Musings on ballet, classical music, the violin, and life
The Classical GirlYou stop ballet, you start back up. Life gets in the way. You stop, you start back up. Now here I was in the longest stoppage, ten years, amid an understanding that maybe that was IT for me and ballet. Having a child changes you, changes your body, your priorities, your sense of what you … Read more
The article I just now read is titled “Confessions of an Anonymous Ballet Teacher: Adult Ballet’s Dark Side,” and it’s hilarious and entertaining. I have taken many a ballet class through the years. I briefly taught adult ballet classes, back in the day. I am currently an adult ballet student who, in the studio, is … Read more
Max Bruch, German composer of the Romantic Era, wrote over 200 works. Ask any violinist and they’ll nod, maybe even roll their eyes, saying “of course, the violin concerto. Played it. Everyone student has.” Or heard it. Or heard Bruch’s celebrated Kol Nidrei for Cello and Orchestra. Or his Scottish Fantasy for violin and … Read more
In 2006 the L.A. Daily News published an essay I wrote about a troubling bingo night – yes, such a thing can exist – that helped eased the burden of my parent’s soul. There’s both a comfort and a bittersweet charm in rereading it now, with my son being almost fourteen, and not seven. The gist … Read more
“The Inheritance” by Terez Rose Opal chanced upon the violin the day she went searching in the attic for her husband Stan’s gun. The attic was awash in clutter. She waded through it all, stubbing her toe on the Christmas tree stand and knocking over a stack of boxes. And in the end, no gun … Read more