resources - From me, to you
Arrangemets, Violin Exercises, Advice, More
Exercises and warm-ups
for Mastery
of violin technique
Coming Soon
Fourth Finger Strength
Humans are born with weak pinky fingers, but Violinists must have a strong fourth finger- at least as strong as the other three fingers. Advanced Violinists must exercise and keep in shape the Abudctor Digiti Minimus (singular) in the left hand.
I have written exercises that will strengthen the ADM. They must be performed carefully and slowly, and for a long period of time to avoid injury.
Christmas caprice No.1 - for sale online
Nathanael writes and arranges his own virtuosic violin music.
Here, you can sample a few, and buy for download.
orchestral excerpts
What are Excerpts and why are they important?
A large majority of professional musicians in the world spend much of their career playing in orchestras, performing with orchestras, and of course auditioning for orchestras. Orchestra Auditions are incredibly common for us, but they are not discussed widely because there is so much failure for the average performer. Generally an orchestra will only have one opening at a time, and hold an open audition that will garner the attention of tens if not hundreds of candidates looking for a job.
Many professional musicians who have studied at the highest level, with the greatest teachers still try 20, 30, or more times until being named as a winner at an orchestra audition.
At an audition, musicians are expected to perform a number of common Orchestral Excerpts taken from larger works. Each one usually consists of about 2 or less minutes of music, and they are usually the most challenging parts of a piece.
After holding auditions for hundreds of years, many orchestras have begun to choose the same excerpts to a very predictable level. The common excerpts therefore become very important to master.