Editor's Note: The following blog post originally appeared on Arnold Steinhardt's blog In the Key of Strawberry and is republished with permission. Steinhardt is the founding member of the Guarneri String Quartet and the author of two books: Violin Dreams and Indivisible by Four. For more stories visit here or follow on Twitter.

We invited legendary electric violinist Tracy Silverman to tell us about what inspired him to create his groundbreaking new books on Strum Bowing. Simply put: There was no defined pedagogy for learning the rhythmic bowing required for non-classical styles, such as jazz, rock and others. Because of this, the violin and other bowed string instruments have essential taken their place as melodic instruments, with little to no role in providing rhythm to an ensemble. Tracy Silverman’s books are destined to greatly broaden the role of stringed instruments in music making across genres, by enabling classical players to expand their repertoire of techniques. This fascinating article shines a light on how this situation has come about, and how the new pedagogy will enable any player to develop the tools needed to become a Total Violinist.

Musicians are generous – they create music and share it with everyone. They teach, enabling others to experience the joy of creating music. And in the heartland of America, the Omaha Chamber Music Society is making sure that all students who attend Title I secondary schools in Omaha also gain this opportunity through their amazing Good Vibrations program.

SHAR is proud to be a supporter the Good Vibrations program, which is described by Omaha Chamber Music Society violist Judy Divis, founder of the program. Judy’s story is about generosity, and how a community of superb musicians and partners came together to share their passion, passing the baton to a new generation.

- Val Jakiewicz

Five years ago SHAR asked people to send in their #caseconfessions photos, showing everything in your case except the instrument and bow - old rosin and cleaning cloths, tuners, random toys, photos, and whatever else you need with you and your instrument to survive! You can see some of those photos in that blog from 2013! Now we are kicking off #caseconfessions again, but this time on Instagram! So, take this opportunity to vacuum out that rosin dust, finally remove that old photo of your ex, and show us the deepest darkest secrets from inside of your case! Just post to Instagram (or Facebook or Twitter if you don't have it) the contents of your case, use the #caseconfessions hashtag and tag us!

In his last SHAR blog post, Christian Howes introduced us to his Creative Strings Academy and the pedagogy that he developed especially for string players. In this new article, Christian shares the lessons of a master.

The string instrument community is growing more diverse and innovative each day. SHAR's goal is to offer all the support and resources that we can to help the string community navigate this ever-changing industry. With that in mind, we want to officially present our newly-designed website and our first ever interactive eCatalog for Fall 2018!

For many classical string players, sticking with classical music is enough. In fact, it’s plenty. After all, the repertoire is incredible, and the technique required to play it is both challenging to learn and rewarding to use. But for others, it is simply not enough, or perhaps not a perfect fit.

The Total Violinist is a seeker, never satisfied with the status quo because they are an explorer at heart. Most of these artists have taken unique paths in their careers, sometimes smooth, sometimes anything but smooth. Because they are artists, they continually create and share their creations with others.

Christian Howes is such an artist. His story is a story of struggle and triumph, of seeking authenticity and of becoming the best version of himself. His passion is to help others discover their own musical passions and become the best musicians they can be.

Val Jaskiewicz

Editor's Note: The following blog post originally appeared on Arnold Steinhardt's blog In the Key of Strawberry and is republished with permission. Steinhardt is the founding member of the Guarneri String Quartet and the author of two books: Violin Dreams and Indivisible by Four. For more stories visit here or follow on Twitter.

Most of us violinists (as well as violists, cellists and bassists) are our most comfortable in an orchestra setting. Of course, the music is fantastic, and usually very challenging to learn and play. But learn and play we do, after woodshedding our parts carefully at home. Our teachers have been able to impart their technical and musical know-how to allow us to learn difficult pieces on our own. We take those skills, now finely honed, to the concert hall, where we deeply breathe in the joy of a beautiful performance, in amazing rhythm with our colleagues. If we’re lucky, our family and friends in the audience will enjoy our performance as much as we do.

After weeks of deliberation over your photo contest entries, we have selected winner for this year’s Spring 2018 Photo Contest! We had huge number of submissions this year, which made our job even harder. Of all the wonderful photos we received, we selected a Grand Prize winner that will received a $250 SHAR gift certificate, and a few honorable mentions.

Since we received such a high volume of high quality photos, we are likely to use many of them in future SHAR catalogs, promotions and emails. For those that we end up publishing, you will receive an email offering a $25 SHAR gift certificate at the time of publication. 

Now, here is the moment we’ve all been waiting for…