Where Mimi Zweig offers invaluable advice for students coming up from the very earliest stages, Nathan Cole has mastered the art of teaching advanced players up to professionals preparing for orchestra auditions. He has offered a premium online Virtuoso Master Course to pros in the past. The second edition of his Violympic Games took place during the summer of 2021, a 12-week course for intermediate to advanced players, with structured video lessons combined with performance challenges. A lively online community of mostly adult students engaged with one another on a private Facebook group, with members from all over the globe.
Nathan is First Associate Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and could clearly spend all his time just performing. But his passion for teaching has turned him into a YouTube pro. While joining his private student cohort is limited and pricey, he has posted many excellent free teaching videos, including a series on the complete Bach Unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas for Violin. (He calls it Bach on the Road, an indication of his love of the pun!) Technique videos you’ll want to bookmark for your students include Effortless Vibrato, Mastering Spiccato and Pinky Power: Strengthening the 4th Finger. Check out the full menu of videos on his YouTube channel, or see what online courses are available at Natesviolin.com.
I just purchased a copy of his new book and video series on Scales: The Road to Repertoire and am looking forward to freshening up my scale routine — not to mention my students’!
