In this sample violin lesson from the Online Violin School with Nathan Cole, he takes you through an important piece for violin auditions -  the Kreutzer Etude #1.

This Kreutzer Etude is a very versatile piece that can vary greatly in the amount of difficulty based on the tempo you play it.  What makes it unique in that it is actually harder when it is played slower. The challenge is saving the bow to play all the beats at the particular tempo while maintaining your tone, and also playing dynamics that don’t match with the bow placement (reverse dynamics).

Because the placement of the bow are in reverse of the conventional and advantageous placements, it is important to remember other important variables of bow control while practicing this etude which include:

Chuck Loeb is scheduled to appear on iRockJazz.com's iRockJazzLive! on Tuesday, May 13th at 6pm PDT. This one hour video segment will be streamed live on their website and then archived for future access. Chuck will speak with the show's host and take phone calls from members of the audience. Tune in live at the link to be a part of the broadcast: iRockJazz Live! with Chuck Loeb

For more info and to check out previous guests visit http://irockjazz.com/irock-jazz-live/ and follow them on Twitter @iRockJazz.

UPDATE: Watch the full broadcast below

American Public Media has featured Mike Marshall's "Mandolin Concerto No. 1" on their program Performance Today. In Hour 2 of the broadcast, they play the full Mandolin Concerto which Mike composed himself for the New Century Chamber Orchestra and was influenced by his love for bluegrass as well as Bach.

For more information on the New Century Chamber Orchestra visit their website at ncco.org.

We're pleased to bring you another "Profile in Online Learning," this time a violin student named Boyoung who plays in the Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra where she goes to college. 

AW: How long have you been playing violin? 

Boyoung: I have been playing violin since I was in 3rd grade - about 10 years now. I played piano prior to picking up the violin, since I was 6 years old, so I didn’t have to learn to read music when I started taking violin lessons. My learning curve took off very fast from my background in piano. I did start later than many of my peers, but I would say because of my early piano background, I was never at a disadvantage. 

We're pleased to bring you another "Profile in Online Learning," this time a violin student named Boyoung who plays in the Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra where she goes to college. 

AW: How long have you been playing violin? 

Boyoung: I have been playing violin since I was in 3rd grade - about 10 years now. I played piano prior to picking up the violin, since I was 6 years old, so I didn’t have to learn to read music when I started taking violin lessons. My learning curve took off very fast from my background in piano. I did start later than many of my peers, but I would say because of my early piano background, I was never at a disadvantage. 

Music Radar has put together a list of "10 Essential Bass Albums" as chosen by Nathan East. Check out the list below to see which ones you're missing, or click on the link to read what Nathan has to say about each one.

• Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius (1976)
• Weather Report - Heavy Weather (1977)
• Tower of Power - Back To Oakland (1974)
• Steely Dan - Aja (1977)
• Chaka Kahn - Naughty (1980)
• Earth, Wind & Fire - That's The Way Of The World (1975)
• Graham Central Station - Graham Central Station (1974)
• Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (1971)
• Quincy Jones - Body Heat (1974)
• Anita Baker - Compositions (1990)
  

The Great Guitars - Martin Taylor, Frank Vignola, Vinny Raniolo, and Peppino D'Agostino, were filmed by Barry Cleveland of Guitar Player magazine at Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland, California on the first night of their recent US Tour.

You can also check out Martin, Frank, Vinny, and Peppino in action at Yoshi's by going to the Guitar Player link...

There's a new documentary about Béla Fleck called How to Write a Banjo Concerto which recently premiered at the Nashville Film Festival. As the trailer shows, it follows Béla Fleck on a musical journey where he works with the Nashville Symphonic Orchestra for his Concerto for Banjo and Symphony Orchestra titled The Impostor, which was released on CD last summer. The documentary also features Earl Scruggs, Tony Trischka, Edgar Meyer, Abigail Washburn, Chris Thile, Chick Corea, his namesake Béla Bartok and more. You can hear a preview of the album below - find out more at Béla's website and check the documentary website for upcoming screenings of How to Write a Banjo Concerto.

"I'm very critical of my work because I know where I should be and where I am. You have to be an eternal student to the game, you have to be a student of art. Anything that I do gets me better, and every time I know that I haven't arrived, it makes me better and makes me grow. Because there's no ceiling in art." - Justin BUA

Justin BUA was recently interviewed by talk show host Pete Holmes on his Podcast "You Made It Weird." It's a very casual and intimate conversation about art, veganism, and a whole lot more. Click the player below to hear the full interview or check it out from the Nerdist.com! 

Howard Levy stays busy - between adding new online harmonica lessons here and keeping up with all his students, he still manages to play shows around the world with some very diverse musicians. Just recently he played three unique concerts worth mentioning:

4/4/14: Harmonica Convergence III - Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 

Featuring: Howard Levy, Corky Siegel, Pablo Fagundes, James Conway, Windy City Trio (Ron Agnew, Bud Boblink, and Bill Morris), Marcus Moraes, Kay Kim, Chris Siebold, Kalyan Pathak

"This was the third one of these that I have done at NU. Everyone’s playing was stellar, especially Pablo and Marcos. I had the pleasure of playing Jacob do Bandolim’s 'Santa Morena' with them, which was a joy. I was also the MC of the event. For my featured numbers, I performed the Bach Em Flute Sonata with pianist Kay Kim, as well as a set with Chris Siebold on guitar. We added Kalyan Pathak on tablas for my tune 'Raga Fantasy' and on dumbek for the Macedonian song 'Jovano, Jovanke.' For the finale, Corky Siegel led everyone in a Blues jam. The large audience loved it, and I hope that we can do more of these." - Howard

The Online Jazz Guitar School with Chuck Loeb is NOW OPEN! We asked Chuck how he's feeling about his new adventure teaching jazz guitar with ArtistWorks and he had a lot to say:

"I am super excited about the launch of my Jazz Guitar School with ArtistWorks. It is the perfect time and the perfect format for me to finally be able to share my love and experiences playing jazz guitar. I am looking forward to the surprises I will get from the students. As I've said [in other interviews], the ArtistWorks format with the online curriculum and Video Exchanges is just the format I was looking for - and it obviously works, based on all the wonderful teachers that have been doing it before me: John Patitucci, Martin Taylor, Nathan East, Howard Levy [to name a few]! It is just the right situation and model for me.