Good afternoon, Nostr ☀️ It’s been a few days since I’ve posted. I’ve been in crunch time finishing a new piece I’m composing! It’s nearly done, but I’m deep in the orchestration phase right now, so things are full on. I thought today I’d share something I haven’t done yet on Nostr: a real “work-in-progress”. I’ve actually been working on this piece since I started posting on Nostr at the beginning of August!! So I’m excited and nervous to share a bit of it. It’s called “lost child” and it’s written for solo violin (that’s me) with live electronics and full orchestra. The piece explores two ideas. On one hand, it’s a reflection on childhood… that part of life that feels lost once you’ve grown up. On the other, it ties into the concert’s theme of “finding home”. The story of the music follows a child lost in a strange, sometimes frightening world, and they’re trying to find their way home. Guided by the sound of a family whistle (something my own family has to find each other in crowds or across distances), eventually the child finds their way home. And home for me in this piece is the love and safety one feels with family. The clip I’m sharing today is the opening of the piece. It begins with electronics (which you won’t hear in this version), then the orchestra enters, and finally the solo violin. You’ll see me playing along with a “virtual instrument playback” from my score, and later I show a bit of the score itself with the green playback line moving through it!! So stay to the end to see that :) It’s a longer video, but I hope you’ll stick around for a glimpse into this project that’s been a major part of my life these past few months. The premiere’s at the end of November — almost there! I hope you enjoy this little window into “lost child”🎻 I’d love to hear your questions and comments! #musicstr

Good morning, Nostr ☀️ I hope you’re having a great morning so far. I think I’m on a bit of a Bach kick lately! Today I was thinking about another one of his most famous pieces… the Air in G, which is actually the second movement (an “Air”) from his Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major. You’ve probably heard it before… at weddings, in churches… it’s everywhere, and for good reason. It’s one of the most serene, reverent, and heartfelt pieces of music I know. There’s something so deeply human about it, like Bach somehow captured pure love and beauty in sound. Here I’m just playing the first phrase, which then repeats. In the repeat, I add a few little ornaments on the melody, which was a common practice at the time. I hope you enjoy this little bit of Bach’s Air, and that it brings some joy and peace into your morning. 🎻 #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 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

Good morning, Nostr 🎻🎹 I hope you’re having a great day. Today I’m sharing a little improvisation where I’m playing both violin and piano. You’ve seen me do this before… I’ll play something on the piano with my left hand, then jump back and forth to the violin. But near the end of this one, I got inspired to try playing both instruments at the same time! That means my left hand is playing the piano, while my right hand bows open strings on the violin. So no left-hand notes on the violin, just resonance and rhythm. This one feels full of a kind of pomp and nobility, upright energy and passion. I love thinking of music as a way to express different characters or emotional colors, and that’s a big part of how I compose too. It’s amazing how sound can take on such precise shades of mood and meaning… often I don’t even know where it comes from. Anyway, here’s what came out today. Hope you enjoy! #musicstr

Good morning, Nostr 🌞 Hope you’re having a great day wherever you are! Today I’m playing something a little fiddly. Sometimes I like to try to improvise a tune, rather than improvise totally freely. It’s a fun exercise… to try to come up with a melody that feels memorable, something to repeat, something that could become a real tune. It’s really more like composing in real time. I’m thinking about melody, shape, structure, variation, and groove, all in the moment. I really liked the melody that came out at the beginning here and tried to circle back to it at the end (not sure I totally nailed it, but that’s part of the fun!). I also really like the groove in this one. I think it has definite potential to grow into a real tune someday. 🎻✨ Hope you enjoy, and have a wonderful day! #musicstr