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Violinist.com explores and celebrates the world of violin music for violinists of all levels, from symphony professionals to students just starting lessons to learn how to play violin. You can get the best of Violinist.com delivered via e-mail or newsfeed.

Violin blogs

Dozens of violinists from around the world maintain free violin blogs on the site. Here are three recent, highlighted posts:

10 Point Commentary - The Lightning Round By Ross Christopher (8/27): Looking out at the absurdity of life from the end of summer, 2008 Read more...

Interlochen Adult Chamber Music By Mendy Smith (8/25): You mean grown-ups can go to music camp, too? Yes! Read more...

Take Three: The Hemingway Cat By Emily Grossman (8/25): Emily's adventures in outdoor filming. Read more...

• Violinist.com interviews... Rachel Barton Pine, Ruggiero Ricci, Hilary Hahn, Anne Akiko Meyers, teachers at the Starling-DeLay Symposium for Violin Studies at Juilliard, and others.

Violin news

Readers may submit and discuss news items of interest to violinists, from around the Web. Here are the three most recent posts:

The Beaux Arts Trio plays its final concert at Tanglewood
From Laurie Niles (8/23): The Beaux Arts Trio played its last concert on Thursday at the Tanglewood Festival, the same place the group played its first concert on July 13, 1955. It was pianist Menahem Pressler, 84, (who incidentally has long been one of the most in-demand teachers at IU) who kept the group going for so long and through many changes in personnel. In its final incarnation, the group included violinist Daniel Hope, and cellist Antonio Meneses.
http://http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.ph

High Pay, Great Benefits for Musicians in Philadelphia Orchestra
From Pauline Lerner (8/23): In stark contrast to many other orchestras, the Philadelphia Orchestra pays its musicians a minimum annual salary $119,600 and gives good benefits (vacations, maternity leave, and more). The contract was negotiated in 1962, when a wave of militancy and anger swept over many symphony orchestra musicians. Violinist Jerome Wigler, who played in the orchestra at that time, reminisces about the pre-contract time, when musicians in the orchestra had to take second jobs, such as driving ice cream trucks and handing out towels at the YMCA, to make ends meet.
http://www.saratogian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=200

Leroi Moore, saxophonist and flutist for The Dave Matthews Band dies at age 46 - a sad loss for music...
From Ross Christopher (8/23): Yesterday I received a text from Justin letting me know that Leroi Moore of The Dave Matthews Band had died. I was shocked. I knew he wasn't touring with the band due to an ATV accident earlier this summer, but also knew he was in rehab and seemed to be recovering well.

I became a DMB fan in junior high. I remember opening my first BMG account - you remember those? Pick out 8-12 CDs (FREE) and over the next year buy 2 or 3 for about $20 a pop. This was pre-online-anything. I remember cutting out the small CD images and sticking them to an order form that you actually snail-mailed in.

So getting my "own" music for the first time, i'm not sure why I picked Under The Table and Dreaming, but I did (and its really had a tremendous impact on me and my musical approach). I love to jam. I love experimenting with songwriting. I tend to use my voice as an instrument - not simply a melody line to embed in your skull (i.e. "love me, love me, say that you love me...")

In a time when the whole world was going grunge crazy, out comes DMB with an acoustic guitar, a weird voice, incredible percussion, a black guy playing violin, a black guy jamming the woodwinds, and a white guy on bass - something didn't make sense.

But it was that 1st album that led me to Crash, Live at Luther College, countless bootlegs, and every album since.

The unique blend of instruments made their sound perfect to my ears. Their live show however, was tough to rival. Even if you're not a fan, you have to appreciate their interplay.

So, today its hard to believe that Leroi Moore is gone at only 46 years of age.

*for more info about Leroi, visit: http://www.davematthews.com/

Grace & Peace,
Ross Christopher
www.rosschristopher.com
www.myspace.com/rosschristopher
http://www.davematthews.com

Violin discussion board

We have more than 8,000 threads on the site, discussing just about everything relating to the violin. Here are the hour's most recent:

Can anybody identify this melody?
From Tobias Seyb: I give up trying myself and hope someone here recognizes this melody.

Teaching methods: repetition or understanding?
From Helen Martin: Are we using repetition to teach instead of musical understanding and meaning?

Statistics on early vs late start?
From Bart Meijer: Would a survey among Violinist.com members be a good idea?

Bach: Milstein vs. Szeryng
From Eric Gratz: What do you think makes many people enjoy the solo Bach recordings of Nathan Milstein and Henryk Szeryng more than others?

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