Tag - Violin

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What the Great Strad Robbery means for the future
2
Miracles of Modern Science
3
Games (if not fun) in Louisville
4
Why there are no solo viola careers
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Let’s make a commercial!
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About that Strad vs modern violin study thingy…
7
O sweet mystery of life
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Deep Song by Tony Woodcock
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Deep Song
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Through the worm hole

What the Great Strad Robbery means for the future

Most readers of this blog have already heard of the events of last Monday here in Milwaukee. If you haven’t, the New York Times has a good summary: It should have been one of those nights musicians live for. Frank Almond, the concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for nearly two decades, had just closed[…]

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Miracles of Modern Science

Japanese scientists have succeeded in making violin strings out of spider silk: Shigeyoshi Osaki at Nara Medical University in Japan has studied the properties of spider silk for 35 years. In the past decade he has focused on trying to turn the silk into violin strings, even taking lessons on what was required of a[…]

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Games (if not fun) in Louisville

The most recent attempt by the board and management of the Louisville Orchestra to appear to be trying to settle what has turned into the orchestral equivalent of WW3 was to propose an interesting form of arbitration; one that would have required the Louisville Orchestra musicians to agree in advance to several provisions that they[…]

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Why there are no solo viola careers

The major function of Twitter appears to be enabling people to write things that, after 24 hours or so of reflection, they probably would rather not have written. Case in point is an outpouring of frustration on the part of the violist Jennifer Stumm, who wrote on her Twitter feed last week: Bigwig last night:[…]

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Let’s make a commercial!

My orchestra did, and it was kinda fun: When Joshua Phillips signed on this season as a French horn player in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, he had no idea the job description included taking a snowball to the head. “I was trying to do what I was told,” he explained. The instructions were coming not[…]

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About that Strad vs modern violin study thingy…

My colleague Frank Almond did a very thorough take-down of the whole thing here: “These instruments were loaned with the stipulation that they remain in the condition in which we received them (precluding any tonal adjustments or even changing the strings), and that their identities remain confidential. All strings appeared to be in good condition.”[…]

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O sweet mystery of life

…or one of them at least – is what conductors actually do. I thought it was all about the hair; Justin Davidson thinks it’s more than that: “Knowing the score”—the expression implies mastery, but it doesn’t suggest the sustained and solitary study that’s required to achieve it. There are a few miles of roadway that[…]

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Deep Song by Tony Woodcock

Deep Song Amy Winehouse’s death just a few months ago was a great tragedy and has deprived us of a unique voice and creative spirit. Her career was brief, meteoric, self-destructive and full of moments of amazing achievement. The response … Continue reading

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Deep Song

Amy Winehouse’s death just a few months ago was a great tragedy and has deprived us of a unique voice and creative spirit. Her career was brief, meteoric, self-destructive and full of moments of amazing achievement. The response that she was able to command from her fans was at once affirming and provocative and in[…]

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Through the worm hole

The management and board of the Louisville Orchestra have apparently transported themselves to an alternate universe – one without unions, labor law, or audiences: Citing a breakdown in negotiations with its musicians, the Louisville Orchestra said Monday that it would “begin the process of hiring permanent replacements for our musicians” as early as next week.[…]

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