All Blogs articles – Page 5
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Blogs5 tips for improvising on strings
Violinist Curtis Stewart of the innovative New York based PUBLIQuartet writes us a checklist for throwing off the shackles of the score and exploring your own creativity
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BlogsTasmin Little: why I love the music of Ethel Smyth, Clara Schumann and Amy Beach
In advance of her new CD release in February, the British violinist discusses the music on the programme
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Blogs'He handed me the Black Violin and said, try this one – it was love at first sight'
Violinist and composer Edward W. Hardy remembers his first encounter with a unique instrument he is now raising funds to purchase
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Blogs12 interpretation and technique tips for string soloists
Making the transition from practice room to concert hall, whether for a competition or public performance, is itself a technical challenge. These tips were extracted from a masterclass given by Marianne Piketty and Nora Chastain and first published in 2014
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BlogsPostcard from Harbin, China: the Schoenfeld Competition
Competition jury member Karine Georgian notes Harbin’s long musical tradition and hails a competition with a healthy process – as well as worthy winners
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BlogsA 6-point plan for exploring contemporary music
Ross Snyder, first violin for the Tesla Quartet, offers encouragement and a practical primer on incorporating new music into your chamber repertoire
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BlogsAlena Baeva champions Karłowicz's ‘brilliant and captivating’ concerto
Alena Baeva, who won the Wieniawski Violin Competition aged 16 in 2001, writes about her love for one of the lesser known gems of the violin repertoire
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Blogs5 tips for learning the Walton Viola Concerto
Norwegian violist Eivind Holtsmark Ringstad discusses the crucial challenges of one of his instrument’s core repertoire concertos
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BlogsFinding inspiration in collaboration and Frida
Violinist and vocalist Lizzie Ball blogs about about her forthcoming show ‘Corrido: A Ballad for the Brave’, inspired by the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo
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BlogsNatalie Clein on Bloch's solo cello suites – and connecting with her Jewish roots
Ahead of her Wigmore Hall recital on Sunday, the British cellist recalls her first contact with Ernest Bloch’s music and its deeper significance to her
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Blogs10 things you need to know about Eugène Ysaÿe
Thomas Kemp shares some key facts about the 20th-century composer and violinist
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Blogs7 tips for breaking free from the classical treadmill
The London-based Phaedra Ensemble explores the spaces between classical, experimental and contemporary music, taking the string quartet as a starting point. Here the members share some ideas on how to start your own explorations
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BlogsPutting students and professors in chamber music groups together is invigorating for both
In the run-up to the Guildhall School’s first chamber music festival, cello professor Ursula Smith reflects on the mutual benefits of its unique approach
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BlogsLayale Chaker on the violin as cultural chameleon
The Lebanese composer and violinist discusses the ease with which the violin can drift between genres – and why she has devoted her creative life to doing just that
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BlogsThomas Bowes: a Bach Pilgrimage
On Tuesday 1 May I will set out again on a Bach Pilgrimage, taking round the solo violin music of J.S. Bach to communities up and down the country. My odyssey this year is a little more modest than the marathon of 2013 when I covered some four thousand miles ...
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BlogsLife on the front desk: the BBC National Orchestra of Wales' concertmaster
On the day of the BBCNOW’s 90th anniversary, Lesley Hatfield offers some thoughts on leading and life in the orchestra
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BlogsIf you want the industry to change, you have to be willing to enact a change yourself
The violinist and co-founder of the Manchester Collective on her musical philosophy and forging new ground in an increasingly conservative music world
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Blogs6 mindfulness techniques for music teachers
Mindfulness is an invaluable tool for teaching students how to concentrate on-stage, improve awareness in the practice room, play pain-free, and move on from disappointing auditions or performance experiences, writes Dr. Travis Baird
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Blogs9 ways for musicians to think like top athletes
Carole Talbot-Honeck earned her Masters degree from The University of Ottawa studying the psychological prerequisites for optimal musical performance. Here, she outlines a number of sporting attitudes, which are of equal value to musicians
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Blogs‘Just think of love’: Vadim Gluzman on Leonard Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's 'Symposium'
As the violinist heads to London to perform the work with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he tells The Strad what is special about this violin concerto in all but name – and of his surprise that it is not programmed more often
