Beginning students, but even the more advanced among us, often struggle with pitch (intonation) and tone. Troubleshooting sounds we'd like to improve can be especially frustrating when we're having a hard time differentiating between the two. One is ...

Good tone is a recipe with many ingredients, mostly involving the bow. We soon learn that weight is an important component, as well as bow speed and keeping the bow straight. However, good tone can still remain elusive. It's happened so many times ...

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 recent teaching video I'm sharing on my YouTube channel I'm sharing one of my favorite exercises to share with my students. Do you conveniently avoid playing in the lower half of the bow, or outright fear the tones you might encounter down ...

I had the pleasure of making the recent online acquaintance of David France, violinist, teacher, and the founder and executive director of Revolution of Hope, a Boston based program which helps bring the joy of playing music to the lives of inner city ...

The age old story goes - you set up your bow hold, perfectly, just as your teacher showed you, but as soon as you start playing, the pinkie finger stiffens, or worse a joint fails and it buckles. Your tone starts to suffer. Your hold feels tense, and ...

One of the students enjoying my [online bowing course](https://www.laurelthomsen.com/Online Courses/) emailed me some questions about martelé recently. The technique was clear, but it’s application ...

Whether you've been playing for months or years, the cause of jitters, sputters, and tremor type sounds in your sustained bow strokes can be so elusive they're ranked among the most annoying and frustrating issues a string player will ever encounter. ...

All chapters of my online course are now available through String Letter Publishing. Here’s a brief rundown of the contents of each chapter in case you want to dabble, otherwise, consider purchasing the complete set of 9 chapters for just $29.99!

How ...

An excerpt from my Improve Your Bowing Technique online course is featured in the January 2012 edition of Strings magazine. If your bow strokes sound better on some strings than others, it could be that you need to adjust your bow’s contact point. ...

Another excerpt from my Improve Your Bowing Technique online course is featured in the December 2011 edition of Strings magazine! Want to move your bow from G to D? Or perhaps E to G? Or...A to E? No matter where you’re rocking your bow, your upper ...

An excerpt from my Improve Your Bowing Technique online course is featured in the November 2011 edition of Strings magazine. As the foundation of your bowing technique, how you hold your bow can mean the difference between beautiful tones and perpetual ...

Once we can play with good tone and intonation, and we’ve mastered the most basic tunes in the repertoire - Twinkle, Hot Cross Buns, etc., it’s time to add color and interest with dynamics - volume changes in performed music. Among these are the F’s ...