It’s time for another one of my preachy articles on practicing.

Learning to play a stringed instrument is hard. Playing a stringed instrument at a high level is extremely hard. Performing regularly at an elite level (earning a good living) is monumentally difficult, and only a tiny percentage of musicians can honestly say they have accomplished this.

The following is not intended for total beginners (although the principles of good practicing will always garner results), but rather these tips will help any student improve from an average player to a good one, or better. There are “dos” and “don’ts” within every aspect of life, and practicing a stringed instrument is no different. (more…)

I just finished a new piece called “Un Tango Semplice” or a simple tango, for violin and piano, with bass and percussion.  You can listen to it by clicking here.  It can be played with the piano and violin only but the percussion and bass add a lot to the style.  If you would like the sheet music, go here and you can print it along with the piano and/or violin part.

In the event that you visited here, or wasn’t aware of the site, or have been living in a cave in western Australia, I’d like to refresh your memory of this site and its uses.

This is a site that is a blog-style site that deals mostly with classical music as played by the violin.  I am a violinist as well as teacher and conductor, thus the thrust of the site.  I have written and encourage anyone to submit articles on violin technique, repertoire, and current events that are paramount to violinists, students, and otherwise musically educated folk for ingesting through this venue.

Please do not hesitate to contact me, or simply write something and let me know how I can include it here.

Thank you for visiting!

HD

I have finally finished the orchestration of the Ysaye Ballade that I’ve been working on for seemingly years and years. Actually it’s only been 4-5 months, but I’m not done quite yet.  I’ve posted the work here, but I am still editing the score for articulation and a few wrong notes here and there.  I hope to have the full score, all the parts, and 99% correct notation by the end of the year for a possible performance in the Spring of 2010.   We’ll see.

Thanks for looking!

HD