amelia chan

Holistic & Honing

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Amelia Chan   One word that got thrown around a lot in the early 2000’s was “holistic”. The official definition of “holistic” is “characterized by the belief that the parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole.” The trend was very much about doing things that were supposed […]

Stage Fright & the Nervous System (Part 2)

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Amelia Chan   [Part One]   I cannot even tell you how often students come to me asking for a lesson right before an audition or a performance. Or this: I’ll contact you for a lesson when I’ve practiced and “learned” my piece/program. It is such a classical music world thing where all our lives, […]

Stage Fright & the Nervous System (Part 1)

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Amelia Chan   Just a few thoughts on this huge topic. When it comes to stage fright, first of all I’d like to point out that what I personally find to be a key missing element from most discussions is the WHAT it is. All the following are valid elements in the cause of stage […]

Stamina & “Strengthening”

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Amelia Chan   This video is a clip from a recital a few days ago. Our program was short, but both pieces on there were big ones. Both the Brahms D minor Sonata and the Scherzo require an almost continuous sense of mass and gravity from the tiny violin, even in moments of relative lightness. […]

On Hierarchies & Importance

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Amelia Chan   I like to stay away from describing certain notes being more important than others. To me a piece of music is like a painting. One could not leave out any patch of color or shape in the background of a painting – no matter how small. Literally every color and  shade that […]

On Learning & Listening

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Amelia Chan   I’ve come to find that learning and listening are one and the same. How one receives information determines how much one learns (or listens). Often people stop information from coming in. They hear another person say something, and they immediately convert that to what their own pre-conceived notion of what that thing […]

Perspective & Diversity

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Amelia Chan   I’ve been invited to be a contributor in this collective of movement people and thinkers called ThinkMovement. I was frankly surprised, but so very honored, by this invitation – as these are not only people whom I have a lot of respect for, but also from whom I’ve been learning a ton. […]

Breaking with Tradition

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Amelia Chan   From what I’m hearing, it seems like some people think that I do rehabilitation work, or at least that a part of my work is rehabilitative, sort of like therapy combined with learning how to play the violin. I can see how that can be misconstrued, based on my Instagram posts on […]