All Blogs articles – Page 9
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Blogs
Armen Ksajikian's spinning cello trick
Camerata Pacifica cellist Armen Ksajikian demonstrates a neat way of avoiding all those pesky fast-note runs.His spinning cello trick was shared via fellow Camerata Pacifica musician, violinist Giora Schmidt's Facebook page.
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Blogs
Yehudi Menuhin's 'Khevenhüller' Stradivarius violin copy by Emile Français
The instrument was made expressly for the great violinist for his 19th birthday, writes Stewart Pollens
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Blogs
Postcard from European String Teachers Association conference 2016
Tartini, folk music, improvisation and puppetry: Pauline Harding reports on the 2016 ESTA conference, this year in Slovenia
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Blogs
Meditation (not from Thaïs) for musicians
Violist Matthew Jones discusses the ways in which meditation and mindfulness can help performers, as he prepares for his ‘Music and Silence’ concert at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival
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Blogs
It’s the taking part that counts’: Are competitions always defined by results?
This year’s Menuhin Competition promoted a ‘non-competitive atmosphere of learning and exchange’, but how true was this for the performers, asks Charlotte Smith
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Blogs
Preparing for a string quartet career - some useful guidance
The Omer Quartet passes on lessons learned during their first year of residency at Boston's New England Conservatory
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Blogs
Menuhin Competition candidates perform at London's St Pancras Station
The two violinists will be competing in the Menuhin Competition 2016 next month
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Blogs
A hybrid setup can be just as effective as a wholly authentic approach to Baroque performance
When recording Johann Joseph Vilsmaÿr’s Six Partitas, violinist Vaughan Jones experimented with period bows, gut strings and a lack of chin and shoulder rest before achieving the perfect balance
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Blogs
Bow on string naturally connects to the human nervous system' - film composer Richard Harvey
The BAFTA Award-winning composer of scores including The Da Vinci Code and The Little Prince talks about the fundamental role of the string sound in film
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Blogs
The British bow: a rough guide to dating and development
Luthier Jacob Saunders tracks the evolution of 18th- and early 19th-century bows, creating a downloadable guide as a resource for other makers and researchers
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Blogs
Video: one-handed cellist Michael Spencer
One-handed cellist Michael Spencer gives an incredible performance of François-Joseph Gossec's Gavotte at a recital in Utah, USA.The young performer holds the cello between his knees, using his arm in place of fingers to change pitch and to produce vibrato.The Strad's December 2013 issue featured an article on ...
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Blogs
Cellist Alban Gerhardt on the importance of open string practice
The German musician also advocates bringing a broader perspective to the interpretation of great concertos
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Blogs
Studying contemporary music can inform our understanding of earlier works
It’s important to remember that just as we learn about new music from older works, the opposite is also true, says violinist Michael Barenboim
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Blogs
Effective practice is an art form that must be cultivated and perfected
Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik discusses the need for awareness and objectivity during practice
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Blogs
The Miró Quartet takes on a 'transcendent' project
Playing a priceless combination of Strads and Guarneris from David Fulton’s collection, the Austin-based quartet has recorded and filmed their performance of Schubert’s epic final string quartet — and they’re taking control of their destiny in how they make it available to fans, finds Thomas May
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Blogs
How to prepare for a concert tour, by violinist Chloë Hanslip
Preparing both mentally and physically before and during a tour is essential
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Blogs
Do concerto performances need a conductor?
Joshua Bell performed and directed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields this week with great success. Could this spark a new trend in concerto performance, asks Charlotte Smith
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Blogs
‘A world premiere can be the purest way to experience music,’ says violinist Benjamin Beilman
The multi-prize winning American musician premieres a new work by Edmund Finnis in London in December 2015
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Blogs
Joshua Bell on performing and directing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto for the first time
The star soloist and Academy of St Martin in the Fields music director will perform and direct the work with the ensemble in London in November
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Blogs
‘Today's violinists make too much effort to produce a large sound,’ says Sasha Rozhdestvensky
The Russian violinist and Royal College of Music, London professor believes today’s playing has become more tense