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I played my only indoor wedding of 2023 in a cute little historic church today (yes, on the California Central Coast, most wedding clients choose "Nature's Cathedral"). The outside looked like 1890, and while the inside was nothing fancy, ...
Today we speak with violinist, educator, and Violin Class podcast creator and host Julia Reddy about making time for practice. We discuss how to ramp back up after a hiatus, how to make the most out of limited time, how to effectively divide up our ...
Today we chat with Grammy-nominated violinist Gabe Terracciano, who's expanding the range of the violin as a member of the Turtle Island String Quartet and the Hot Toddies Jazz Band, among other exciting projects. We hear about Gabe's transition from ...
My partner Dan Frechette and I had wanted to create a supporting music video for this song ever since we released it on our penultimate album, "Driving By Candlelight," back in 2018. The pieces didn't fall into place until two weeks ago. ...
I've been using Pirastro brand strings exclusively for over 25 years (Thomastik strings and a few other brands before that), however, no matter the brand, I've always shied away from wound E strings. The one I tried early on sounded quite dull on my ...
The bow is a string player's primary "tool for tone," but like any tool, sometimes we need more than one to get the job done. In this episode we speak with historical bow maker Ralph Ashmead, learning all about the differences between Baroque, ...
No, this isn't an article about crawling around the fingerboard of our instrument, yet I hope readers will find value in my recent ruminations about perspective and subtlety, and ways to apply these ideas to their life and in the practice room.
Listen ...
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Laurel Thomsen Violin, Viola, Vocals Performance, Instruction, Recording Based in Santa Cruz, California