Violin lessons: the phrase conjures up dreary black-and-white images of young boys, violin cases in hand, dressed in thick wool suits. They’re being bundled off to visit a stern maestro who might as well be a doctor! And isn’t that what violin lessons are? A series of check-ups? If you’re pronounced healthy after enough of these sessions, you emerge as a better violinist!
I haven’t known very many violinists who kept playing after lessons like that. A great violin teacher should be like a personal trainer, and the lessons should be like sessions at the best-equipped health club. There are shiny machines filling every corner of the main room, with smaller rooms adjoining. Each of these smaller rooms has specialty equipment to work various parts of the body. And the trainer knows the ins and outs of all this equipment.
Violin lessons: the phrase conjures up dreary black-and-white images of young boys, violin cases in hand, dressed in thick wool suits. They’re being bundled off to visit a stern maestro who might as well be a doctor! And isn’t that what violin lessons are? A series of check-ups? If you’re pronounced healthy after enough of these sessions, you emerge as a better violinist!
I haven’t known very many violinists who kept playing after lessons like that. A great violin teacher should be like a personal trainer, and the lessons should be like sessions at the best-equipped health club. There are shiny machines filling every corner of the main room, with smaller rooms adjoining. Each of these smaller rooms has specialty equipment to work various parts of the body. And the trainer knows the ins and outs of all this equipment.
We're excited to announce that we've added a signficant number of new classical guitar lessons to Jason's curriculum. There are many new lessons in the Foundational Skills area, including nine more Carcassi Method lessons, and more on the Segovia Scales. There are also new lessons teaching you How to Change your Strings, Selecting a Guitar, and the infamous Arm Sock. In the Intermediate section we've added a 12 lesson series featuring the Sor: Progressive Pieces. Also in the Intermediate section are new lessons on Breakdowns and Memorization. There is much new material, check it out! Click "read more" to see a list of notation PDFs that have been provided for the original guitar lessons.
We're excited to announce that we've added a signficant number of new classical guitar lessons to Jason's curriculum. There are many new lessons in the Foundational Skills area, including nine more Carcassi Method lessons, and more on the Segovia Scales. There are also new lessons teaching you How to Change your Strings, Selecting a Guitar, and the infamous Arm Sock. In the Intermediate section we've added a 12 lesson series featuring the Sor: Progressive Pieces. Also in the Intermediate section are new lessons on Breakdowns and Memorization. There is much new material, check it out! Click "read more" to see a list of notation PDFs that have been provided for the original lessons.
Aside from his online trumpet lessons, David Bilger is Principal Trumpet for the Philadelphia Orchestra. They recently did an interview with him that appears in their monthly playbill as well as on their blog.
He talks about his favorite piece of music, what's on his iPod, and more. David also has his own blog called Dave's Mouthpiece where he writes about trumpet among other things, so be sure to check it out and read some of his writing.
Click on the image to read his question and answer segment with the Philadelphia Orchestra or just click here!
This is a beautiful trailer for an upcoming documentary about a group of kids in Paraguay who play music with instruments pieced together from bits of trash found in the landfill which their town is built upon. Orchestra director Luis Szarán and music teacher Fabio Chavez has assembled together a group of the kids who play these intruments called The Recycled Orchestra. Watch the trailer below and find out more at http://www.landfillharmonicmovie.com/ or follow them on Facebook for the latest news.
Here's a nice article on String Visions about the "Future of Classical Music Education" featuring ArtistWorks. This is part 1 of a series that Colin Cronin is writing about online music education and the role technology plays. Click on the image to read more!
Starting today, students from around the world can sign up for online violin lessons with renowned violinist Richard Amoroso. The latest online music school from ArtistWorks focuses on giving violin students of all skill levels an affordable way to perfect their technique and perform better.
This first-of-its-kind interactive online violin school uses ArtistWorks patent-pending Video Exchange™ Feedback Platform to combine the best of online music lessons with one-on-one interaction with a master violinist.
When you’re looking for a violin teacher, you’re looking for someone who understands the learning process. No quality is more important. There are different violin teachers for different students, and different violin lessons for you at various times of your life, but they must all understand how the mind takes in and retains information. After that, the most important attributes for a violin teacher are knowledge of the violin’s mechanics, general musical and repertoire knowledge, skill as a player, and strength as a communicator. No single violin teacher possesses all of these attributes to the highest degree, but a weakness in more than one will make it very difficult for you to make good progress!
When you’re looking for a violin teacher, you’re looking for someone who understands the learning process. No quality is more important. There are different violin teachers for different students, and different violin lessons for you at various times of your life, but they must all understand how the mind takes in and retains information. After that, the most important attributes for a violin teacher are knowledge of the violin’s mechanics, general musical and repertoire knowledge, skill as a player, and strength as a communicator. No single violin teacher possesses all of these attributes to the highest degree, but a weakness in more than one will make it very difficult for you to make good progress!
In this video Jason Vieaux identifies some common trouble spots when learning how to play the famous Spanish guitar song "Leyenda". Many people often get confused by the distinction between classical guitar and Spanish guitar. Since Jason is an expert, we had him explain the difference:
I find that my travels now are great opportunities to tell people I meet in airports, planes and hotels about my online classical guitar lessons at ArtistWorks. Whenever I'm asked, "do you play in a band?" whilst on the road, I often respond that I play "Spanish Guitar", only because it's an easy answer in a busy world. Even though "Classical Guitarist" is a better umbrella description of what I do, "Spanish Guitar" puts the image into most people's minds of a guy or gal sitting, unamplified playing Spanish guitar songs or Latin American music - alone. And yes, I do that… kinda.
What I really do is play music by "Classical" composers from Spain and Latin America, with the requisite classical technique and musical study that is required to play it. I also play Bach, modern, pop and jazz arrangements, 19th century, lots of concertos with orchestra and chamber music, but that's not the point.
Jeffrey Khaner continues his "musical journey around the world" with his latest album for Avie Records, Czech Flute Music. There's a great review of the album on MusicWeb International, which you can check out here. Reviewer Steve Arloff says:
"In short this is a lovely disc and anyone who adores music for flute shouldn’t hesitate in adding it to their library but really this is a disc that all can enjoy. Jeffrey Khaner is wonderfully gifted with a marvellously silky tone."
The big flute solo in Ravel’s ballet Daphnis and Chloe is possibly the most requested orchestral excerpt at flute auditions. It is a popular amongst the many flute audition pieces because it's an extremely challenging flute solo and thus shows a great deal to the judges about the technical and musical abilities of the performer.
Violin lessons: the phrase conjures up dreary black-and-white images of young boys, violin cases in hand, dressed in thick wool suits. They’re being bundled off to visit a stern maestro who might as well be a doctor! And isn’t that what violin lessons are? A series of check-ups? If you’re pronounced healthy after enough of these sessions, you emerge as a better violinist!
Violin lessons: the phrase conjures up dreary black-and-white images of young boys, violin cases in hand, dressed in thick wool suits. They’re being bundled off to visit a stern maestro who might as well be a doctor! And isn’t that what violin lessons are? A series of check-ups? If you’re pronounced healthy after enough of these sessions, you emerge as a better violinist!
We're excited to announce that we've added a signficant number of new classical guitar lessons to Jason's curriculum. There are many new lessons in the Foundational Skills area, including nine more Carcassi Method lessons, and more on the Segovia Scales. There are also new lessons teaching you How to Change your Strings, Selecting a Guitar, and the infamous Arm Sock. In the Intermediate section we've added a 12 lesson series featuring the Sor: Progressive Pieces. Also in the Intermediate section are new lessons on Breakdowns and Memorization. There is much new material, check it out! Click "read more" to see a list of notation PDFs that have been provided for the original 
We're excited to announce that we've added a signficant number of new classical guitar lessons to Jason's curriculum. There are many new lessons in the Foundational Skills area, including nine more Carcassi Method lessons, and more on the Segovia Scales. There are also new lessons teaching you How to Change your Strings, Selecting a Guitar, and the infamous Arm Sock. In the Intermediate section we've added a 12 lesson series featuring the Sor: Progressive Pieces. Also in the Intermediate section are new lessons on Breakdowns and Memorization. There is much new material, check it out! Click "read more" to see a list of notation PDFs that have been provided for the original lessons.
