News

James Scott Skinner

A quirky, Scottish Genius On the cover of my old copy of The Scottish Violinist, first published by Bayley & Ferguson in Glasgow in 1900,one finds this inscription: “Talent does what it can; Genius does what it must.” Well, Scott Skinner had many...

An Interview with a Mariachi Musician

[On July 8, 2016 Marie-Helene Vachon interviewed Emma Vachon in Cobourg, on behalf of Violin LessonsNorthumberland. The following is a transcript of the interview.] MHV: So, Emma, what is your background and training as a professional...

In Search of the Perfect Violin…

Every few years I get the urge to try out a new violin. So this spring I ordered a Ming-Jiang Zhu 2013 violin, Guarnerius model. The recipient of many awards, Ming-Jiang Zhu has acquired something of a cult status in the couple of years since his death,...

Summer 2019

Well, once again it's summer - the slow time of the year in any violin studio- and therefore the time of year when I have the luxury of updating this website. So let me begin with a piece of good news: In the "Biography" section of this site, I mention that I studied...