Whether it was mourning the loss of George Martin, Prince, and David Bowie, or awaiting new releases from Beyoncé, The Julie Ruin, and Itzhak Perlman, 2016 has been a very noteworthy year for music. On top of everything else –two of the most widely recognized names in the non-classical violin world released new albums within…
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Lessons from “The Song of Jigglypuff”
Recently, I’ve been thinking about all the ways music education or music lessons are portrayed in books, television shows, and movies. These narratives can tell us a lot about what music lessons can do in people’s lives – and provide important examples of what to do – or not do, to really contribute to someone’s…
the gift of permission to fail
One of the main challenges of learning the violin is the lack of instant gratification. You will not be able to play perfectly after one lesson. Or two, or a month’s worth. As a student, you may spend several weeks practicing nothing but bow holds, or playing a single note on an open string…
10 Violinists Worth Getting To Know…
The violin is an incredible versatile instrument, and can express itself a wide variety of musical styles, emotions, and contexts. A creative and competent player will pour all of her or his culture, ideas, and personality into the instrument. The simple physical motions of dragging a bow across strings can tell a story of where…
Learn like a Punk Rocker
One of my favorite things to read is memoirs and biographies of musicians. I just finished reading Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys by Viv Albertine, best known as the guitar player for The Slits. In both their music and their image, The Slits challenged so many preconceptions of what women were…
Bringing it All Back Home: Reconciling Dylan and Seeger
The 1965 Newport Folk Festival is widely considered one of the most iconic moments in rock history. It is one of those historical moments where it felt like everything changed radically in an instant, where the familiar fell apart and a new thing was birthed. A lot has been written and said about the event;…
every note is alive
Basho was a poet who lived 17th century Japan, considered one of the greatest haiku writers of all time. It was said that Basho was once with a student, and they saw a dragonfly, and the student attempted to compose his thoughts on the experience: A red dragonfly If you would but pluck its wings…
How to play “I’ll Keep It With Mine” (or the string parts for any pop song)
Here are a few string players you might not have heard of before, but have probably heard their music. John Cale of the Velvet Underground, Scarlet Rivera with Bob Dylan, David Ragsdale of Kansas, Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Mathews Band, Miri Ben-Ari with a variety of hip-hop artists, including Kanye West. All these artists…
free and creative from the beginning
A teacher is always continuing to learn, and must always be open to new ideas and challenges. Learning is a lifelong process of continuous evolving and tweaking how we do things. I once heard in a class that one of the more important sentences for a teacher is, “I used to think ___ but now…
how to become your own teacher…
In my own musical journey, I have been deeply blessed to have the patient, knowledgeable, and supportive input of many great teachers. By walking beside me, encouraging what was good, challenging what was lacking, and helping me change the way I approached violin playing, they brought me to a level where I can comfortably realize…
On rats, shifts, and teaching
When I was taking violin lessons in college, I had a few stressful weeks trying to perfect a particularly awkward shift and finger pattern high on the E-string. That note required a lot of practice time trying to get it in tune – practicing one measure of an etude again and again until it started…
being musically multilingual
In a previous article, I briefly brought up the concept of being musically multilingual as an important goal for my students. Just as a multilingual person is able to communicate with people from a wider range of nationalities, a musician proficient in multiple cultural or musical traditions can perform with a wide variety of people,…
Violin Lessons with Michael Fox 