All Blogs articles
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Blogs‘Music and Mozart have been life savers’ - The Engegård Quartet
Violist of the Engegård Quartet Juliet Jopling shares how the indomitable spirit of Mozart’s string quartet music has helped the ensemble through difficult times
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Blogs
Gut strings feel honest and dirtier than the brilliance of metal strings - Consone Quartet
The period instrument quartet explains why all players should feel able to dip a toe into historically informed performance
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Blogs
‘Keep it simple, stupid’ - recording Mozart Violin Concertos the historically informed way
Violinist Francesca Dego shares her experiences of collaborating with Sir Roger Norrington and how the six ‘S’s’ helped inform her new album of Mozart concertos
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Blogs
Forgotten in HIStory: shining a light on female composers through the ages
Violinist Ellie Consta reflects on her journey to uncover works by forgotten female composers as the founder and artistic director of Her Ensemble: the UK’s first women and non-binary string ensemble
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Blogs
The violin and 50 laps: how swimming can help string playing
Violin and viola teacher Martin Goldman took up swimming during the pandemic. He writes about how the process made him step into the role of the student and how the physicality of swimming can be transferred into teaching stringed instruments.
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Blogs
How I write for strings - composer Danielle Eva Schwob
Composer Danielle Eva Schwob reflects on the challenges of writing for stringed instruments, as well as why collaboration is important to ensure music-making is a mutually beneficial experience for all
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Scaling the walls: what musicians can learn from bouldering
Cellist and online editor Davina Shum examines the parallels between rock climbing and music-making and how an approach in one discipline can inform the other
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Blogs
Songs without words: arranging popular classics of Azerbaijan for violin and guitar
Violinist Nazrin Rashidova writes about transcribing popular Azerbaijani songs with an aim to explore and expand the repertoire for violin and classical guitar
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Blogs
Popper studies: celebrating the small victories
The enjoyability and longevity of Popper studies lie in the small gains that gradually accumulate to a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, writes cellist and online editor Davina Shum
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Keeping it fresh and mixing it up - Solem Quartet on combining old and new works
The Solem Quartet reflect on harnessing creativity to inject new life into canonical works, as well as developing unique new works in collaboration with each other and living composers
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Blogs
How the Taubman Approach can help string players prevent RSIs
Pioneer of the Taubman Approach, pianist and pedagogue Edna Golandsky adapted the method with violinist Sophie Till and shares how returning to natural physical alignment can help string players avoid injury
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Blogs
‘I have never entered a competition hoping to win’ - Emma Wernig
Violist Emma Wernig shares her experiences of finding musical freedom within the stressful environment of competitions
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Blogs
’As a cellist, the old spruce tree I carry around and play every day inspires me to offset my own carbon footprint’
Aaron Sinclair writes about the impact music has on the environment and what measures musicians and concert organisers can take to reduce their carbon footprint
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Blogs
Improvising on Bach's solo violin works
In this post originally from 2015, violinist Hugo Ticciati discusses the art of improvisation and using Bach as a basis for musical meditation
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Blogs
5 pieces of advice for playing Bach by violinist Lisa Batiashvili
The artist shares her ideas about performing works of the great Baroque composer
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Blogs
Five players, five insights on solo Bach
Our July 2021 issue features analysis of Bach’s solo violin sonatas - have a read of what these top five string players have to say about solo Bach
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Blogs
Violinist Hyung Joon Won on the healing power of Antibody Music
The musician writes about his journey with MIT professor Markus Buehler to create Covid-19 Antibody Music (Protein Antibody in E-minor) – a work derived from the vibrational frequencies of Covid spike proteins and antibodies that they hope will offer therapy against viral disease
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Blogs
Enter the basement of Violin Torture
Experimental luthier Tyler Thackray’s interest in deconstructing stringed instruments has earned him a huge following on Instagram
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Blogs
Patterns of impermanence in life and performance
Violinist Hugo Ticciati highlights the importance of living in the moment during times of uncertainty
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Blogs
‘We will be picking up the threads of an ongoing conversation’ - composer Edmund Finnis
Ahead of the premiere of his String Quartet no.2 with Manchester Collective, Edmund Finnis explains the importance of close collaboration between composers and performers to communicate musical intentions clearly and foster a deeper mutual understanding
