Playing

  • Violin Scroll
    Focus

    7 tips on motivating yourself to practise

    2019-05-13T16:23:00Z

    7 different string players share their wisdom on maintaining motivation - as featured over the last 10 years in The Strad

  • Tchaikovsky
    Focus

    5 views on Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto

    2019-05-07T16:36:00Z

    Five violinists share their insights into this pillar of the repertoire in these snippets of interviews featured in The Strad

  • Hilary Hahn Partitas Masterclass
    Video

    Hilary Hahn gives masterclass on her new album

    2019-05-06T11:45:00Z

    On 17th May, Hilary Hahn releases her new album: 6 partitas specially written for the violinist by the Spanish composer Antón García Abril. And for each piece on the new album Hahn has prepared a masterclass video for players and listeners alike, to share insider knowledge on interpreting, expressing, and ...

  • shifting
    Focus

    6 ways to improve shifting for string players

    2019-05-06T09:45:00Z

    Advice on how to shift smoothly and cleanly from 120 years of The Strad

  • With Nicky 3.5
    Video

    'With Nicky': Inspiration

    2019-05-03T11:17:00Z

    This week in her video series, Nicola Benedetti is taking a step back from practice to look at what can inspire us to channel more feeling, energy and commitment into our playing

  • Shanghai Quartet c.Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
    Focus

    Musical emissaries: The Shanghai Quartet

    2019-05-02T13:57:00Z

    The players of the pioneering ensemble, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary, speak to Charlotte Smith about forming at a time when Western chamber music was barely understood in their native China

  • Alfred Staar - a 'typical representative of the so-called Viennese School'
    Focus

    Alfred Staar on what constitutes the Viennese School

    2019-04-30T15:40:00Z

    Alfred Staar’s influence continues to be felt today – no fewer than 22 of his former students currently hold posts in the Vienna Philharmonic. Inga Brandini shares a conversation with the professor from 15 March 2000, shortly before his death a month later

  • Wolftone_SoundChart
    Focus

    Stringtelligence by Thomastik-Infeld: wolf tones and string buzzing

    2019-04-26T09:29:00Z Sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld

    In the second of the new blog series for The Strad celebrating Thomastik-Infeld’s 100th anniversary, Franz Klanner, the Austrian string manufacturer’s director of engineering and technology, shares his experience in how to tame a wolf tone and get rid of irritating string buzzing

  • Heifetz
    Video

    Heifetz and Reiner on Carnegie Hall

    2019-04-23T12:57:00Z

    Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Reiner ruminate on the experience of performing at Carnegie Hall minutes before going on stage with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto

  • Leila Josefowicz
    Focus

    5 practice tips from Leila Josefowicz

    2019-04-22T16:31:00Z

    To tie in with our review of her latest CD, the violinist shares her insights