Traveling, traveling… A few weeks ago I attended the Violin Society of America conference held in Cleveland, Ohio. It was a wonderful event full of information sharing, access to specialized vendors, seeing old friends and making new ones,… and a huge room full of gorgeous instruments.

I decided it was a good opportunity while up there and along my way back home to North Carolina, to arrange a tour to visit  some music schools and make contact with students, teachers and professional musicians. I was able to display my violins and violas (and a classical guitar) at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University, and West Virginia University.

While in Rochester, NY we arranged a house party for members of the violin and viola sections of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (thanks to my daughter Willa and her good friends Matt and Molly of the RPO!) to socialize, eat, drink and play my instruments. What a great time! I also had on hand a nice selection of older French bows for players to try, provided by my friend Alex Reza, owner of the shop “Violins of Omaha“.

Down in Pittsburgh, on a much smaller scale, Jennifer Orchard, of the PSO and Clarion Quartet, dropped in at the friend’s home I was staying at and gave my one remaining fiddle a nice workout.

In all, three violins and three bows went out on audition. I love interacting with musicians face to face and getting their responses to my instruments. It is so instructive to see what they respond to positively and where they make constructive criticism. Best of all is seeing the light that shines when they make a real connection to a violin or viola — it’s just a joy to behold.

If any of this sounds fun or useful to you, please get in touch! I’d like to put together another tour some time soon to visit schools and symphony players.