Service can take many forms. This card from the Inspiration for Violinists card deck suggests playing for nursing home residents and veterans. Both are great ideas but there is so much more we can do with our music and, on more than one day a year. As a young conservatory

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From time to time I’m asked what is the best way to use the Inspiration for Violinists card deck. My answer is that there isn’t any one way to use them. This card deck is a wonderful source of inspiration and support for professional violinists and violin students in their

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I was almost at the last card in the journey through my Inspiration for Violinists card deck, when it felt like a good time to revisit a card about breathing. Prana, a Sanskrit word, in English is defined as life-force or breath of life. Pranayama, written about in the Vedic

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I have heard this game called “hang like a monkey” although the image on this card is of an orangutan.* This is another one of my favorite lessons especially for preteens. There is a subtle lesson of personal empowerment that is taught at the same time. Children don’t often think

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“It flows on and on, and merely fills up all the places through which it flows, it does not shrink from any dangerous spot nor from any plunge, and nothing can make it lose its own essential nature. It remains true to itself under all conditions.”I Ching text.1  The image

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As a musician, whatever your level, your first and foremost responsibility is to express the beat. Communicating beat comes before everything else be it rhythm, intonation, tone, or musical expression. The text on this card gets at how musical elements such as phrasing, dynamics and intonation can affect tempo and

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I have never heard of plagiarism in the performance of music. I don’t think that such a thing exists. I have found that when I try to copy another violinist’s performance, the result is my own unique interpretation.  I’m not sure how this works but it feels like inspiration to

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There are recorded cases of hearing-impaired people “seeing” sound and reports of people who “hear” color. This is called Chromesthesia.1 Additionally, there are people who experience a physical reaction to color and sound. Musicians use color, texture, and even taste and aroma to describe sound. Do you experience visual color

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This is one of my favorite cards in the deck Inspiration for Violinists. Through shamanism, I have learned the meaning of playing music on an instrument in which animal products were used in its production. The caveat is that the instrument needs to be held sacred and used in ceremony.

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“Open the safe and take the money” was the original statement from my former teacher and mentor, Moriah Marston. When editing my cards, friends didn’t understand what this meant and I had trouble explaining it. I understood this statement to mean an alchemical moment when all was possible if I

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