Julia Bushkova: ViolinClass

In his seminal textbook, L’art du violon, the legendary violin teacher Pierre Baillot – a disciple of Kreutzer who, still today, influences the violin program at the Paris Conservatoire – crowned the violin the king of musical instruments and cautioned readers that it is the most difficult instrument to play and that amateurs would be better off dedicating their time to something else.  Fast forward two hundred years and legendary violin teacher Julia Bushkova (University of North Texas) is teaching forty-three thousand students the basics of violin playing through her YouTube channel @ViolinClassUSA.  Why is that?  Has the human musician advanced so much since Baillot’s time?  Or is it because the global talent pool has grown exponentially due to the Great-Power consensus of the Post-War era?  Or maybe Julia’s violin method and the technology she harnesses to impart it, are simply more efficient at training exceptional violinists than a séjour at the Paris Conservatoire.  Come welcome Julia Bushkova, arguably today’s most influential violin teacher, to our show for a look at how new technologies are transforming even the most conservative schools of thought.  

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