Next month, on December 10, 7 PM, STEA is presenting a Holiday Concert at First Presbyterian Church (Kingsport) which will benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank! We will be collecting Food Items or donations which will be used by the Food Bank to help those in need this Christmas season. One of the great things […]
We periodically purchase beautiful STEA polo shirts in a shade of red to remind us of the visual themes of our website, emblazoned with the embroidered STEA logo of music and mountains over the heart! STEA students are sometimes asked to wear these shirts when we perform as a group at various outreach activities so […]
In honor of the 4th of July, I thought it appropriate to discuss a piece of music that was specifically written for something that will occur quite loudly today – fireworks! G.F. Handel was a baroque composer who lived roughly around the same time as J.S. Bach. In the Suzuki violin world, we know Handel […]
During the summer, I used to travel all over creation, teaching summer Institutes, reuniting with colleagues, meeting fantastic Suzuki families, reinforcing the ‘big picture’ of the national and international presence of Suzuki Method. One major downside was being away from my own family. Another big problem for me was losing so much valuable teaching time […]
Learning an instrument is hard work – no bones about it. It could be the piano, cello, flute, or any instrument. In this case, my instrument is the violin. For a Suzuki family, there should always be a team. The student, the teacher, and the parent. Many times it is easy to focus on the […]
I am currently attending the Virginia Suzuki Institute, which is handily located 10 miles from my residence in Abingdon, VA. I’m studying with Suzuki Master Teacher Libby Armour (from Memphis, TN) and learning lots of instructional tips and tricks, as well as advice on playing, practicing, etc. I hope to be able to share some […]
In honor of STEA’s recent performance of J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, I thought I’d start a little series of blog posts on Bach and his contemporaries. Johann Sebastian Bach is perhaps best known for his prolific writing of music – he apparently composed over 1,000 pieces of music during his 65 years of […]
It is easy to stereotype music, and culture. It is easy to stereotype them together as well – for instance, to state that all eastern music sounds the same. Often times, it does, to an untrained ear. Many of us on this side of the world are only accustomed to Western sounds, thoughts, and ideas. […]
Scheherazade (movement 1) Last fall, the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra performed “Scheherazade” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. I played in the 1st violin section of the Symphony at the time. It is a wonderful piece of music, I jokingly nick-named it the “Disney Symphony” because so many sections of it seem to have inspired other music for […]
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