While I’ve been researching my article on violinists who’ve crossed musical borderlines, for Sinfini Music, I found myself debating with myself (a bad habit). What gives violin stars the right to pick up another genre? Of course there’s no such thing as rights when it comes to music, but there is a certain sense of appropriateness (or appropriation). I wouldn’t go on stage at the Festival Hall and play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto if I didn’t have complete control of the n

Responses to my post about Menuhin's vibrato drew a mixture of responses. I’d remarked on it being ‘perfectly shaped’ and ‘fluid’ and many loved it, but some people disagreed, saying it was too tight and fast, and hated it. I wasn’t sure what to think, so I went to the magical library that is the internet to find out. Where better place to learn about vibrato than from Leopold Auer, the legendary teacher of Mischa Elman, Nathan Milstein, Jascha Heifetz and Toscha Zeidel, amon

I came across this footage of Menuhin playing Bach's 'Air on the G String'. Just look at his left hand – is that not the most perfectly shaped hand, the most fluid, beautiful vibrato you have ever seen? To quote Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot: 'It's like Jell-O on springs!' No comment on his right arm and bow changes, though – maybe that's why he's not looking very happy! #menuhin #bach #vibrato #violin #playing #view