By Teri Einfeldt, extracted from SAA Website At least two Alpert Studio students will be attending a summer Suzuki institute this summer. Here are some tips to assist your institute experiences. Tips for the home teacher: Explain to the student and parent that the purpose of a master class is not to learn new pieces. [...]

The irrepressible Mimi Zweig leads a master class at the String Academy of Wisconsin on the Campus of University of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee. When accomplished 15 year old violinist Brian Zhang signed up to play for Mimi Zweig, he was probably thinking of Mozart, Bach or Barber. Little did he know he’d soon be taking [...]

Master Teacher Darcy Drexler explains the finer points of violin vibrato to seven year old Academy student Margaret Knox. Every summer, string teachers from across the country (myself included) make a pilgrimage to Milwaukee. They’re here to observe what is arguably one of the finest models of string education in the world. For teachers, it’s [...]

Fifty-six years ago, a handsome young Edwardo made the long journey to Mexico City with his new bride. It was their honeymoon, and though he had little money in those early days, he wanted to take her to the most elegant restaurant in town. And so he did, and he thus marked the beginning of [...]

Nathan Milstein – Perpetuum Mobile by Novacek. One can find just about anything on YouTube. This clip from 1957 fits into the “sublime” category. Violinist Nathan Milstein gives us an absolutely sparkling rendition of Novack’s Perpetual Motion, a piece I’ve recently discovered. It’s a wonderful technical study, worthy of the concert stage. The challenge in [...]

Downtown Albuquerque, NM I’d be remiss if I let too much time pass without thanking my FSS students for allowing me the time to visit the recent American String Teachers Association conference in Albuquerque. I made the trip along with my dear friend and orchestra colleague, cellist Kyle Champion. Also making the trip were something [...]

A scene from Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” (courtesy Metropolitan Opera) Richard Wagner’s epic The Ring is a collection of four operas that have inspired concert goers, film makers, film composers, artists of all manner and even soldiers in combat for 150 years. It’s twenty hours of music that encapsulate legend, love, war, incest, racism and even [...]

One of the great benefits of Suzuki classes, is the frequent opportunity to perform as a soloist. Yet for many of us, public performance can begin as a mixed blessing. On one hand, it is our joy, and solemn duty as musicians, to share our song with the world. At the same time, the journey [...]

Film recording session at Capitol Records I recently completed a two day recording session at Capitol Records. It was a film score for an action movie currently in post production, The Rebel. At the session we were all updated about our another project that we completed more than a year ago. At the time I [...]