Click on Classical: Stimulate your brain, confessions of an amateur, and how many ways you can hold a violin

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Every Monday morning at 9:15, I visit the Classical MPR studio to talk about some of the stories we're featuring on our website. Here are the stories Melissa Ousley and I will be discussing this morning.

Can classical music stimulate your creative brain? Writer Cinda Yager believes it can. Before a day of writing, she likes to go for a walk while listening to classical music, and she says the music inspires creative thinking that might not have happened in silence. Click here to listen to a few of the pieces Cinda finds particularly invigorating for her brain.

Suzanne Shumway took up the clarinet in her high school marching band, and at age 53 she still plays. That doesn't mean she's a virtuoso, though: she admits that she's a musical amateur, but she's proud of that. Click here to learn why Suzanne believes music is for everyone — not just the pros.

Now imagine you are​ a professional violinist, and you're posing for a promotional photo to advertise an upcoming concert or recording. How do you pose? Specifically, how do you hold your violin? I dug through Classical MPR's photo archives this week, and found that violinists have become very creative in how they feature their fiddles in promotional photos​.