The Violin Geek Podcast

A lot of us often wonder, where am I supposed to place my thumb on the violin (or viola) neck? What finger should it be closest to? Should it be stationary? Should it move? Is there a spot that will magically help it stop gripping and finally relax? Today we explore this question recently posed by a podcast listener. Always a frequent topic among Laurel's private students and the students in her "Complete Vibrato Mastery" course, please also check out the companion YouTube video to see all Laurel's demos in action.

Show notes:

Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/iVl1xqZM5ek

~

For more information about her performances, recordings, and teaching, please visit host Laurel Thomsen's website ⁠⁠https://www.laurelthomsen.com⁠⁠

To check out Laurel's Violin Geek Blog, a companion to the podcast, sharing tips, insight and inspiration since 2007, please visit ⁠⁠https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog⁠⁠

If you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related question or topic you’d like to have covered on the Violin Geek podcast or in the blog, have someone you'd like Laurel to interview, or have a story or insight to share, please send Laurel an email at [email protected]. Also, please reach out if you’d like to inquire about violin, viola, or fiddle coaching or lessons with Laurel via Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom.  You're also welcome to post your success story, comments, or suggestions to ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic⁠⁠.

Happy Practicing!

In this second installment of her Music Careers series, violinist/violist, teacher, and host Laurel Thomsen explores music careers and activities that require knowledge and skill in music, but not necessarily on one particular instrument. It’s rare for even very talented musicians to be able to make a living at performance alone, so piecing together a variety of activities within our career is a great way to ensure our financial security, and stay passionate about everything we're doing. And even if we’re not planning to make a career of music, we may find that being involved with music in ways beyond playing our instrument very fulfilling and supportive to our overall drive to keep music in our life. 

~

For more information and info about her performances, recordings, and teaching, please visit host Laurel Thomsen's website ⁠https://www.laurelthomsen.com⁠

To check out Laurel's Violin Geek Blog, a companion to the podcast, sharing tips, insight and inspiration since 2007, please visit ⁠https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog⁠

If you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related question or topic you’d like to have covered on the Violin Geek podcast or in the blog, have someone you'd like Laurel to interview, or have a   story or insight to share, please send Laurel an email at [email protected]. Also, please reach out if you’d like to inquire about violin, viola, or fiddle coaching or lessons with Laurel via Skype, FaceTime, or   Zoom.  You're also welcome to post your success story, comments, or suggestions to ⁠https://www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic⁠.

Happy Practicing!

In this episode, we talk to Rachael Ridge, an Indiana based violinist and violin teacher, and the creator of "The Adult Violin Academy," a self paced online, video based course geared towards adult learners and their unique needs. We discuss the strengths that adult students bring to the table, as well as common challenges, like finding enough time to practice while juggling a job and a family, as well as physical pain and/or injury. We also talk about the importance of mindset. As much as we might consider playing a musical instrument to be a physical and musical pursuit, there are also mental and even emotional components that can easily derail our progress. Even if you aren't an adult student, but a teacher, professional, a younger student, or even just a music lover, there are many helpful tips and insights for everyone in this episode!

Show notes:

Rachael Ridge https://www.rachaelridge.com/

Rachael's "Adult Violin Academy" https://www.rachaelridge.com/adult-violin-academy

The "Active Violinist" Instagram https://www.instagram.com/activeviolinist/

~

For more information and info about her performances, recordings, and teaching, please visit host Laurel Thomsen's website ⁠https://www.laurelthomsen.com⁠

To check out Laurel's Violin Geek Blog, a companion to the podcast, please visit ⁠https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog⁠

If you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related question or topic you’d like to have covered on the Violin Geek podcast or in the blog, have someone you'd like Laurel to interview, or have a story or insight to share, please send Laurel an email  at [email protected]. Also, please reach out if you’d like to  inquire about violin, viola, or fiddle coaching or lessons with  Laurel via Skype, FaceTime, or  Zoom. You're also welcome to post your success story, comments, or  suggestions  to ⁠https://www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic⁠.

Happy Practicing!

Whether or not we plan to make a career of music, this series will be relevant for everyone! If we keep at it, we all reach a point where we're ready to take our music beyond the practice room, but as one of Laurel's students recently asked: "What can I do with this violin besides become Hilary Hahn or TwoSet?" Thankfully, there are many more options, and hopefully something for everyone, including for those who enjoy being in the spotlight, those who prefer group dynamics, those who want to be self-employed, and those who'd prefer to not have to think too much about the business side of their musical activities. In this first installment of her Music Careers series, violinist/violist, teacher, and host Laurel Thomsen explores performance based roles that require us to be skilled on our particular instrument. In future episodes in this series, we'll explore options that will require knowledge and skill in music, but not necessarily on one particular instrument. As Laurel has found herself, piecing together a variety of activities within our career is a great way to ensure our financial security as musicians, and stay passionate about everything we're doing.

Show notes:

Laurel's new "Colfax Harbor" music video https://youtu.be/moYNxsEfBac

Angela Myles Beeching career coaching/resources https://angelabeeching.com

Berklee School of Music careers articles https://www.berklee.edu/careers

~

For more information and info about her performances, recordings, and teaching, please visit host Laurel Thomsen's website https://www.laurelthomsen.com

To check out Laurel's Violin Geek Blog, a companion to the podcast, sharing tips, insight and inspiration since 2007, please visit https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog

If you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related question or topic you’d like to have covered on the Violin Geek podcast or in the blog, have someone you'd like Laurel to interview, or have a   story or insight to share, please send Laurel an email at [email protected]. Also, please reach out if you’d like to inquire about violin, viola, or fiddle coaching or lessons with Laurel via Skype, FaceTime, or   Zoom.  You're also welcome to post your success story, comments, or suggestions to https://www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic.

Happy Practicing!

Last summer I was honored to chat with Julia Reddy of the Violin Class podcast about life, music, managing our inner critic, improving our self-esteem, and the experience of starting over with technique and getting to the other side. Julia has been on maternity leave, so the episode has just released and I hope you enjoy our conversation! It was nice to revisit what we'd discussed. Please consider subscribing to Julia's podcast for more tips and interviews geared towards helping and inspiring adult violin students.

Check out Julia Reddy's Violin Class podcast https://www.violinclass.co/

~

For more information and info about her performances, recordings, and teaching, please visit host Laurel Thomsen's website https://www.laurelthomsen.com

To check out Laurel's Violin Geek Blog, a companion to the podcast, sharing tips, insight and inspiration since 2007, please visit https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog

If you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related question or topic you’d like to have covered on the Violin Geek podcast or in the blog, have someone you'd like Laurel to interview, or have a story or insight to share, please send Laurel an email  at [email protected]. Also, please reach out if you’d like to  inquire about violin, viola, or fiddle coaching or lessons with  Laurel via Skype, FaceTime, or  Zoom. You're also welcome to post your success story, comments, or  suggestions  to https://www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic.

Happy Practicing!

In this fourth installment of her Intonation Mastery series, violinist/violist, teacher, and host Laurel Thomsen explores common issues within our technique that may contribute to intonation issues, as well as some considerations within our approach to tonality, and tempered versus non-tempered intonation applications (this latter topic is definitely worth a deep dive on another episode in the future!). While listening and practice, the topics covered in previous installments of this series, are probably our best tools to improve intonation, technical problems and tensions can easily hold us back.

Show notes:

Patti Kusturok GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/patti-kusturok-medical-assistance-fund

Laurel's new "Together Again" music video https://youtu.be/M4Rp1TmfCEc

Past Intonation Episodes:

Intonation Mastery #1: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=intonation-mastery-1

Intonation Mastery #2: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=intonation-mastery-2

Intonation Mastery #3: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=intonation-mastery-3-avoiding-external-factors-practicing-for-better-tuning

Conscious Listening https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=conscious-listening-for-great-intonation-and-expression

Intonation Workouts: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=intonation-workout

Past Violin Geek Blog posts about intonation:

Audiation: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=simple-4-step-audiation-procedure-to-clean-up-intonation and https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=student-question-too-tone-deaf-to-play-the-violin

Improve Your Intonation Now: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=improve-your-intonation-now

~

For more information and info about her performances, recordings, and teaching, please visit host Laurel Thomsen's website https://www.laurelthomsen.com

To check out Laurel's Violin Geek Blog, a companion to the podcast,     sharing tips, insight and inspiration since 2007, please visit https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog

If you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related     question or topic you’d like to have covered on the Violin Geek   podcast   or in the blog, have someone you'd like Laurel to interview,   or have a   story or insight to share, please send Laurel an email at [email protected].    Also, please reach out if you’d like to inquire about violin, viola,   or   fiddle coaching or lessons with Laurel via Skype, FaceTime, or   Zoom.  You're also welcome to post your success story, comments, or   suggestions  to https://www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic.

Happy Practicing!

In today's episode we speak with celebrated New England based fiddler and songwriter Lissa Schneckenburger, who's been helping students increase their confidence and improve their skills through her popular ear-training workshop for years, and now as the 14-week self-paced online course, "Learning By Ear." We learn about the inspiration behind the course, why ear-training is an important skill for all musicians, not just fiddlers, and Lissa shares tips for approaching both the rhythmic and melodic challenges we might encounter when trying to learn a tune by ear. Along the way we also enjoy clips of her inspiring fiddling and heartfelt songwriting. 

Show notes:

Lissa’s website https://lissafiddle.com

Lissa's "Learning By Ear" course https://lissafiddle.com/store/learning-by-ear-video-series/

Lissa's new album pre-order and info https://lissafiddle.com/store/new-album-pre-order/

Sign up for Lissa's 100 day practice challenge https://mailchi.mp/3fc4542bc6f1/tune-a-week

Purchase "The Fair Maid by the Sea Shore" and other songs from her album "Song" https://lissafiddle.com/store/song/

Purchase "Petronella," "Lamplighter’s Hornpipe/Suffer the Child," and other songs from her album "Dance" https://lissafiddle.com/store/dance/

Purchase "When My Baby Cries" and other songs from her album "Thunder in My Arms" https://lissafiddle.com/store/thunder-in-my-arms/

About Robert M.  Childs, the maker of Lissa's fiddle and the Childsplay group https://childsplay.org/fiddles.html

~

For more information and info about her performances, recordings, and teaching, please visit host Laurel Thomsen's website https://www.laurelthomsen.com

To check out Laurel's Violin Geek Blog, a companion to the podcast, sharing tips, insight and inspiration since 2007, please visit https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog

If you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related question or topic you’d like to have covered on the Violin Geek podcast or in the blog, have someone you'd like Laurel to interview, or have a story or insight to share, please send Laurel an email at [email protected].  Also, please email if you’d like to inquire about online violin, viola, or fiddle coaching/lessons with Laurel via Skype or FaceTime.  You're also welcome to post your success story or comments about the episode to https://www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic.

Happy Practicing!

In this episode we travel behind the scenes again, into the making of one of the songs Laurel wrote and released earlier this year, along with Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dan Frechette, on their album "After the Fire." This time, Laurel shares the origins of her hopeful and empowering song, If A Wave. We learn about the meaning behind the metaphor heavy lyrics, what factors informed the duo's arrangement choices and Laurel's approach to composing the violin lines, as well as the making of the song's music video which has just been released on YouTube. 

Watch the "If A Wave" music video https://youtu.be/B9TC0m0ZSyo

Listen to and/or download If A Wave or the entire album "After The Fire" on various platforms https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/danfrechetteandlaurelthomsen/after-the-fire

Order physical signed copies or exclusive downloads of the album "After the Fire" https://www.danandlaurel.ca/Shop/

For more about Dan Frechette, including his 100+ albums of original songwriting, please visit https://www.danfrechette.com

Visit Laurel Thomsen's website, with info about her performances, recordings, and teaching can be found at https://www.laurelthomsen.com

Please send Laurel an email at [email protected] if you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related question you’d like answered in her Violin Geek blog or on a podcast, have a topic you'd like her to cover or someone you'd like her to interview, or have a story or insight to share. Also, get in touch if you’d like to inquire about violin, viola, or fiddle coaching or lessons with Laurel via Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom. You're also welcome to  post your success story, comments, or suggestions to www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic.

Happy Practicing!

Ten years since recording the first episodes in this series, violinist/violist, teacher, and host Laurel Thomsen revisits the topic with fresh tips to help you sound more in tune on your violin, viola, cello, or bass. In this episode we cover several factors with our instrument which can affect intonation, as well as tips for how we can approach practice to better support developing good intonation. In the next episodes we'll cover specific exercises, technical concerns, and scale tuning. So enjoy this episode, and stay tuned, literally!

Show notes:

Past Intonation Episodes:

Intonation Mastery #1: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=intonation-mastery-1

Intonation Mastery #2: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=intonation-mastery-2

Conscious Listening https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=conscious-listening-for-great-intonation-and-expression

Intonation Workouts: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=intonation-workout

Past Violin Geek Blog posts about intonation:

Audiation: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=simple-4-step-audiation-procedure-to-clean-up-intonation and https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=student-question-too-tone-deaf-to-play-the-violin

Improve Your Intonation Now: https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog/?id=improve-your-intonation-now

~

For more information and info about her performances, recordings, and teaching, please visit host Laurel Thomsen's website https://www.laurelthomsen.com

To check out Laurel's Violin Geek Blog, a companion to the podcast,    sharing tips, insight and inspiration since 2007, please visit https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog

If you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related    question or topic you’d like to have covered on the Violin Geek  podcast   or in the blog, have someone you'd like Laurel to interview,  or have a   story or insight to share, please send Laurel an email at [email protected].   Also, please reach out if you’d like to inquire about violin, viola,  or   fiddle coaching or lessons with Laurel via Skype, FaceTime, or  Zoom.  You're also welcome to post your success story, comments, or  suggestions  to https://www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic.

Happy Practicing!

In today's episode we speak with Asher Laub, a New York City based Classically trained violinist turned improvising DJ violinist, entertainer, producer, composer, and entrepreneur. We learn about how Asher has been able to chart a unique career path, making a name for himself, performing high energy stage shows across four continents. We discuss gear and the importance of having control over your sound on stage, some of the challenges you might face when transitioning from Classical music into other genres, as well as a major setback Asher experienced and how he was able to get back on his feet. We also hear samples of his song Dreaming Awake and his song Neon Dreams.

Show notes: 

Asher’s website https://www.asherlaub.com

Asher’s music video and recent single “Atlantis” http://found.asherlaub.com/atlantis1

Asher on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/5FmqE64ExrxQPuFUXtgG1H

Asher's song and music video "Gratitude" mentioned in the episode https://youtu.be/K4OKnojV1vY

Asher's Michael Jackson-Palladio Medley music video mentioned in the episode https://youtu.be/iFN7oEuGDXI

LR Baggs Preamps https://www.lrbaggs.com/acoustic-preamps-pedals

The Electric Violin Shop https://www.electricviolinshop.com

Fishman V-300 Concert Series Violin Pickup https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/v-300-concert-series-violin-pickup/

Fishman V-200 Classic Series Professional Violin Pickup https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/v-200-classic-series-professional-violin-pickup/

Fishman V-100 Classic Series Violin/Viola Pickup https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/v-100-classic-series-violin-viola-pickup/

~

For more information and info about her performances, recordings, and teaching, please visit host Laurel Thomsen's website https://www.laurelthomsen.com

To check out Laurel's Violin Geek Blog, a companion to the podcast,   sharing tips, insight and inspiration since 2007, please visit https://www.laurelthomsen.com/violin-geek-blog

If you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related   question or topic you’d like to have covered on the Violin Geek podcast   or in the blog, have someone you'd like Laurel to interview, or have a   story or insight to share, please send Laurel an email at [email protected].  Also, please reach out if you’d like to inquire about violin, viola, or   fiddle coaching or lessons with Laurel via Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom.  You're also welcome to post your success story, comments, or suggestions  to https://www.facebook.com/laurelthomsenmusic.

Happy Practicing!