might say ‘shame on you,’ after reading this. After all, ‘What’s a man in your condition think your doing runnin’ all over old Paganini like that.’ And you’d probably be right. Let’s see how I feel tomorrow when the violin reaches my shoulder. But here’s what happened today, and I think you’ll […]

An interesting question came my way a couple days ago. One of my faithful asked me, “so, what IS the deal with dots over notes? I have a couple editions of Bach that have many staccato indications over notes, yet in recordings I don’t hear any evidence of them.” This is a good question, really, […]

I’m sitting at my desk with my daughter watching videos of her earlier days. Pretty cute. Got a note from a new member of the Violin Mastery clan asking about my violins. Funny thing is, I was going to write about the acquisition of my first ‘concert’ instrument today anyway. For the first two years […]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Here’s another side of me you haven’t seen before – unicycling while performing Irish jigs in Sedona’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday. I’m playing a ‘folk’ violin that has some innovative features which I’ll tell you about tomorrow. Right now I’m in Los Angeles recording the action cues for Pixar’s […]

I’ve been behaving a little bit silly the past couple of months. And the reason I say this may have something very worthwhile for you to consider. You see, a couple of months ago, as my left side felt like it recovering from my accident of last May, I began to push myself on the […]

Well, it’s Monday morning. Just dropped my daughter off at school and now am sitting in the car in front of my dentist’s office waiting to go to have a couple crowns installed. Whoopee. Yet what better place to lift my spirits than by hitting the old laptop and telling you how to treat yourself […]

Well, I’m back from Tinsel-town USA and beginning to resume my normal routine. Not entirely normal, for the couple of days I’ve switched to playing viola. Now, as you must know, the viola is often the butt of jokes in the string section. And I must admit I enjoy them as much as anybody. Yet […]

Last night we had our first glimpse of the theatre as it has been decked out for Oscar night; Hollywood glamour meets ‘high tech’, I would say. Incidentally, if you tune in on Sunday, you will see me in the first row of violins, second in from the left, when the orchestra is on camera. […]

I don’t often take trips down memory lane, yet today I’m gonna make an exception. I say gunna, ‘cause what did I know back in 1979 anyway. But there I was, not 22 years old, ready to take the world of classical chamber music by storm. And guess what, in some cities, I think we […]

As you know, I place quite a bit of stock in how one Thinks when playing the violin. And just to illustrate this a little bit, let me give you an example from my practice this morning. While warming up I set a goal for myself to play a 3 octave B flat major scale […]

In the US of A we are celebrating a national holiday in honor of the civil rights movement and its central figure, Martin Luther King, Jr.. The Holiday exalts the finest achievement of Man; namely, the triumph of spirit over flesh. I find that it means more to me with each passing year. And I […]

I’m pleased to tell, right now, that because you opened this newsletter you’re violin playing just got better. Read on. A couple days ago I had an inquiry from one of my Violin Mastery Beginners Circle students wanting to know more about the one-finger playing and the shifting motion that makes it possible. As a result I’m […]

Don’t know how the weather looks for you, today, but out here in paradise we’re looking at another day of weather perfection; sunny, and in the mid-fifties. Now, I know you weren’t looking for a Sedona weather report when you opened this, yet I had to throw it in. It’s just too beautiful out. In […]