“I read your ad in Strings magazine and will be forever grateful that I ordered the Kreutzer course. I was practicing, but knew that I needed help with my playing. I was deceived in thinking that because I travel so much and my schedule was so full that it was impossible to connect with a teacher for instruction to improve my technique. I now carry your instructional DVD’s and CD’s on my video iPod and watch and listen to them while I am waiting in airports, on flights or riding the train. I look forward to my practice time each day as I pick up my violin and apply what I have listened to earlier in the day.
I know I have so much work to and still need a lot of help, but I also know that I have made tremendous progress in the area of relaxation and my practice techniques. My playing has really begun to improve. I highly recommend your course to violinists.
The emails that you send are wonderful. I am always delighted to see that I have a new email waiting from you. I know before I open the email that I will be enlightened in some area of my life with my violin. I also look forward with great anticipation to January’s masterclass seminar in North Carolina.
Thank you so very much for the work that you are doing.”
“When the first Kreutzer package came I opened it right away, followed the simple instructions about breathing, counting, fingering, intonation, etc., and noticed an immediate and surprising ease of playing.
I purchased your Kreutzer course because I had felt for some months that I should revisit those famous studies. I had essentially laid the violin aside for about forty years. I am now sixty-six years old, but I’m having a total blast recapturing my fiddle playing. Waddaya know, old dogs CAN learn new tricks!
It was a scary thing to get serious about the fiddle again, although I providentially have become friends with Dr. Brandon Christensen, violin prof at Southeast Missouri State University. He’s like a shot of musical adrenaline and an outstanding teacher who is walking me through the unaccompanied Partita 2 by JSB. I hope to play the whole thing from memory around Easter of 2007.
I think working through your Kreutzer in tandem will allow me to do more than learn a difficult piece, but will increase my fundamental technique as well. That will come in handy, since I have been asked to teach some Master Classes at a Czech conservatory this coming summer. Kreutzer is going with me.”
“I want to thank you very much for taking the time and interest required to produce the Kreutzer courses, as I place great value on them as a rich resource that will help me to become a much better player over time.
While my interest in playing is purely for self-fulfillment, I want to be able to play to, and hopefully beyond, my potential, and I believe your courses will guide me towards that goal. Although I have only been using them for a short time (two months) I have enjoyed them very much and know that I am receiving a great benefit from their use. The ability to view your playing of each etude, along with your explanation of their execution is providing me with both inspiration and some musical understanding regarding execution that was escaping me until now. As the forty-two etudes are extremely demanding, I am confident that they will provide me with a rich variety of musical challenges and experiences in the years to come.
Once again, thanks for taking the time to provide aspiring violinists with such quality learning tools.”
This last weekend I was playing the second violin in the slow movement of Beethoven’s Op 127. Your counting discipline in the Kreutzer was very much in my mind whilst playing and I was grateful to you! It helped a lot.
A few years ago I started lessons with a well-known London quartet leader and much of my lesson time is taken up on concentrating on bow technique and sound quality. Your DVDs compliment that teaching and makes me think afresh on the problems of playing the violin”
“I was excited to find the Violin Mastery course because it is difficult to locate material on specific technique and basic skill that is geared for the adult. Once the course came in the mail I was even more impressed because it appears I have purchased the opportunity to truly learn to be a good violinist. And I am pleased that it is not more advanced than I can handle after only a few months of lessons.
Even though there is a great difference in age between me and the 79-year-old who wrote about starting up again, I take comfort in knowing that it truly is possible for me to teach my fingers and hands and mind to do this new thing, to create beautiful music.
Thank you, Mr. Haslop for bringing this material together in such a simple, easy to understand fashion. I look forward to growing more competent as I put the things you teach into practice.”
“I enjoy reading all of the emails that I have been receiving from you, and I hope that you will continue to give little bits of information to any and all aspiring violinists.
This is when I thought to look for help on the internet. I found your website, but like some websites one is very reluctant to spend money to find out that the material is not what it should be. In your case having read all of the material on your site I thought it would be worth my while to try the first group of studies. I am not disappointed, in fact I’m sounding a great deal better in following your advice. I will never be a concert violinist, but I do hope that my playing will improve from a Jehudi Wanabee to something better. I can actually gauge my playing from the reaction of my wife. When it is bad, she will escape to the TV room. Lately she has not been doing this.”
“I am learning to play the viola, but I brought your course even though it was for violin, and started using the imaging, breathing and counting technique with the viola (using the imaging more than the others, I know that I need to balance them). I am now on the first piece of the Suzuki Viola Method 4, and the teacher told me during last class that she was impressed with my improvement. The piece I am referring to is one of the most difficult ones I have played so far and it took me less practicing time to learn it as a result of using the techniques in our Kreutzer course.”
“As a violinist in rock/pop/folk bands I need be able to perform over 50 songs from memory during a typical 3-hour club show. While making it look effortless I must pay close attention to the other band members.
I’ve found your imaging technique useful in helping me to focus on what I need to be doing while performing in what can be a very chaotic environment.”
“I have already seen a part of your instructions on how to achieve a high degree of ability to play on violin. I must confess that what you are doing is really fantastic and must be appreciated by all musicians, particularly those concerned with violin. You are doing a great job and I have recommended your DVDs to all my students.”
“Your DVD instructions are superb.”
“Wow! I have been using your counting technique for two weeks, and I am amazed at how quickly I have become more in control, fluid, and rhythmically solid. Your tips are invaluable – every string player needs to see these. Also, the duplicate CDs are a great idea. It’s a fantastic package.”
“As a professional violinist I can’t tell you how much your Kreutzer DVDs are elevating my overall technique. Revisiting these old friends with you has helped me learn orchestral music more rapidly and completely than ever before. Thank you!”
“I just received my ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery Vol. 1’ program and I am extremely happy! The course and the newsletter (I love the newsletter!) are just what I needed to jump-start my practicing and playing into a new level of enjoyment and satisfaction. When I think about what private lessons of the same calibre might cost me, the DVD/CD/Manual collection is a downright bargain – but the inspiration is priceless.”
