All Focus articles – Page 9
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Focus8 ways to improve Baroque performance
Tips from The Strad’s archive on the use of vibrato, bow strokes and rhythmic hierarchy
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Casting professional musicians on screen
As the founder of Music in Vision, Kathleen Ross has built a business from supplying professional musicians for on-camera roles. Here she discusses the challenges of introducing instrumentalists to the world of film and TV
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10 playing tips by violist Lionel Tertis
The famous English viola player and Royal Academy of Music professor gave performing tips to student Sydney Errington in the 1930s
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Players of tomorrow: Shannon Lee
The 27-year-old Canadian violinist, 2nd prize winner at this year’s Sendai International Violin Competition, talks about ambition, motivation and her fear of wardrobe mishaps
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Spiccato and sautillé - two important bow strokes which are often confused
Spiccato and sautillé are the two most important off-the-string bowings, but they are often confused. One of the reasons might be their relation to speed.
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Conductor Manfred Honeck on achieving his orchestral string sound
Music director Manfred Honeck has brought a distinctly European flavour to the Pittsburgh Symphony. Gavin Dixon asked him how his time as a violist in the Vienna Philharmonic helped him to become the conductor he is today…
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Performing entirely by reflex, by cellist Leonid Gorokhov
The Russian musician and Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hannover professor describes how he trains himself to transcend the physical restraints of playing
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From the Archive: students of today are distracted by fast cars and loud cinema
Albert J Roberts bemoans the pleasure-seeking of the younger generation in The Strad's July 1923 issue, and calls on music teachers not to give up on promoting their art in the face of such competition
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Beyond Villa-Lobos: the music of Brazil
For many classical enthusiasts Brazilian music can be summed up in the folk-inspired compositions of Villa-Lobos. Naxos’s multivolume series The Music of Brazil is set to broaden awareness, writes Peter Quantrill
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Singing during practice can help improve sound and characterisation
Cellist Laurence Lesser suggests that learning to listen to your voice constructively isn't easy, but it helps to set musical feeling directly into motion
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I shy away from copying models that are too individual, says violin maker Sam Zygmuntowicz
The luthier's favourite instruments provide ideal models for his own making
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Ariadne Daskalakis’s top 5 practice tips
To tie in with the release of her Schubert disc, the violinist talks about the importance of maintaining consistency and a sense of effortless joy in your practice
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5 tips for viola teachers by Juilliard School professor Michael Tree
How can viola teachers help their students develop into good players? The former Guarneri Quartet violist outlines the most important areas to focus on
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8 ways to vary your vibrato
Tips from The Strad’s archive for varying vibrato speed, width, pressure and direction to produce an infinite range of colour contrasts
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12 ways to encourage children to practise
Finding the right level of involvement in a child’s instrumental practice can be a tricky balancing act. Cellist and pedagogue Oliver Gledhill offers some strategic guidance
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Why do so many orchestras lag behind the beat?
Even under the best conductors and in the finest orchestras, players tend to drag behind the baton. Evan Johnson looks at the reasons for this universal phenomenon
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Baltimore Musicians postpone season-opening concerts as they continue strike
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s season-opening concerts are postponed amid continued strike action
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'Every bow movement should be calculated' - Aaron Rosand
The American maestro discusses the need for relaxation and finesse for good tone production in a 2007 article for The Strad
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5 views on teaching and performance from William Pleeth
The late British cellist and teacher of Jacqueline du Pré spoke to The Strad in June 1996 at the age of 80
