All Focus articles – Page 9
-
Premium ❘ FeatureCan you tell a fake instrument from the genuine article?
With more and more instrument forgeries finding their way on to the market, how do experts, dealers and buyers stay wise to deception? Femke Colborne finds out
-
Premium ❘ Feature
How to be a successful busker
Summer provides the richest time for musicians to make money from impromptu outdoor performance. Experienced buskers tell David Kettle how they go about it, and why the rewards can be greater than you might expect
-
Premium ❘ Feature
None of my teachers were any good at explaining technique - Ruggiero Ricci
Celebrating his 90th birthday in July 2008, the legendary violinist looked back at his teaching influences and revealed that he was largely self-taught
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Should violin makers embrace cutting edge computer analysis?
Violin maker Sam Zygmuntowicz explores how high-tech ways of analysing violins and their sound could help makers and even influence the future forms of instruments
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Ask the Experts: how to make the best use of limited practice time
Four specialists in practice techniques advise a busy amateur musician how to make the most of his limited rehearsal time
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Stringed instrument myths exposed
Have you heard the one about checking an instrument crack by spitting on it? What about washing your bow hair in hot soapy water? We separate fact from crackpot theory
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Ask the Experts: how to guarantee a violin's resaleability
Strad readers submit their problems and queries about string playing, teaching or making to a panel of experts
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Ask the Experts: helping double-jointed students
Five teachers and health specialists respond to a reader's query on how best to teach a double jointed student.
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Ask the Experts: purchasing the right Baroque bow
A trio of Baroque bow makers give their thoughts on what to look for when making the leap into historically informed playing
-
Blogs
Stringtelligence by Thomastik-Infeld: the right rosin for your strings
Franz Klanner, director of engineering and technology at Thomastik-Infeld, shares his knowledge about rosin and the importance of choosing the right one for your strings
-
Focus
Alan Beavitt: how I became a violin-maker on a remote Scottish peninsula
The luthier shares his experience of living and working in Scorraig, a remote peninsula in the north-west Scottish highlands, recently featured in the news
-
Feature
Life Lessons: Matthew Barley
The British cellist on memory, nationalism and his long journey – via a skiing accident – to technical confidence
-
Focus
Stringtelligence by Thomastik-Infeld: whistling E-strings
In the third part of his blog series for The Strad celebrating Thomastik-Infeld’s 100th anniversary, Franz Klanner, the Austrian string manufacturer’s director of engineering and technology, concentrates on whistling and other common issues of violin E-strings
-
Focus
9 views on antiquing a modern violin
Tips and opinions from The Strad's archive on capturing a classic look in new instruments – or not
-
Focus
5 tips for conquering performance nerves from 5 solo string players
Artists share their wisdom on battling the fear monster, as featured over the last five years of The Strad
-
Blogs
Hartmann’s Concerto Funebre: a neglected masterpiece
Violinist Itamar Zorman offers a movement-by-movement analysis and appreciation of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Concerto Funebre for violin and string orchestra
-
Focus
Jascha Heifetz – champion of modern violins
Dario Sarlo reveals a lesser-known passion of the great violinist, and how it led him to start his own lutherie competition
-
Focus
4 reasons why Arabic poetry inspires me
To tie in with our review of her Inner Rhyme CD, Lebanese violinist Layale Chaker explains why she finds musical inspiration in Arabic poetry
-
Focus
7 tips on motivating yourself to practise
7 different string players share their wisdom on maintaining motivation - as featured over the last 10 years in The Strad
-
Focus
5 views on Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto
Five violinists share their insights into this pillar of the repertoire in these snippets of interviews featured in The Strad
