Over the last few years, I’ve noticed a trend in community orchestras: the repertoire and rehearsal schedules are becoming INSANE. Programs featuring Liszt Les Préludes, Bartók Concerto for Orchestra, that wild Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker arrangement, Strauss tone poems, and the like.…
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It’s always fun to write about technique. Perhaps this is a sign of madness, but I really enjoy being assigned a massive task—in this case, creating a primer on thumb technique for beginners through advanced players—with a hard word count…
The next practice stream/Q&A will take place on Tuesday, February 25 at 6pm eastern. Change of plans! Monday, February 24 at 6pm. You are welcome to join me—to observe, ask questions, do some of your own practicing, or hang out…
I’ve been looking for the right strings for Henri since, well, forever. As soon as the set he came with started to go weird and sound old, I replaced them with an identical set up: 2 Larsens, 2 Spirocores. It…
A little delayed what with the looting of my home country by teenage hackers in service of a lunatic racist on ketamine and a malignant narcissist signing executive orders.
It’s been quiet, but there are several monster posts in progress—the average working time on the larger technique-focused detailed piece is 10 hours from start to finish—and a video that follows the break-in process on a new set of Warchal…
You may have seen this graphic before: Today I’m going to tease these elements apart. mechanics and approach: the foundation What we do is, at its core, a physical enterprise. Yet, sometimes it can feel like this wild mental scramble…