A short clip I recorded on a lazy Christmas morning and put on Instagram: the Sussex Carol, in the deeper part of the viola range, with some improvised double-stops. Oh, yes, this features my new strings! Last week I replaced my Dominant C-G-D strings with Vision strings, and the sound and tuning are almost stable now.

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Merry Christmas! Here's the probably-misnamed Sussex Carol (possibly Irish in origin, but recorded by Vaughan Williams in Sussex). #merrychristmas #viola #thatdronetho

A post shared by Andrew H. (@andrewhcit) on Dec 25, 2017 at 12:54pm PST

And a virtual string septet that I put together earlier this month and posted to YouTube on Christmas morning. This is an international group covering a wide range of playing levels from early-intermediate learners to high-level amateurs and experience ranging from 1 to 18 years; what we all have in common is that we all started later than most string players. We recorded a choral Christmas favorite, Franz Biebl's Ave Maria, in my arrangement for three violins, three violas, and a cello.

(I didn't open this up because I felt pretty strongly about wanting a chamber music feel with only one player to a part -- but I definitely want do some bigger group projects in the future!)