Spring Updates – Some Big News
Greetings again, intrepid readers. It’s been entirely too long since I posted anything here, and for that I apologize. Spring is normally a very busy season for us freelance musician types, and this year was even more packed for me. I have some preliminary plans in place for some new and exciting content which will…
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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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violinguy
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
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
Another Tournament Update – Bach and Mozart
The other two brackets have completed their games so it’s time to get the results. If you missed the other results, you can see them here. Will there be any big upsets like the Stravinsky bracket provided? Will Mozart and Bach have the same drama as the other brackets? Let’s find out. Bach Bracket –…
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violinguy
Tournament of Classical Music – The Brackets
March is here, and with it comes the madness. March Madness to be exact. My version of March Madness is The Tournament of Classical Music. This post announces the brackets and the play-in game winners. For an overview and explanation of the rules, you can read this post. Finally, don’t forget that this list includes…
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violinguy
How to Learn Your Music Without Your Instrument
Surely one can’t actually learn music without practicing it on the instrument in a practice room. Well, that is only partly true. Yes, you have to have your instrument and you have to practice with it to learn music, but there are so many things that can be done with only your sheet music and…
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violinguy
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
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
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
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
How Does That Make You Feel? – Emotion in Music
Emotion in music is a huge topic. Music makes people feel all kinds of emotions, and not the same for everyone. People are always asking, “What’s the most depressing piece of music?” or “What is the happiest symphony?” These feelings are going to be different depending on who you are. Below, I’m going to give…
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