During the last few weeks, I’ve been reflecting on how I learned to play the violin again. After walking away from the instrument 25 years ago, I started with limited skills, but learned rapidly. I came up with three big factors for success: I took a structured approach, full of…

January was awful. The soundtrack: Hissing and howling, broken by the more heavenly melodies of Mozart. The month started with the uncomfortable decision to send a child to school during a COVID surge, just after he had recovered from major surgery. It continued with a barrage of traumatic messages, delivered…

Last year, I tried to play the Nutcracker and failed. This year, I did it. At the end of this piece, I’ll play a little of the Nutcracker. But before I do, I want to tell you what it means to be able to play it. Last year, around this…

A Thousand Ways to Wear Black — As a competitive violinist, I received a lot of advice. However, the most intrusive suggestions had nothing to do with my playing; it was all about how to dress — particularly since I came from the wrong side of town. In fact, when I recall how I tried to fit…

It’s fall in California, and the cool weather reminds me of one thing: Youth Symphony. The auditions. The challenge system. The constant jockeying for position. It’s the place where, as a teen, I learned how to compete. Here’s what I didn’t learn: That the real white-collar world didn’t play that…

In a World with Too Much Text, the Written Word Needs a Boost — When I dreamed up the idea to start a YouTube channel and an essay series about playing the violin again, I never planned to delve deeply into the video editing. I was focused on the writing. In fact, I was so focused on writing that for the first six months…

Brain science, a cardiac workup, and how the violin is ripping me apart. Literally. April 24, 2021: I woke up extraordinarily cranky after making a lot of headway on the violin. My fingers are back. Somehow I remember this feeling from when I played before. I wonder if cranking up…

A Progress Report from the Reckless Violinist This month, I remembered why I would have never succeeded as a professional violinist. During my teens, I was plagued by the sight of a competitor named K. — a prodigy who had studied with my teacher since she was 3. Like a…

A Parable about Power and Transformation — The day I received a call about a job as a classical music critic, I had already left everything behind. The week before, I had driven across 1,000 miles of desert in a broken-down Ford, on my way to a three-month internship at a mid-sized newspaper in California. I poured…