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Newest

• Injury Susceptibility in Musicians: Injury Susceptibility Quiz. If your answer to many of the questions is yes, you may be putting yourself at risk for an injury. Overuse injuries can creep up on you.

Technique

• Practicing your instrument for success: With enough practicing, certain habits and methods are committed to memory and make practicing your instrument more enjoyable.
• Vibrato to your heart's delight: An average student would develop a very reasonable, regular, well-sounding vibrato as soon as three months after starting on this discipline.
• How long does it take to get really good at violin? What is Talent? This question is probably one of the top four or five most "frequently asked" on Yahoo Answers and various violin forums.
• 6 Steps to Perfect Posture: When I take a new student, especially an adult, but also a young student who has been learning the violin in school, I start them out with Six Steps to Perfect Posture.
• Finding the right teacher in 5 steps: Choosing the right teacher may be the most difficult decision facing a beginning string musician.
• It's Never Too Late for Cello: I once heard that most people die "with music in their heart." On hearing this statement I felt a strong urge to do something.
• Proper Preparation of Orchestral Excerpts: Too often, the audition takers find themselves focusing on their solo pieces for auditions in a way that is out of proportion to the total task at hand.
• Laterality: Improve Intonation: Playing a string instrument requires the ability to co-ordinate several different movements with both arms simultaneously.
• Sensible Sight-Reading: Do you know anyone who enjoys being "put on the spot," needing to perform a task, without the benefit of having preparation time, and at the same time is scored on the success of this event?
• Dealing with Injury: I'm one of those people who takes their health for granted. This includes the health of my hands and the ability to practice and play my violin. The next thing I know I'm typing one-handed and having to get help washing my hair.
• Shaking Bow in Performance: This month Jennifer addresses the most common problem string players face -- the shaking bow during a performance!
• Memory Techniques: Everyone can memorize music by playing through enough times. This is called muscle memory. Unfortunately, it does not always work all the way through the piece when in an unfamiliar setting, or when confronted by nerves.
• Vibrato exercises for a stiff wrist: These problems, stiff wrist, play slow, nervous, are all normal beginner problems. As for the wrist not being loose, I believe that in the case of the adult beginner this is due more to nerves than physical limits.
• Handling Life as a Violinist: I once had a good friend that said that music would never let him down, but he quite often let music down.
• Handling Stage Fright: I have been performing and teaching for 25 years (frightening thought in itself) and I still get very nervous before I play a solo or take auditions.
• The Adult Beginner: I've been surprised and impressed by the number of adults who will begin the challenge to learn to play the violin.
• Favorite Practice Techniques: I think teachers need to not only teach the student how to play, but more importantly, teach them how to practice!

Studio Teaching

• Violin Practice and the Ugly Duckling: One of the most important functions of a music teacher is instilling and fostering a love of music in their pupils and motivating them to persevere with practicing.
• On Teaching the Older Student: It takes time and patience, but I truly believe that the most important ingredient for success is the belief that it is possible to learn to play an instrument at any age and that you can do it!
• Start Your Own Studio - Part I: Teaching is a joy. There are pro's and con's however in beginning your own studio.
• Start Your Own Studio - Part II: Here are a few more thoughts on the subject of starting your own studio.
• Teaching Left Hand Technique I: have recently been thinking a lot about the left hand and why this hand is so important to good posture.
• Ideas for Beginning Teachers: When you are first beginning to teach, it can feel quite awkward to hand a child a new violin and try to tell them what to do with it.
• Motivating your child/student to practice: I have been teaching for about 18 years and I've come to the conclusion that motivation is one of the most important things I can give my students.

Your Instrument

• Winter With No Strings Attached: Cold, dry weather is perfect for polar bears and penguins but fierce for fiddles. Canada's Rhiannon Schmitt offers advice on how to keep violin strings and instruments from breaking in winter.
• What to look for when purchasing or renting a beginner instrument: Your child is much more likely to stick with it if his instrument sounds and feels like it should. Read on to avoid the most common instrument problems. Includes a printable pdf so you can add it to your orchestra packet.
• If you want a classic craft to succeed, don't fiddle with it: I am involved in a business where my competitors have been dead for 250 years and still they outsell me.
• How to Select the Right Bow: Many players of all levels find it difficult when selecting a bow, whether for Violin, Viola, or Cello.
• How to Buy a Violin: The first task when buying a violin is to choose a reputable shop.

School Orchestra

• What school orchestra directors REALLY want for the holidays! For the last couple of months I have been volunteering in my son's beginning orchestra class. It has been an eye-opening experience.
• Music Ed and "No Child Left Behind" The National Association for Music Education, Harris Interactive today released an independent poll which shows a positive association of music with lifelong educational attainment and higher income.
• Music Education Facts and Figures: "Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts."

Everything Else

• Jealousy Among Musicians: Jealousy - do you feel it? Do you sense it in others? Does it hinder your relationships with other musicians?
• A Boston Pops Tale: My bass teacher, a long time member of the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops, swore that the following events actually took place, but he was such a loud liar we'll never know for sure.
• Tales from the Home Planet: Violist Novi Novog tells of her adventures playing for Prince and the Doobie Brothers.
• Violin: My Muse Violin: The word brings such vivid images to my mind.
• Handel's Messiah: This month in honor of the season, we would like to feature Handel’s Messiah, since most of us will play this at some point during the season.
• The Heifetz Legacy: The life and talent of Jascha Heifetz lives on through Sherry Kloss and others who continue his work.