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- Whether you're a player, maker, teacher or enthusiast, you'll find ideas and inspiration from leading artists, teachers and luthiers in our archive which features every issue published since January 2010 - available exclusively to subscribers. View the archive.
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Premium ❘ FeatureAsk the Experts: how to encourage students to trust their ears
A reader asks what can be done to help young students who rely on learning finger placement rather than trusting their ears. Three teachers give their views
Premium ❘ FeatureTechnique: how to play chords
How to tackle multi-stopped passages with more confidence, musicality and alacrity with Pavel Berman
- Premium ❘ Feature
Blue Sky Teaching: Using creative approaches to refine students’ technique
In our June 2019 issue, Judith Kogan spoke with three string teachers, all based in North America and whose unique ideas are achieving significant results
- Premium ❘ Feature
Technique: Cello warm-ups - the bow arm
Cellist Mats Lidström discusses how to prepare the whole body for efficient, time-saving repertoire practice
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Technique: Memory and mental practice from violinist William Herzog
Techniques to help you learn music off by heart and protect against memory slips. From December 2020
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Violist Cynthia Phelps on studying with William Primrose and Donald McInnes
For some players, only the viola sound will do. But to bring out its full power, the New York Philharmonic violist sought help from a number of teachers, writes Ariane Todes
- 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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‘Begin with some finger push-ups’ - Technique: Left-hand finger independence
How to build strength and flexibility for a truly agile left hand with Adriana LaRosa Ransom, professor of cello and string project director at Illinois State University, US
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‘Free and ringing, never forced’ - Technique: Developing bow control for improved tone
Violist Martin Outram on mix of exercises to help you draw out sound actively and attentively with the right hand
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Technique: Phrasing musically under pressure
Double bassist Edwin Barker shares exercises in repetition and variation to ensure maximum musical security on stage
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How to teach adult string students
Teaching adults need not be a daunting prospect. For Alice McVeigh the rewards outweigh the problems, as she reveals in her guide for tutors. From 2014
- Premium ❘ Debate
How should string teachers approach an advanced adult pupil?
Understanding the physique and psyche of a new adult pupil should not be taken lightly, writes Pauline Harding
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Paul Makanowitzky: From prodigy to pedagogue
Swedish-born violinist Paul Makanowitzky ultimately helped create the American school of violin playing. David Hays explores his life and multifaceted career
- Premium ❘ Focus
Technique: Speaking with the bow
Cellist Ophélie Gaillard on how to use language, vowels, consonants and inflection to colour and shape every phrase
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Technique: Developing a controlled vibrato
Exercises and ideas to build finger strength, improved tone and a continuous arm or wrist action, from violinist Lihay Bendayan
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Arco project: Evolution of a partnership
Six years ago, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire head of strings Louise Lansdown established a partnership with a music centre in Soweto to launch the Arco project, providing in-person and online lessons for South African string students. Here she reflects on the importance of the scheme and on how it has developed
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Technique: New perspectives on bow curves for double bass
How to improve fluidity, nuance and expression in every bow stroke
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Pierre Baillot: Against the odds
Pierre Baillot battled against financial hardship and suffered personal tragedy, yet he became a leading exponent of the 19th-century French violin school. Martin Wulfhorst reveals his importance as an instrumentalist, pedagogue and composer
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Where should string players look when performing from memory on stage?
Teacher Talk: your string teaching questions answered by our panel of experts. From October 2011
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Alexander technique: Thoughts that count
Violinist and Alexander technique specialist Alun Thomas details pathways to effortless expression using three real-life student examples
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Technique: Playing the viola with a small frame
Fingerings and tricks to reduce pain and over-exertion for petite musicians
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Heifetz as teacher: Words from the master
Ayke Agus served as Heifetz’s personal accompanist during classes and performances for the last 15 years of his life. Here, she shares recollections of his practice routine and teaching methods with Enrico Alvares
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Poetic injustice: Ysaÿe
On the 150th anniversary of Ysaÿe’s birth, Andrew Morris revisits the violinist’s string compositions and finds them rich in virtuosity and melancholy, but now largely lost from the repertoire. From July 2008
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Tianjin Juilliard School: A new dawn
The first school to offer US-accredited music degrees in mainland China, Juilliard’s Tianjin campus is the next step in the long history of East-West partnerships. Tom Stewart discovers how the institution is attracting students from all over the globe
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Technique: Trills and embellishments
How to develop finger strength and control for even, well-articulated ornaments
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Suzuki’s ambassador: Helen Brunner
After encountering Suzuki’s teaching in the US, Helen Brunner was convinced it should be brought to the UK. That the task should fall to her seemed a matter of destiny, she tells Caroline Heslop, in this article from September 2000
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Global impact of Suzuki: The method and the movement
From humble beginnings in a Japanese music school, Suzuki teaching has become one of the most popular forms of music education worldwide. In this feature from September 2012, Laurie Niles reports on the programme’s global impact
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The Suzuki method: A visionary with a violin
Startled by children’s ability to learn their own language, Shin’ichi Suzuki applied the ‘mother-tongue’ approach to violin teaching. William Starr explains the principles behind his then-revolutionary ideas in this article from December 1998
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Suzuki teaching: Every child can
Since Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki founded his method of bowed string tuition in 1945, it has been adopted and embraced by countries around the world. Samara Ginsberg talks to teachers and students, past and present, about their experiences of Suzuki teaching and its enduring popularity
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The Suzuki approach to tone: Every tone has a living soul – Shinichi Suzuki
Suzuki’s study of violin tone was his lifetime’s work. Here violinist and teacher Helen Brunner shares personal reminiscences of working with him
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Technique: Overcoming common misconceptions in Suzuki teaching
Why it is so important to understand the method’s concepts of review, group class and aural training
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Pedagogues’ top studies: Etude of choice
There’s a wealth of variety when it comes to the studies string teachers can use with their students. Vicky Hancock asks some leading pedagogues which ones they find most useful
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Popper cello etudes: Rites of passage
To mark 100 years since the death of cellist and composer David Popper, we ask top cello teachers from around the world: how valuable are his notoriously tricky cello studies to today’s students and players?
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Technique: Playing with expression
How to build an emotional connection with music that shines through in every note
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Technique: Jazz soloing on the double bass
How to build from a simple bass accompaniment to an improvised solo line in a few basic steps
- Premium ❘ News
Analysis June 2021: Limited access
Most conservatoires depend on their annual intake of international students. What happens when a crisis such as Covid-19 affects the young musicians’ ability to travel at all? By Peter Somerford
- Premium ❘ Feature
Technique: Left-hand calisthenics
Quick warm-ups to help you improve strength, endurance, flexibilty and control
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Technique: Early music articulation for modern instrumentalists
How to use Baroque bow techniques to build variety, lightness and flow into every phrase
- Premium ❘ Feature
Technique: Cello warm-ups - the left-hand
Exercises and advice to help string players develop a left hand that is strong, balanced and agile
