All Focus articles – Page 2
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Premium ❘ FeatureHarnessing breathing to improve your string playing
Breathing naturally is one of the first principles of Alexander teaching - and it's a must for anyone who suffers from stage fright, says Joseph Sanders
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7 techniques to combat stage fright
Are you suffering from stage fright? Laurinel Owen gives advice on overcoming this common affliction
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Martelé: Essential foundations for a top-quality bow technique
Rictor Noren offers grounding, exercises and repertoire suggestions to help you work on your martelé stroke
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Movement in the bow hand and wrist, by violin professor Boris Kuschnir
Kuschnir explains how to master control of your sound through correct use of the bow
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Premium ❘ Feature
From the Archive: How to memorise solos
The art of memorising can be mastered by even those who believe they have no aptitude in the area, wrote Edwin H. Pierce in The Strad's December 1894 issue
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Premium ❘ Feature
How to develop left-hand finger strength
Up and down movement is the basis of left-hand technique and many pedagogues have invented fiendish exercises to improve it. Rok Klopčič takes a look at some of them
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Debate
Slow practice should be used only when needed as a learning tool
Are you wasting your time? As musicians we should be doing more to question the standard warm-up and practice regimes, writes violist Paul Neubauer
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Technique: How to achieve clean and effortless definition in the left hand, by Grigory Kalinovsky
Professor of violin at Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, with some exercises to improve your left-hand articulation. From 2018
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7 ways to improve your tone
The elusive and deeply personal subject of tone production is pondered in the following quotes taken from the pages of The Strad over the past 130 years
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8 ways to develop musical expression and individuality
Views on cultivating personal style and engaging your audience from 130 years of The Strad
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10 tips on maximising tone quality & projection
Advice on projecting your best sound from over 130 years of The Strad's archives
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How to produce a strong, uninhibited sound without pressure, by cellist Joel Krosnick
The former Juilliard Quartet cellist explained to Laurinel Owen how to effectively transmit energy from your body to the instrument in 2005
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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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6 ways to improve shifting for string players
Advice on how to shift smoothly and cleanly from The Strad archives
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How to shift correctly on the violin
What tips do the great pedagogues and players offer for getting around the instrument? Rok Klopčič looks at a fundamental aspect of playing: change of position. From August 2004
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8 ways to teach cello students how to shift confidently
Top teachers speak to Laurinel Owen about their methods in The Strad’s September 2001 issue
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The art of the violin slide: Exploring shifts in different musical styles
Julie Lyonn Lieberman describes how different slides can enhance your string playing, from oozing your way in the true blues style to the Klezmer 'bend'
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Sentimental work: David Finckel on Myaskovsky’s Cello Concerto
The Myaskovsky Cello Concerto remains a private pleasure for the US cellist, whose memories of Rostropovich remain an inspiration half a century later
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Focus
From the Archive: Andrea Amati, 1564 ‘Charles IX’ violin from the Ashmolean Museum collection
In this extract from an article from the December 1991 issue of The Strad, Roger Hargrave discusses the ‘Charles IX’ Andrea Amati instruments with particular reference to this 1564 example from the Hill collection at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford
