Follow these picture instructions to set up your piano student on your Piano Maestro app! Download the Joytunes Piano Maestro app from the Apple App Store onto your iPad. (Sorry, iPad-compatible only.) Open the app and go to the Parent/Teacher Zone. Touch Add New. Enter the student’s name. Touch...
Tips and Resources
Updated Audio Settings for Zoom Lessons
July 2021: This post has been updated and moved to www.violinteachingresources.com/zoom-settings-for-online-music-lessons-desktop/ .
iPad Audio Settings for Zoom Lessons
July 2021: This post has been updated and moved to www.violinteachingresources.com/zoom-settings-for-online-music-lessons-ipad/ .
Setup Solved!
In violin-ese, your “setup” is how you match your equipment to your physique. Your setup can be good, bad or mediocre. Setup includes the accessories attached to the violin so that you can hold it, and also your playing mechanics like where it sits on your shoulder, how you...
Case: Closed
Last spring when I bought a new violin, I needed a new case to put it in too. I love the looks, protection and accessories provided by high-end cases (BAM, Musafia) but NOT the price tags! On the other hand, I have plenty of experience with cheap cases with...
Book review: “The Talent Code”
I read a fascinating book over the summer: “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle. Subtitle: “Greatness isn’t born, it’s grown. Here’s how.” The book takes you on a wide-ranging journey to talent “factories” like a run-down tennis gym in Russia, a run-down indoor soccer arena in Brazil, a run-down...
Don’t get grounded; know your rights
Traveling with your fiddle this summer? Know your rights as an airline passenger! Don’t get stuck on the tarmac like these guys (caution, mild language in video inside the article). In 2012, Congress passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act, which states, “An air carrier providing air transportation shall permit...
What color is your violin?
If you’ve enjoyed using the Shar string chart to pick out the perfect strings for your instrument, you’re going to like this tool also! I found this graphic at selectviolins.com and I have found it useful to refer to when shopping for a new violin. Print out several copies and grade...
10,000 Hours
by David R. Shanks, from Science Spectra, 1999, Number 18. Above: Cumulative amounts of practice achieved over their lifetime by different groups of violinists in a study by Ericsson, Krampe and Tesch-Römer (Psychological Review, 100, 363-406, (1993)). By the age of 20, the best musicians at the Music Academy...