What Violin Strings Should I Buy?
Everyone is always asking, “What violin strings should I buy?” The thing is, that varies from player to player. Below I’ll be talking about several different brands/variations of strings from total beginner to professional grade. I’ll also tell you what strings I use. I went through several years and several types of strings before finally…
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violinguy
You CAN Practice Sight-Reading – Really
Sight-reading is arguably the worst part of every audition whether as a student or a professional. For many people, sight-reading comes easily. For others (like me), not so much. Plus, there’s a common belief that you can’t learn to sight-read before you need to do it at an audition. After all, how can you practice…
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violinguy
Solo Violin at Weddings – How to Become an Expert
While string quartet is arguably the most popular ensemble to perform at weddings, not all brides have the budget to spend $600+ for four people. Sometimes the bride just wants one player, and if she can choose only one, it’s almost always violin (shouldn’t it be?). Solo violin at weddings really classes up the proceedings…
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violinguy
Electric Violin vs. Acoustic – What’s the Difference?
Every popular these days is the electric violin. Most of my students (especially the girls), come to me every day and say they want to play like Lindsay Stirling. As a pretentious classical music elitist, I immediately throw up in my mouth a little. Then I think hey, if she helps little girls (or fellas)…
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violinguy
9 of the Dumbest Violin Questions I’ve Heard
As a professional violinist, I get asked a lot of questions. Is the violin hard? Are your strings really made out of cat gut? How old were you when you started? And many more. Some of these questions are easy to answer. On the other hand, I’ve also been asked enough dumb violin questions to…
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violinguy
Famous Composers and Their Habits
Sometimes listeners have trouble identifying music they hear, and they try to at least guess the composer. Sometimes it’s easy (like Haydn vs. Bartok), but sometimes it’s very difficult (Mozart vs. Haydn). We all have our favorite composers that we can always identify, but no matter who you are, there’s bound to be a work…
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violinguy
Musicians who Travel – Five Things they Need
Wouldn’t it be great if all of our gigs were in the same town we live in? Or at least within an hour of our home? Sadly, if you want to make good money as a freelance musician, you have to travel and stay overnight from time to time. This means long car rides, a…
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violinguy
Oh No! I Bought a Chinese Violin!
Buying a violin is a big deal. Even if you are buying a spare (like I just did), you need to shop around and not only get the best deal ($$), but the best value. Value is defined as the amount of quality at a given price. We want better quality, but can we also…
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violinguy
Goals for the Year
I know, it’s almost February. New years resolutions should have been made a month ago. Fear not, intrepid reader, you can still organize your goals for the coming year. I’ll help you. Give it Some Thought Just like the practicing you’re about to start, you need take your time and think about what you want…
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violinguy
I Practiced Only Scales for a Month and Look at the Change!
We’ve all seen the ads and “sponsored” content on the interwebs: I only ate kale and anchovies for a month and look at the difference! Very annoying for sure. However, it occurred to me I could use this as a teaching tool and improve my own playing to boot. I practiced only Carl Flesch scales…
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violinguy
Chamber Music – The Best Way to Play
There are three basic categories of classical music that performers can choose from – orchestral music, solo music, and chamber music. Obviously within those categories are infinite sub-categories and genres, but when we perform, we do so in one of those three ways. I have loved chamber music since the tender young age of 13…
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violinguy
The Classics – Gateways to Even Better Music
One of the criticisms I hear a lot regarding classical music is, there is only so much Mozart, Beethoven, or Tchaikovsky out there. While that is true, most novice classical music lovers are usually unaware of the awesome depth of fine music from any one composer. Mozart has 41 symphonies to choose from. Brahms wrote…
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