Guides
String Courses 2024: Start your course hunting here!
Before you start combing through the string courses listed in our guide, take a look at these suggestions to help find the course that’s right for you
How to adapt the Suzuki Method for adult learners - violinist Meghan Faw
Using the method while teaching adults requires a different approach from teaching children, writes the Suzuki-trained violin teacher
Ray Chen: ‘Practising with others pushes you to improve’
The violinist shares his approaches to practice, in line with his community-based app Tonic
6 tips for empowered recording: Susanna Klein
In the first of a three-part guide to practice strategies, the violinist gives advice on how to reap the benefits of recording yourself in your practice sessions
20 reminders for musicians: Cellist David Finckel
David Finckel shares 20 pieces of advice on big-picture topics often forgotten in the teaching room
A Musician’s Ten Commandments: Cellist David Finckel
How to enjoy a sustainable and fulfilling musical career through ten guiding principles
Ask the Experts: how to help a beginner pupil with intonation issues
Strad readers submit their problems and queries about string playing, teaching or making to our experts
Opinion: How learning a language can inform musical practice
Naomi Yandell’s efforts to learn a language using Duolingo have inspired her to rethink the way she teaches her own students, particularly with regard to repetitive practice
Neesa Sunar: How I use the mutuality of Intentional Peer Support in my music teaching
To aid students who have hit a barrier in learning, violist and clinical telehealth therapist Neesa Sunar provides four teaching scenarios which benefit from the empathetic approach of Intentional Peer Support
‘I can see good tone’ - Suzuki’s tonalisation exercises
With musical examples, Helen Brunner examines how Suzuki’s tonalisation exercises are used to create a beautiful sound on the violin. From the September 2021 issue
5 ways to engage teenage string students in learning and performing a piece of music
Violist with the Bath Festival Orchestra, Cameron Howe, shares his experiences of teaching teenagers as part of the orchestra’s outreach work
Looking after your instrument: a beginner’s guide on how to change your strings
From the Women in Lutherie community: Munich-based luthier Lisa Hellmich provides a handy picture guide on how to change your strings with ease
Looking after your instrument: a guide to cleaning and polishing
Luthier Nurgul Comak offers a guide on instilling good cleaning habits and techniques to ensure the health and longevity of your stringed instrument
Looking after your instrument: an introduction to soundposts
What is a soundpost? What does it do? Luthier Cecilia González from the Women in Lutherie community illustrates the enormous role of the little cylindrical piece of wood in an aim to demystify the subject for players
Looking after your instrument: the secret to bridge placement
Is a reluctance to adjust your own bridge resulting in unnecessary trips to the luthier? Paris Andrew from the Women in Lutherie community explains how it’s done
Guides
String Courses 2024: Start your course hunting here!
Before you start combing through the string courses listed in our guide, take a look at these suggestions to help find the course that’s right for you
How to adapt the Suzuki Method for adult learners - violinist Meghan Faw
Using the method while teaching adults requires a different approach from teaching children, writes the Suzuki-trained violin teacher
Ray Chen: ‘Practising with others pushes you to improve’
The violinist shares his approaches to practice, in line with his community-based app Tonic
6 tips for empowered recording: Susanna Klein
In the first of a three-part guide to practice strategies, the violinist gives advice on how to reap the benefits of recording yourself in your practice sessions
20 reminders for musicians: Cellist David Finckel
David Finckel shares 20 pieces of advice on big-picture topics often forgotten in the teaching room
