The Violin Geek Podcast

So, you want to play the violin or viola? Where should you start if you don't have a teacher? For the adult beginner or returning player, musician/teacher Laurel Thomsen suggests a team effort of technique videos, technique books, and method/repertoire books to give you the best chance at success on your own. There are an overwhelming variety of videos, books, and methods out there! In this episod...

Get the latest scoop from musician/teacher Laurel Thomsen and in honor of St. Patricks Day hear "Drowsy Maggie", a tune Laurel recorded in 2006 for the CD "Sweetfire". For more about Laurel please visit www.laurelthomsen.com To check out photos, musings, video links, and get updates about Laurel's educational materials and performances, visit "Laurel Thomsen Music" on Facebook and share your suppo...

You've isolated your problem areas. You've practiced them over and over again, and yet, mastery eludes you. Sound familiar? Learn how adding rhythmic variety to challenging passages during your practice helps create fluency, increases passage speed over time, and helps to keep you interested and engaged so every minute of your practice time is effective. A very results-oriented method! To learn mo...

Are you a clock-watcher? Do you stumble through your practice? You'll get much more out of your practice and enjoy it more if you avoid flailing and instead spend focused time isolating and analyzing the issues that cause you to break your creative flow. Today musician/teacher Laurel Thomsen encourages you to identify and overcome problem areas so you can quickly and effectively get back to music...

In this short holiday podcast musician/teacher Laurel Thomsen gives her holiday gift to listeners - 50% off their first month of violin or viola lessons via Skype (also see details/ restrictions below) and also gives a tip for how to approach practice during the holiday season. 50% off Skype lesson offer fine print: -Applies to new students only. -Effective through February 2011 when you mention t...

Come explore quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes. In this podcast musician/teacher Laurel Thomsen demonstrates how to subdivide each note value and guides you in practicing playing each value with a metronome at both a slow and a fast tempos. Finally, you'll learn to combine these notes values to form various rhythms. The possibilities are endless! After you're done with this workout you'll know e...

What do we do if part of us wants to practice regularly, but part of us repeatedly gets in the way? Using an NLP process, musician/teacher Laurel Thomsen shares a way to befriend the "Practice Sabateur" and find a way for this part of you to actually help you develop regular pratice habits. Joyful practicing is the goal today with higher self esteem as the added bonus. Let's end the battle and get...

Sure, when to practice is when you have time, but putting just a bit more thought into it can make your practices more effective. Musician/teacher Laurel Thomsen offers ideas to help you find your best practice times throughout the day and discusses the benefits of bi and tri-daily practice scheduling. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Whether renting or purchasing, no matter what your budget and playing ability is, and even before considering tone and looks, it's important to get an instrument that is playable. Follow these tips to greatly improve the likelyhood that you'll come home with a healthy violin or viola! For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Practice, practice, practice... We have all (hopefully) experienced its benefits so why does it sometimes feel so hard to pick up our instrument and play? Musician/teacher Laurel Thomsen offers tips for what to do when you have limited time, don't know what to start with, or feel overwhelmed and down on yourself about not practicing enough. Learn the importance of clear practice goals and celebrat...

Counting down to the 6 month anniversary of the podcast: Laurel's first "Strings" magazine article is published!! Also learn about a free online music theory resource, possibilities for lessons with Laurel, and an offer to podcast listeners :-) For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice! Tips and ideas to help you start a daily violin or viola practice routine or strengthen the one you have. Today I provide ideas for finding and setting up a practice space. Are you a "Communal Space Practicer" or a "Private Space Practicer"? Why might this matter? Troubleshoot practice area issues, get your supplies in order, and most...

Whether you're new to the violin or viola or you've just taken off the tapes you've used up until now to find your finger placements, today we practice training your ear for in tune 2nd finger placements. We'll cover all the high and low 2nd finger placements on all the strings for both violin and viola and we'll combine these pitches with our open strings to form the intervals of the major and mi...

We all experience negative thoughts about ourselves from time to time. When it's frequent and leads to hopelessness and frustration it can be debilitating to our progress as a musician and have a negative impact on our self esteem. Laurel Thomsen shows us how we can transform our negative self-talk into a vehical to aid us in getting back to and meeting our true needs and desires. If you want to f...

Chromatic tuners, like the ones we can clip to our instrument's scroll, can be great tools to help us develop good intonation skills. However, they can also delay that process if we don't use them to learn why and how we need to make corrections. Get tips on how to use them effectively. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

I have just completed some supplemental worksheets to go along with the Intermediate Intonation Workout Series. Print out the PDF's at http://www.laurelthomsen.com/Podcast_downloads.html Also, learn about a new upcoming episode series and other news about my work and the podcast. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Train your ears for excellent intonation on your violin or viola. Laurel Thomsen helps you tune 9 basic finger patterns on the "C" string in first position. Whew! After this you'll be ready for any strange scales and keys that might come your way. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Train your ears for excellent intonation on your violin or viola. Laurel Thomsen helps you tune 9 basic finger patterns on the "E" string in first position. Whew! After this you'll be ready for any strange scales and keys that might come your way. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Learn to tune the "C" string by ear from a given "C" in this "viola only" episode. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Learn to tune your "E" string by ear from a given "E" in this "violin only" episode. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Athletes have long used visualization to improve performance, and you can too! Today we use a visualization technique to develop the excellent musician in you! Come gain the inner resources you need to achieve success. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Train your ears for excellent intonation on your violin or viola. Laurel Thomsen helps you tune 9 basic finger patterns on the "G" string in first position. Whew! After this you'll be ready for any strange scales and keys that might come your way. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Learn to tune your "G" string by ear from a given "G". For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Beginners and those who need a rhythm brush up - come explore whole, half, and quarter notes. We'll practice playing each of them with a metronome separately at different tempos, and combined to form various rhythms. After you're done with this workout you'll know exactly how to fit these note values to any beat. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com

Train your ears for excellent intonation on your violin or viola. Laurel Thomsen helps you tune 9 basic finger patterns on the "D" string in first position. Whew! After this you'll be ready for any strange scales and keys that might come your way. For more about Laurel check out www.laurelthomsen.com