Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
APRIL 12, 2026 – (Cont.) A few hours later, I summoned bow and Italian model from the case and warmed up—first with a dozen scales, then with a movement of a Bach partita, unaccompanied, as my favorite “etude.” Next, I re-established Dvořák on the piano music rack and re-positioned my iPhone to record my playing. …
APRIL 11, 2026 – (Cont.) At the ready were my bow and “Italian model”—the sobriquet I assigned to my modern Italian violin, which I’d purchased to bump up standards after the inaugural year of the “Under the Roof” concerts. With jittery hands I placed the sheet music version of Dvořák on the piano music rack …
APRIL 10, 2026 – (Cont.) I’ve been asked to play my violin at the memorial service (for class members no long with us) at our upcoming 50th college class reunion. The occasion contrasts starkly with my “Fiddler Under the Roof” winter concerts, which featured wild and crazy PowerPoint slide shows, hors d’oeuvres and wine (for …
APRIL 9, 2026 – By way of background for new subscribers who are most unacquainted with me, I hail from a family of professional violinists. It all started with our Grandfather, whose mother had died when he was an infant, and whose father, a Swedish immigrant who worked ungodly hours as a Minneapolis streetcar conductor, …
AUGUST 30, 2025 – (Cont.) My second memorable experience with an invalid assumption occurred two years later. By way of background . . . I was still very much embattled over the violin: my parents wanted me to study it seriously, whereas I wanted nothing to do with it. But by now things had gotten …
DECEMBER 14, 2023 – (Cont.) While listening to the Bartok on the drive to the Red Cabin, I reacted as I always have when listening to a “war horse” of the violin repertoire[1]: “Hmmm, now that passage [or movement, even] I could play . . . with a little practice” and . . . “Uh …
DECEMBER 13, 2023 – Today marks my 38th consecutive day of practicing my violin. I know this statistic is as interesting as my record of days-in-a-row of dental flossing (14,697), but for me work on the violin has special significance. First, it follows months of zero practice. Second, it’s produced results. Third, it’s driven by …
JANUARY 20, 2023 – When I was a kid, I couldn’t bear being inside on a nice day, especially in the summer. That was half the reason I hated the violin. Whether Mother was nagging me to practice or Dad was dragging me to a Saturday lesson, I couldn’t stand being indoors when I could be …
NOVEMBER 6, 2021 – I don’t want to divulge to anyone—me, in particular—even an approximation of how long I’d gone without practicing before yesterday evening. The long passage of silence shattered what the famous Polish pianist (and president), Ignace Paderewski (1860 – 1941) said about practicing: “If I miss one day’s practice, I notice it. …
JANUARY 31, 2021 – Grandpa Nilsson would’ve turned 130 today. He died long ago, but his influences thrive. The greatest was musical, with hardscrabble origins. Grandpa’s mother died when he was 18 months old, a month following his infant sister’s death. Grandpa’s immigrant father, Johan, carried on, working 16-hour days as a Minneapolis streetcar conductor …
DECEMBER 21, 2020 – I’m currently studying a piece (Anton Dvořák’s Romance for Violin) with the marking molto espressivo (Italian for, “very expressive”) at the violin’s initial entrance. I’ve always been amused by such a marking, for it implies that only when you’re told explicitly should you be . . . expressive. But isn’t all …
DECEMBER 12, 2020 – Recently I re-instituted a daily discipline: practicing my violin. This consists of scales and arpeggios, a movement of a Bach partita, then 20 minutes of new repertoire work—currently, Dvorak’s Romance. Who knows—maybe the pandemic will end and my piano collaborator and I can work up the Dvorak to house concert quality. …
OCTOBER 3, 2020 – I discovered escapism at the Gilombardo School of Music. The “program” every Saturday of my sixth and seventh grade school years involved a 40-minute drive to Minneapolis for classes in solfege and music theory, a private lesson, orchestra rehearsal, a brief visit with my grandfather, who lived nearby, and the trip …
December 9, 2019 – Yesterday I came off a satisfying practice session with my good friend and piano collaborator, Sally S. As I drove away, I said to myself, “That piece is coming along.” We plan to perform it at our annual house concerts—this time in the spring. “That piece” is the Mendelssohn violin concerto. …
JULY 23, 2019 – Yesterday, after the usual entanglements at work, I went home and wrestled with our overgrown shrubbery. After giving major haircuts and gathering up, then piling up the clippings, I was ready for something more relaxing . . . like practicing my violin. What was I thinking?! On my scale, so to …
MAY 20, 2019 – I don’t know of a single accomplished string player, however gifted or endowed with genius, who didn’t practice. Hard. Just as every NBA star has practiced 10,000 free throws, so has every string star practiced 10,000 scales. Jascha Heifetz, among the most extraordinary violinists ever, once quipped that if he were …