Strings and the pandemic in Suzhou
Being a strings teacher in China during the pandemic - playing and waiting and online teaching and we still aren't done
Tone III
There is another aspect to tone that heavily influences and even overshadows the previous two essays. As a string teacher advocate, I will now focus on how we can nudge ourselves into becoming better teachers by becoming aware of the tone in our life. There is a way in which we go about our day-to-day …
Tone Part II
Tone has another side that’s too often missed, hence this post. (Part I is the previous post on this blog.) What happens when we dictate everything we want as teachers for the student, and don’t notice our own tone in the process? What happens when we demand things from the parents of our students if …
Tone – Part I
Tone: a massively important element of what we teach and learn in violin, viola, cello, and doublebass
The Myth of Violin Fragility & A True Confession
I am going to tell you the truth. The fragility of violins is something of a myth. Of course, violins will be broken if you drop them on a tile floor or if something heavy like a car or a human smashes down on top of them. Really there are myriad ways to damage a …
Continue reading "The Myth of Violin Fragility & A True Confession"
String teacher progress in uncertain times
String teachers carry on in uncertain times, giving comfort to students and helping families with a sense of normalcy in going on with their learning.
American Festival Orchestra Inner Mongolia Tour
2019.12.25 - 2020.01.02 AFO (American Festival Orchestra Tour) Musicians of Germany, Malaysia, Uruguay, China and the USA met up on December 25, 2019 in Yinchuan, Ningxia Province for a symphony orchestra tour of several cities in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. Many of the players comprising the orchestra are regular players in the York Symphony of …
Continue reading "American Festival Orchestra Inner Mongolia Tour"
Thinking, a powerful tool
Putting our minds on something important we want to do helps move us toward a big goal. Mine was to get more practice public speaking, and as a string teacher and professional musician, wanted to talk about music as a language.
Music opens doors
Music opens doors. This essay is about how resilience supports life as an international string player and teacher. Sometimes I think that “resilience” is what keeps opening the doors. Because I've made the effort to apply my training and expertise as a violinist and violist, I have been invited to play on some incredible stages …
