June 7, 2017

Myths of Classical Music Debunked (Mostly)

For those of us who make our living performing classical music, loving it is a no-brainer.  Explaining it to the uninitiated is another matter completely.  It has become increasingly more difficult for the general population to take the plunge and listen to classical music.  Personally, I think it’s because of one or more of the…

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violinguy

May 22, 2017

5 Things to Remember Now That Summer Is Here

Summer is here (at least in Georgia where I live) and that means school is out, kids run wild, and the weather is nasty.  High temperatures mean sunburn and dehydration while you’re in the pool or at the beach.  You need to be aware of the ways hot weather and sun can hurt you.  You…

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violinguy

April 20, 2017

Final Four – Tournament of Classical Music

Well, here we are.  I’ve been out of town performing and that’s made me a little negligent when it comes to writing for my blog.  I’m going to fix that with a bunch of posts this week before I go out of town again.  Today, we’re going to get our tournament down to the final…

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violinguy

January 11, 2017

The 5 Most Terrifying Violin Passages in Orchestral Music

Next month I am performing a terrific but horrifically difficult symphony, Shostakovitch’s 10th.  This symphony has arguably the most terrifying four minutes in all of the standard repertoire.  Often, these scary passages appear on audition lists, but sometimes they take you by surprise.  You won’t know them until you come across them in your music. …

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violinguy

December 21, 2016

Lesser Known Masterpieces of John Williams

John Williams is arguably the finest film composer who ever lived, and he is still working right now (on Star Wars ep. VIII and eventually ep. IX).  I have known his music since I was a child and spent hours listening to the 4-LP set of the original Star Wars (now titled “A New Hope”). …

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violinguy

November 30, 2016

5 Pieces for Holiday Gigs String Players Should Know

Ah, the holidays.  Christmastime is here again (cue Vince Guaraldi).  This is when many string players make a nice chunk o’ change.  In order to be successful, you need to know the standard repertoire of holiday performances, and below are the 5 you should definitely know and know well.  I’ll also include some “honorable mentions”…

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violinguy

November 10, 2016

Arranging Music for Any Ensemble

With the advent of music editing software like Sibelius or Finale, I have had a renewed interest in composing over the last 10-15 years.  Composing is more of a hobby for me, but arranging music has become more than that.  I have started making serious money by arranging different music for different ensembles and now…

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violinguy

October 24, 2016

Five Things All Gigging Musicians Need

Greetings intrepid readers.  You may have noticed (or not, which is more likely) that I haven’t written any articles lately.  There are a few reasons for that, and today I’m going to focus on the main reason – lots of gigs and no time to write.  I’ve also been sick (see my last post on…

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violinguy

September 29, 2016

How to Stay Healthy and Keep Playing

As the summer wound down this year, I had a really hard time staying healthy.  I had the stomach flu at the beginning of August, followed by a cold later that month.  Then came the stomach flu again (this time without the fever and chills) in September.  Had I been more busy, I would have…

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violinguy

September 12, 2016

Advice for Youth and Student Auditions

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post giving advice to professional violinists doing orchestral auditions.  Well, now it’s time to get the kids involved.  Student auditions happen many times during a child’s violin education.  There are auditions for school orchestra seating, all-region orchestras (in the US), all-state orchestras (again, US), and other various…

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violinguy

September 3, 2016

Audition Advice for Orchestral Violin Players

I have (update: had – it was cancelled, sigh) an orchestral audition coming up in a few weeks so I thought I would share some of the audition advice I have learned over my many years of playing the violin.  I have scoured the interwebs for audition advice and have found some great stuff.  There…

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violinguy

August 29, 2016

Five Activities You’ll Be Good At If You Play the Violin

Learning to master the violin is hard, however the tools you use in learning the violin are very helpful in many other activities.  When you play the violin, you are gaining dexterity in your muscles.  When you play violin in a group, you are listening and blending in.  Learning music helps your brain develop memory. …

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violinguy