Monthly Archives: May 2016
About My Blog
I hadn’t updated my “About My Blog” page since I created the blog, and at the time I wrote the original I was still in “my late thirties.” Since that changed last week, the page needed to as well! So yesterday I wrote a new one. I hope you’ll give it a read. Thank you so […]
Looking Back and Staying Present
Lately, I’ve had a whole lot to work on in my practice sessions – in addition to my new pieces being quite complicated and just longer than past pieces, I’m trying to work on vibrato, shifting positions, and to do daily work on scales. Consequently, I spend less and less time on my older Book […]
Heifetz and the Bridge that Auer Built
Jascha Heifetz was born at the temporal conjunction of Romantic and modern music – his most influential teacher was an aging Leopold Auer, the man to whom Tchaikovsky dedicated one of the most significant pieces that exists in the violin repertoire, and my personal favorite – the Great Concerto. While Auer initially and quite famously […]
Musical Gifts
I totally hit the jackpot on my birthday Tuesday, in every way – including in the loot department. Prior to my lesson, Michael arranged the gifts my parents and his dad had sent along with his own, and I was happy to find a musical bounty. A new music stand! I bought an inexpensive one […]
On Getting to 40
Teacher cancelled last week’s lesson, and when I wrote her back to confirm I mentioned that our next lesson would happen on my 40th birthday, which happens to be today. I said that I couldn’t imagine a better way to start my new decade than with a lesson – beginning the violin was undoubtedly one […]
Musical Shopping, and Life
Michael and I are heading to New York in a week and a half for the wedding of some very close friends – we’re staying a bit longer to make a vacation out of it, and we want to catch a great show. As infrequently as we’re able to make it up there just for […]
The Turn of the Screw
Sometimes as I’m playing I become frustrated with my tone – the moments I’m talking about here aren’t due to not being warmed up or anything I can put my finger on – I just find I’m producing a scratchiness or an airiness, versus a rich ringing. Sometimes I’m inclined to blame the bow – […]
Practice Makes a 12 Year Old
Teacher needed to cancel this week’s lesson, which is OK because I didn’t get a lot of practice in over the past week. It’s also OK because I am still able to work on many details from the final piece in Book Three – the Bach Bourree. I worked on the piece in isolation for […]
Day of Rest and Beauty
I think of Mondays as my day of rest. I have a Sun/Mon weekend as a rule, so Michael and I spend Sundays together – Monday is my day to myself. I always play the violin, typically for a good while. Yesterday I played twice – once for an hour and a half in the […]
Ryan Libel 