Cindi Kazarian's Page

Illustration by Jacob Chalkley

The holidays are a joyous time for me. Yet, with all of the busyness and coordination of family gatherings, gift buying, and the like, I notice I feel extra tense this time of year. It’s times like these that I really look forward to meditating. I use meditation as a way to re… Continue

Recently I’ve been thinking quite a bit about beauty, perception, and the maddening pace at which I and everyone I know seems to be moving these days. Since this has been on my mind so much lately, I’d like to share these thoughts with you as they relate to me as a string player and as someone who is trying to slow down and live more in the moment.

Recently I spent time in a small village in Honduras. In my mind, this was obviously a completely poverty-stricken place. Families were living in cr… Continue

I discovered PBS-TV’s From the Top, the show that features interviews with and performances by the next generation of classical music stars, while flipping through channels one lazy weekend afternoon a few years ago. I was hooked from the first moment I tuned in. I began recording every episode. After awhile though, the busyness of life got in the way, and I stopped recording the shows. I’d still catch them now and then though, and always enjoyed them thoroughly.

One night recently I dra… Continue

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending my very first American String Teachers Association conference, which took place in Atlanta, Georgia. I was like a kid in a candy store. Everywhere I turned, educators, students, and exhibitors were engaging in lively conversations about teaching and playing string music. I was surrounded by fabulous acoustic and electric instruments, bows, sheet music, strings, rosin, shoulder rests, cases, and much more. As the conference wore on, the Marriott ho… Continue

I’ve played the viola for 20 years. My first instrument, however, was the flute, which I took up in the fourth grade. Definitely not me. I was always confused and way behind everyone else in class. When we had our first concert, I was totally faking it, so I decided to quit. But I really wanted to play an instrument, so I began to search for something else to play. The summer before the fifth grade, I heard the Beethoven Violin Concerto on the radio and right then and there the course of my life… Continue