The Violin Geek Blog Tips, insight, and inspiration since 2007.
Welcome! I'm glad you found me and I hope you'll enjoy my musings, tips, updates, and insights.
Please use the search bar below to sort posts by category or keyword. If you're enjoying a topic, you can also click categories listed below, or the tags listed at the top of a post to organize a new list of posts with the same categories and/or tags. Happy reading!
- christmas music
- encouragement
- fitness
- gear review
- improvisation
- insight
- inspiration
- instrument tips
- interview
- intonation
- music
- music business
- musician tips
- music theory
- new album
- new music
- online lessons
- pedogogy
- performance tips
- practice tips
- recording tips
- repertoire
- stories
- student tips
- teaching tips
- technique tips
- update
- visualization
June 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of my first experiences teaching violin, viola, fiddle, and cello lessons via Skype (and more recently also FaceTime and Zoom). A lot has changed since then! The milestone has had me reflecting on the hundreds ...
The question posed on a forum was: “How can people find great music and new artists if they don’t go to bars or listen to Spotify?”
Wow, well, I couldn’t help but share what myself and a network of talented and heartfelt musicians around the ...
I laughed when a colleague once told me: “It's all fun and games until someone gets a gig.” Whether it’s music you’ve enjoyed playing casually with friends, or an instrument or piece that hasn’t yet seen more than your practice room and maybe your ...
When we move beyond the beginning stages of learning to play the violin or viola and our basic major and minor arpeggio patterns, we quickly start to encounter scale books with more elaborate arpeggio sequences. If you’re a violin geek like I am, you ...
No matter our playing level or age, clean playing and fast playing are often at odds. Over my years of teaching the violin and viola, I’ve noticed that students tend to fall into two camps - those who try to play near tempo from the start, often with ...
Dan Frechette and I officially release our new CD today! Driving By Candlelight is now available online around the world and at our upcoming tour stops.
You may find and preview it here: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/driving-by-candlelight/1433893249 Amazon: ...
It happens to all of us. We get impatient with our musical progress and suddenly we start questioning whether we should bother playing music at all. We start wondering, are we really cut out for this? Are we ever going to get any better? Have we reached ...
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.
The Violin Geek Blog is a free resource and always will be. We also don't sell advertising, meaning that everything you read has been a labor of love. If you'd like to support my efforts and help ensure they continue, please consider making a donation. Thanks for your support!
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.”