Love this! I totally know what you mean. What have you been listening to lately?

Good evening, Nostr ⭐️ In case you missed it earlier, here’s a viola improv alongside one of my favourite orchestral works: Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2. What does it remind you of?

Morning!

Good morning, Nostr 🌅 Still on viola today in preparation before my recording gig tomorrow. This morning I was listening to Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2, one of my favorite orchestral works. In the opening, “Lever du Jour” (“Daybreak”), Ravel paints the sunrise so beautifully, with everything slowly waking up, light spreading. I couldn’t resist improvising a viola line over it, just for fun. Hope you enjoy this little morning sunrise duet with Ravel 😊 #musicstr

Good morning, Nostr ☀️ I hope you’re doing well. Today I’m sharing a short phrase from one of the most gorgeous pieces of music I know, the Piano Trio in A minor by Maurice Ravel, written in 1914 (111 years old!) This is from the third movement, the Passacaille (Passacaglia), which is a form built on a repeating bass line that comes back again and again, with the music slowly evolving above it. Here I’m playing the first moment where the violin enters, after the piano and cello have already begun. It’s such a beautiful, solemn, and deeply reverent passage, and one of my favorites in all of chamber music. If you haven’t heard the whole piece before, I highly recommend giving it a listen, just search “Ravel Piano Trio A minor” on YouTube. The Beaux Arts Trio recording is a classic. Hope you enjoy this little phrase from one of my favorite works of chamber music. 🎻 #musicstr

Good evening, Nostr 🎵🌙 Today I played a special and personal tune… a French hymn called “Il est né, le divin enfant”. This is something my mum used to sing to me as a lullaby when I was very young. I tried to capture that lullaby feeling in my version on violin below 👇 I hope you enjoy it 🙂

Good evening, Nostr 🌙 In case you missed it earlier… I’m back on viola this week, warming up for a recording session on Saturday. This morning I shared a little improv inspired by Bach’s C major cello suite, same key (in minor), but a totally different vibe. Hope you enjoy if you haven’t seen it yet!

Good afternoon, Nostr ☀️ Hope you’re having a great weekend! Coming at you a little later than usual today. This morning I did some errands, grabbed groceries, picked up a few things at Home Depot… and then sat down to play a bit of Bach. Somehow I haven’t shared any Bach on here yet, even though he’s been such a big part of my musical life on both violin and viola! Today I picked up the Prélude to the Second Suite in D minor for solo cello (BWV 1008). Violists don’t have any Bach written specifically for their instrument so we’re always stealing both the violin and cello repertoire 👀 You probably know the Prélude from the First Suite in G major (Yo-Yo Ma plays it all the time), but this D minor one is quieter, more introspective. It feels like Bach’s spiritual side. I learned it years ago but had to bring it back for an audition recently, and it was my favorite thing to play on that list. Here I’m just sharing the first dozen or so measures. I hope you enjoy this bit of Bach for your Saturday afternoon 🎻 #musicstr

Good morning, Nostr ☀️ Hope you’re having a great day. This week I’m on viola duty, getting my chops back in shape for a recording session on Saturday. This morning I started with a little Bach, the Prelude from the C major Cello Suite, just as a warm-up. Then I drifted into some improvising in C minor, but still carrying that Bach energy with me. I recorded a little bit of that improv session and you’ll hear those Bach inspired descending scales and flowing lines, but filtered through my own semi-fiddly, semi-jazzy style on viola. It’s funny…. when I listened back, I realized it sounds nothing like Bach, and yet I can feel his influence everywhere in it! Somehow it’s all connected on a subconscious level. Hope you enjoy, and have a great day. #musicstr

Good afternoon, Nostr 🌞 Coming at you a little later today… had a busy morning, but I managed to record a little viola improvisation that I’m excited to share. I realized it’s been a while since I’ve featured the viola here, so it felt good to pick it up again. It’s really starting to feel like fall here! The trees out my back window are just blazing with fall colors, and that cozy autumn feeling found its way into this improv. It’s built around a simple chord progression that I kept cycling through. It’s of kind of a happy, boppy, slightly fiddly vibe, in the tenor voice of my viola! Hope you’re all having a great day and that you can bop along to this little fall tune with me 🍁🎻 #musicstr

Hehe! Thanks! Maybe it’s a mandola??

Good morning, Nostr 🎻 I hope you all had a great weekend! It was a long holiday weekend here, so I took some time to rest and spend time with family, and now I’m back at it. Today’s video is a fun one (for me, anyway!). I was recently inspired by some Baroque music I heard, and in the Baroque period, or in “historical performance practice”, string instruments were/are actually tuned quite a bit lower than they are today. Usually about a half step lower, or a semitone. That lower tuning gives the strings a mellower, warmer sound. The strings are literally less tightly strung, so less tension = a mellower sound. So in this video here I’ve tuned my violin a half step down in that Baroque tuning just to explore what that feels like. It’s funny, though… it totally messed with my ears! I’m so used to the modern tuning… I have a connection of ear to left hand fingers. So in this baroque tuning my fingers are going down, my ear is expecting a certain note, but then what comes out is a semitone lower! So that mind–ear–finger connection felt totally out of whack! Anyway, here’s a mellow, exploratory improv in Baroque tuning… just enjoying the softer color and trying to play in tune! Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions about Baroque tuning or historical performance practice. #musicstr

Good night, Nostr 🌿🎻 The sun’s gone, my plant and I are calling it a day. Sharing my pizzicato viola improv in case you missed it earlier!

Good afternoon, Nostr ☀️🎻 Just a fun little pizzicato improv on the viola today! I was running out the door but wanted to share something quick before the day got away. Inspired by the sunshine and my lovely green houseplant. 🌿 Hope you enjoy! #musicstr

Another nice mix by 🙌