Hi everyone. Joe here. I am one of the folks behind the curtain who helps things run smoothly here at Red Desert Violin.

You might not know it, but RDV is a family venture. I am Lora’s brother (not her husband, as we were amused to hear recently). She is the musical and teaching genius, and I am the one trying to keep up, panting along behind her.

What’s On Our Map?

Another member of our team is our elderly mother, who is Red Desert Violin’s best cheerleader. One of the small pleasures that remains for her is tracking Red Desert Violin and Red Desert Fiddle students with stickers on a world map in her home. (you can see red and yellow stickers, yellow represents Fiddle students, red stickers represent Suzuki students. Mom's map

On a regular basis, she pesters Lora for a list of countries where Red Desert Violin students live. She recently sent the following email message to the family:

I was asking Loralyn how many countries she has students in – She didn’t know – So, I made a list…
These are the countries where Loralyn has violin students: Total – 32 countries (She won’t brag, but I can!)
Canada, Greenland, Iceland, United States (all of them!), Mexico, Jamaica, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Ireland, United Kingdom, Spain, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Borneo, Sumatra, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, and Chile! Wow!

Wow, indeed. 32 countries, and growing.

music transformsLora hatched the idea for online violin lessons and Red Desert Violin as we drove across the American midwest in a motorhome with 4 of we 7 siblings and Mom. It was a pilgrimage to Mom’s spiritual home, and we wanted to do the trip while she would still be able to remember it.

I think we were in western Nebraska when Lora started to describe Red Desert Violin to me. I can still smell the factory farms.

Our lives have been enriched through contact with so many people from so many corners of the world. We’re excited to continue, and committed to bringing affordable online violin lessons and online fiddle lessons to anywhere an internet connection can be found.

I’ll admit it: we have huge plans. We want to change the world, one instrument and one heart at a time.

Thanks for being part of the tribe.