The Violin Geek Blog Tips, insight, and inspiration since 2007.
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I've noticed many music teachers starting to market themselves with the word "coach" instead of "teacher." The change seems to have become particularly prevalent since the Covid-19 pandemic forced the world's music teachers online, ...
In this last installment of my Music Careers series, we explore music careers that are more "behind the scenes," as well as a few that don't neatly fit into other categories. Despite not necessarily placing us in the spotlight, most could ...
Ever wonder why certain violin and viola strings seem easier to sustain a nice bow bounce on than others? I have a theory and hope you'll enjoy this deep dive into how to create spiccato consistency string to string. As we find with both hands in fact, ...
In this episode we enjoy a fascinating conversation with Russian born violinist and educator Michael Dvoskin about the differences between violin training in Russia versus the United States. Michael also shares his story about immigrating to America, ...
This question came from a teacher who had been working with a particular student for a number of years. Everything had been going well up until recently when the student, now a teen, had suddenly started telling the teacher what he wanted to work on ...
I played my only indoor wedding of 2023 in a cute little historic church today (yes, on the California Central Coast, most wedding clients choose "Nature's Cathedral"). The outside looked like 1890, and while the inside was nothing fancy, ...
Today we speak with violinist, educator, and Violin Class podcast creator and host Julia Reddy about making time for practice. We discuss how to ramp back up after a hiatus, how to make the most out of limited time, how to effectively divide up our ...
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.”