Nathan Cole - violin
There is method to the mastery
I recently got an email from a longtime reader and friend asking for help with one of those fast and loud pieces that never seems to give you a break. He said his arm was getting tired, and I assumed …
Continue Reading about Rid yourself of damaging left hand tension: find your MVP →
Step back with me to August of 2004. It was summertime in Chicago, I had just started dating Akiko, and I was about to fly across the world for my first ever international competition. …
Continue Reading about What does Zigeunerweisen sound like with no E string? →
Before my first rehearsal as a member of the Chicago Symphony, I asked my grandfather how I’d know the exact moment to come in after Barenboim’s downbeat. “Ha! You’ll know.” I had hoped for …
Continue Reading about Robert Cole (1923-2016): flutist, teacher, Grandpa →
Of all string techniques, violin vibrato is the most misunderstood. In fact, I feel sorry for him: sometimes people talk about him like he's the most important guy in the room: "You're the …
Continue Reading about Violin vibrato: how to make it flexible and effortless →
Seconds before the chairman of the jury announced my name and program at the 1994 American String Teachers Association national competition finals, he asked me what piece I would be playing in …
Continue Reading about Out of shape and short on time? Lose the etudes, grab these excerpts →
“Wouldn’t it be amazing if we were bodybuilders?” my wife asked me last month, after a tough practice day. “After all the pain, we could walk down the street and people would actually see how hard …
Continue Reading about Practice like a bodybuilder: slow, steady and super strong! →
