All Blog Posts (600)

Strings contributor Laurence Vittes delivers his fifth and final blog from the Montreal Violin Competition. http://bit.ly/14KHTPD

And the winner is . . . . Laurence Vittes reports on the results of the Montreal Violin Competition. http://bit.ly/13pUxRF

Strings contributor Laurence Vittes is blogging this week from the Montreal Violin Competition:

Of the three finalists who played Tuesday night at the Montreal Violin Competition, Belgium’s Marc Bouchkov, 22 years old, born into a distinguished family of Russian and Ukrainian musicians, emerged as the apparent winner. He was a student of Boris Garlitsky and Claire…

View the first two episodes of Casey Driessen’s innovative Fiddle/Sticks project. Fiddle/Sticks is a collaborative exploration of rhythm that pairs this Grammy-nominated fiddler—a leading voice in percussive fiddle/violin technique (known as the chop)—with a list of the landmark drummers and percussionists of our time.

It serves as an inspirational and instructional resource for drummers, percussionists, fiddlers and everyone in the music community interested in pushing the boundaries…

Strings contributor and blogger Laurence Vittes is reporting this week from the Montreal Violin Competition:

After the midnight Saturday announcement of the six finalists in the Montreal International Music Competition (MIMC), devoted this year to the violin, the survivors were given three days in which to practice and rehearse for their trials by concerto on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

 The…

Strings corresponding editor James N. McKean writes:

Before I begin work on the rib structure, I join the top and the back. I want to let the joint rest before subjecting the plates to the stress of arching and graduating, but I'll also be using the back as a leveling plate to build the ribs on.

After I’ve run the two parts of the back through the joiner planer to level and roughly join them, I finish the joint with a beautiful old jack plane that my parents found for…

Strings contributor Laurence Vittes reports on the Montreal Chamber Music Festival and the city's concurrent violin competition. http://bit.ly/10EhDTL

Luthier and longtime Strings contributor James N. McKean writes:

By the time I left college to go to violin-making school I had been playing the violin for well over ten years—and yet I had not the slightest clue how the thing was made, much less how it worked.

Now, approaching the 40th anniversary of that day in early October when I arrived in Salt Lake City, every time I pick up my tools I’m still amazed at the instrument’s beauty. And by its acoustical…

5 Myths of Baroque String Playing

1. Don’t vibrate

2. Don’t sustain or play legato

3. Swell on long notes

4. Play out of tune

5. Get a student violin, put gut strings on it, remove the chinrest, borrow a baroque bow and…

Even at an age when other string virtuosi have long since retired or continued to perform past their prime, master cellist Janos Starker could still astound audiences with his near-perfect intonation and impeccable phrasing, Strings contributor Robert Battey, who studied with Starker in the 1970s, wrote in a 2005 review of the cellist’s autobiography The World of Music According to Starker.

Death silenced that famous bow April 28, when Starker, 88, died in Bloomington,…

The Double Bass department consists of two faculty members, Stephen Tramontozzi and Scott Pingle, and around eight students. Bios for our entire faculty may be found here. If you have specific questions about the Double Bass department, I encourage you to contact one of our faculty members by email.  They may also be able to provide you with a consultative lesson should you decide…

The Cello department consists of two faculty members, Jean-Michel Fonteneau and Jennifer Culp, and around twenty-five students. Bios for our entire faculty may be found at here. If you have specific questions about the Cello department, I encourage you to contact one of the faculty members by email.  They may also be able to provide you with a consultative lesson should you decide…

The Viola department consists of four faculty members and generally not more than eighteen students. Bios for our entire faculty may be found here. If you have specific questions about the Viola department, I encourage you to contact one of our faculty members by email.  They may also be able to provide you with a consultative lesson should you decide to visit. Their email…

Catch up on all the action as Laurence Vittes follows the exploits of the Linden String Quartet at the American Pianists Association Classical Fellowship Awards competition in Indianapolis. http://bit.ly/15szsMy

Of all the awesome articles and interviews and columns in Strings magazine, my favorite is What's In the Case?  It's also the first thing I read when a new issue lands in my mailbox.  I love reading about other artists who are connected to their instruments on a deeper level that only another artist could appreciate.

We get attached to our instruments.  We describe them as having a soul.  Some of us see them as extensions of…

Attention string students and teachers: Will you or someone you know be enrolled in a college or conservatory string program in the fall? May 1 is the deadline to apply for the Edith Eisler Strings Magazine Scholarship. Applications are open to all eligible string students enrolled in an accredited college or conservatory program and able to provide required proof of financial need. One $3,000 scholarship, plus a $1,000 gift certificate for purchases from Shar Music, will be awarded to a…

Strings' correspondent Laurence Vittes has posted this blog:

Bogota’s ambitious new entry in the international music-festival sweepstakes opened Wednesday with a flurry of piano recitals, chamber music, and the first orchestral concert. Featuring a brilliant array of artists, many of whom have not yet made an impression on North American audiences except through their recordings, the concerts drew sold-out crowds at user-friendly prices that would make North American…

I am an adult student who played the violin in high school and then dropped it for 40 years. I began lessons again in 2008 and I practice about 5 - 6 days a week. I often wonder how much I can expect of myself and if I will be able to play musically in addition to conquering good technique. When my teacher asked me once what I would like to play, I told me Tschiakovsky's concerto in D. It was partly in jest, but partly not. In any case, she told me that I wouldn't ever be able to play that,…

A truly inspiring story.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/15/tech/innovation/adrian-anantawan-violinist/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5

How to use a metronome - It is not as easy as just turning it on and hearing the clicks while you play. It is a process of internalizing the metronome into your being.

The metronome can be very frustrating to work with at first and many students absolutely hate the metronome. The relationship between you and your metronome needs to be a positive one. How…