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You’ve just perfected a difficult passage of your favorite concerto and grab your smartphone to capture this monumental practice achievement. You run through the passage again and while not perfect, you still feel pretty good about your progress. You ...
One of my violin students shared this inspirational message with me today. Though the day to day activities of an aviation technician are obviously quite different from a ...
I'll be sharing tips for setting up a successful online studio in this upcoming free virtual event presented by FAR-West and hosted by award-winning recording artist Susie Glaze. This June marks my violin-viola teaching studio's 26th year, the last ...
This question was posed in my Complete Vibrato Mastery online course recently: Is wrist or arm vibrato better for violists?
I personally don't believe that one style of vibrato is better for ...
As the account goes, someone once asked child prodigy and virtuoso violinist Jascha Heifetz: “How are you able to play so well in tune?” To that, Heifetz replied something to the effect of: “I don’t. I adjust before anyone notices.” Although playing ...
This difficult conversation concerning the origins of many popular folk song melodies came up in my teaching studio recently. In searching for ideas on how to reconcile the fact that a number of popular American folk songs have racist origins (whether ...
After a brief encounter with a very basic bar rest as a child, my teacher recommended a Wolf and it's been my shoulder rest for both violin and viola for about 30 years now and the one I recommend most frequently to my students.
They didn't ...
Please email me at laurel@laurelthomsen.com if you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related question you’d like answered in the blog or on a podcast, have a story or insight to share, or if you’d like to inquire about violin, viola, or fiddle lessons with me, in-person or online via Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom.
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Laurel ThomsenViolin, Viola, Vocals
Performance, Instruction, Recording
Based in Santa Cruz, California
"After the Fire" - released January 21, 2022!
Each song portrays a facet of the journey from setback to reclaimed hope - finding faith in the possibility of LOVE in “Make Me Come Alive,” HOME in “Beale Street,” COMMUNITY in “Together Again” and “Money Shouldn’t Talk That Strong,” and one’s own STRENGTH and FORTITUDE in “If A Wave” and “Hey, It’ll Be OK.”