From the ‘Strings Community’ Blogosphere

I agree with James Reel and the musicians he cites on the value of Haydn quartets. . . . Two of my annoyances with the Peters edition are the meaningless numbers at the top and the lack of Opus numbers on the quartets in Vols. 3 and 4.
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Meet the Members of the ‘All Things Strings Community’

Rozanna Weinberger

Violist, composer, and teacher Rozanna Weinberger comes from a musical family—her mother sang and her brothers play saxophone, clarinet, and violin. She chose to play viola because she identified with its slightly brooding nature. She is developing “motion studies” to help enable kinesthetic awareness in students, writing a book for Mel Bay geared toward training string players in diverse genres, and she has an album, Sweet Thunder, coming out soon on Arabesque Records. “I love trying new things that are unique to my abilities that merge viola playing, composing, improvising, drama, and working with various media,” she says. Weinberger joined the All Things Strings Community on August 18 and has been active in the violists' group ever since. “I love meeting new friends and reuniting with old friends, helping students informally, and getting a real sense of what’s happening ‘on the ground’ with other string players,” she says. “I learn a lot!”

Jarred Cook

Jarred Cook is a high-school senior from Georgia. He began playing the violin in the third grade and didn’t think he would stick with the instrument for long. But encouragement and support from his mother and teachers helped his love for the instrument grow. He says the violin lets him express himself in ways “that words can’t explain.” Cook is starting his third season with the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra and is also a member of the Mill Creek High School Philharmonic Orchestra. He is working on pieces by Bruch and Bach, and he’s preparing for college auditions. In his blog on the All Things Strings Community, Cook asks fellow string players for tips on how to gain confidence as a musician and succeed in auditions. Share your advice with him here.

Jim Glasson

Jim Glasson has been an electric guitar player for many years, but he was always interested in the violin and classical music. He truly enjoys the challenges and rewards of learning to play the violin as an adult. And although he likes to take a piece apart measure by measure to get it right, he openly admits to loathing the challenge of playing with a metronome. Jim is an active participant in the forums on the adult beginners' group in the Community, often offering enthusiastic advice and encouraging anecdotes. He says he enjoys “speaking with people my own age about the trials and sometimes physical tribulations of learning violin . . . How many groups can combine discussions of music and that of stiff wrists or sore shoulders related to playing?” Read what Jim and his fellow adult beginners have to say about stiff wrists and learning to bow here.