Yesterday was the last day of the Charleston International Music School Summer Festival. Ruben and I are ecstatic and exhausted from everything involved in putting together this intense 2-week experience, for the second time. Next year we have more people involved so we will accept cello and viola students as well. It's deeply rewarding to watch these young musicians from different places, nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, grow and connect with each other. I get butterflies from seeing how they have the courage to play with passion, to seek excellence in their playing and to support each other. And here's an insider tip for you. The dress rehearsals are more fun to watch than the performances. I almost stop breathing when I'm in a dress rehearsal because it's so exciting to watch the musicians perform and get last-minute teaching from Ruben. Over time, you tend see similar results over and over, kind of like the same things we go through repeatedly. Read more »

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Normally I do not take my 12-year-old daughter with me when I go to nightclubs. (I won't go into how abnormal it is for me to visit nightclubs these days.) Saturday night was an exception because her sister, Miranda, was performing at Music Farm with the band The Makeshift. As Miranda is a classical violinist, playing in a rock band was a new experience for all of us. Most of the time we couldn't hear her, and a lot of the time we couldn't see her, but she was definitely present. Read more »