Shar Music Blog

I've been thinking a lot lately about Mark O'Connor's blog articles, especially his most recent ones "The American Violin" and "Suzuki Has Gone Fiddlin'." The comments section of Mr. O'Connor's blog, especially the "Suzuki Has Gone Fiddlin'" article,…

… besides how to play Italian songs with as much schmaltz as possible and how to avoid stabbing the servers with my bow.

The Value of a Music Degree – Redux

Posted by Val Jaskiewicz 

Six years ago, SHAR apprentice Alberta Barnes posted a blog entitled, “The Value of a Music Degree”. That single article has proven to be the most popular blog SHAR has ever posted. Alberta…

SHAR Music is proud to announce the winners of its third annual Quartet Competition!

One of my favorite bars in Ann Arbor is Old Town Tavern: it's laid-back, unpretentious, and while the food isn't anything to write home about, it's decent bar fare. The drinks are reasonably priced, but not so cheap that you get college students passed…

              (photo by Georg Schroll)I'm not sure if anyone out there in the vast, interstellar space of the Interwebs read the Sunday article in the New York Times Magazine on Jonny Greenwood, the Radiohead guitarist and composer extraordinaire.The article…

Your wildest dreams just came true: we're taking submissions for our blog. Write a blog entry for us and share tips and stories with other teachers, students, and musicians. Have your say. Speak your mind. But first check out the details below.Call for…

SHAR is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. I can't help but get all self-conscious about the celebrations and wonder how Stephen Colbert would respond to institutional birthdays. I also admit that SHAR is a good and decent company after all and…

Mark O'Connor's approach to American classical music is not just innovative – it's democratic.

Though much of the rhetoric about American schools has been focused on math and science, test scores, and the growing gap between the quality of education in the United States and other first-world nations, the value of the arts and humanities in…