Music lessons may not always be a positive experience, but don’t let that stop you from being creative and gentle with yourself.
Tag: learning
Making and Teaching Music in Times of Racism
In 2014, the Southern Poverty Law Center went into the collection of music sold on iTunes, and flagged 54 bands that were either affiliated with hate groups or directly advocating hatred of and violence against non-white people. Protest and pressure lead to a change in policy that made these songs less available – but the…
Before you play a note… – Violin warm-up exercises
Playing a musical instrument engages many parts of the brain, but it is not only a mental activity. Violinists, perhaps especially, are being continually reminded of our embodiment – that we play music with our physical selves. The noise we make uses almost every part of our bodies, and so violin playing involves a focus…
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…
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…
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…
Why we need both a Suzuki and an O’Connor method….
… I was prepared to not make a comment on this at all, but recent discussions about violin pedagogy and which method books to buy have reached a level of passion and vitriol I usually associate only with religion and politics (and that usually sends me looking for the door.) For those of you too…
Maintaining a love for the violin even after the secret’s out on how hard it is…
I remember getting my first violin, and feeling enchanted from my 6 year-old eyes, the cloth covered, curved box made of wood stained with a dark orange hue. It seemed almost scary in its unapproachable fanciness, as if it possessed magical properties. So I just kind of looked at it with a sense of awe,…
Violin Lessons with Michael Fox 