I hope your Monday is going well so far, but just in case you need a little break…
Here’s a musical interlude from one of the world’s best violinists in an intimate setting:
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She plays some pretty dense difficult classical music for the first 7 minutes or so, then throws on a fedora and busts out a series of folk tunes.
Hilary pulled those melodies out of a piece she was working on called Four Sonatas for Violin and Piano by modernist composer Charles Ives. (Hence the fedora). It would have been much more showy and impressive to actually play a part of the Ives piece since he layered folk melodies and hymns with all kinds of experimental composition techniques, yet she chose to play the hymns and tunes closer to their original form.
I’m just curious- which do you prefer to listen to? The Bach pieces at the beginning of her performance or the tunes at the end?
And why do you think she started with some of the toughest most sophisticated pieces she is known for and then finished with some simpler peasant music?
I mean sure, they both have their place…
The main reason I’m pointing this out is that I think a lot of times when we are discouraged to start violin, or when people say things like, “Well, it takes a lifetime, so you really do have to start as a kid or there’s no point,” they are really referring to the time it takes to learn the techniques to play the tough classical pieces and they are totally wrong about the “no point” part.
And if you want to play classical, that’s not off limits either. I’m just saying there are plenty of simpler things to work on along the way that are both fun to play and musically valid.
Hilary Hahn has found some great examples here for her NPR Tiny Desk Concert. I hope you’ll add your two cents to this debate in the comments section below.
And if you’re interested in learning the violin, there are still just a few spots left in my first ever group video program that is starting next week!
Visit my ViolinWOD blog post now to check it out and reserve your spot before enrollment closes Tuesday (tomorrow!) night at midnight Pacific time.
I loved the two Bach pieces but I also liked the Ives pieces.
I have been entranced by Bach since I was 16. I’m not sure I could be a fair judge when comparing Bach with anyone else no matter how good they may be. I have too many warm memories tied to Bach.
What’s the Bach piece?
Never mind! I see the titles now. 🙂
New plan for next week’s lesson?? 🙂
Thank you for sharing. It was all outstanding and enjoyable for me I especially liked the first Bach gigue. I would love to learn the four pieces by Charles Ives that she played. They are beautiful melodies and probably easier to accomplish then the Bach
It was all good but I love the folk tunes ,that’s the kind of music that speaks to me
I think they both should have a place in our culture. Which one I would prefer to listen to would depend on my mood- but I think I would lean more toward the classical pieces more often. Thanks for sharing!
The last times was the best
I loved hearing the hymns, probably because I know and love them and because she played them with such strength and beauty. The classical is beautiful, too, of course, just don’t know that as well.
both forms are music were played absolutely beautiful. As to why bach first, maybe to show the complexity of playing bach. the melodies used in the ives pieces I recognized but must admit couldn’t name the third one ( think it is southern civil war ( but I am Canadian so not to sure) as for the two types of music , well since Bach was a church musician supported by the church, and Ives used 2 hymns for his composition there seems to be a link between them .
Hilary Hahn fiddles beautifully but does she have abs?
Jeaux in Houston
I love that what she is showing is that a lot of composers wrote ‘masterpiece’ music based on popular themes, and ‘folk tunes’ at the time. I love learn new things about tunes. There are days when I miss playing in a symphony, but I absolutely LOVE being able to adapt music and play it to my needs. There is just something fun and exciting about simple Folk tunes and all of the wonderful things that can be done with them. Vaugh-Williams did a lot of gathering of folk tunes and arranging them for full Orchestras that are so much fun to play either as a large group or a small-ish group.
A beautiful melody is beautiful no matter who wrote it.
I love learning simple gospel melodies on all of my instruments, and adding my own little tweaks.
And I’m no expert but does she have the most perfect technique or what? Watching her play is like seeing a violin technique book come to life!
Nice video, now I’ll have to go read about who Charles Ives is.
I prefer the tunes at the end. The classical pieces are … impressive … but I feel no connection to them. There’s no emotional response. The hymns on the other hand are familiar to me and make me think of community and family. Within a few measures I’m singing in my head. Except the third one. It’s familiar to me, probably from the Ken Burns Civil War soundtrack, but I can’t recall the name or lyrics.
Shall We Gather at the River
Yes, Jesus Loves Me
??
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Rally ‘Round The Flag
What would I rather listen to — anything Bach, or the soundtrack to Cold Mountain? Probably the soundtrack.
Familiar, contemporary, pop, folk tunes help draw in both listeners and new students, alike. Unfamiliar and challenging music can intimidate and discourage new students.
When I started playing bass guitar, The Ramones did more to inspire me than listening to Stanley Clarke.
Here’s the thing that makes both styles (when she plays them) sound wonderful. The tasteful use of vibrato. And true, the folks songs are easier to play but, in my opinion, I disagree with the idea that “it doesn’t require any fancy skills or techniques.” Vibrato is a skill and technique that takes quite a while to learn and even longer to master. For the beginner who can learn to play the folks songs, they won’t have the same elegance and tone until the beginner learns how to add vibrato.
The interesting thing about Bach, as I learn from studying him on the piano, is that he wrote many of piano pieces as exercises for his students. Starting with very simple melodies then adding to them with imbellishments. Hillary did the same with the folk pieces, starting with a clean simple melody then adding the embellishments sparingly.
Bach’s violin pieces are excellent and I enjoy them very much. But as an aspiring fiddler I feel the old time folk tunes, reels and jigs in my whole body. That is what I love to play and what I keep slowly learning. I’m going to try to learn that last folk melody, that I use to hear in church, this afternoon. Dave
Great video clip of a most talented musician who appreciates all kinds of music. I recognized the 4 “folk” songs as music I have played at church. Music does not have to be difficult to be beautiful. From the posts above it seems people had a greater connection with the folk songs. Maybe it’s because they come from common people that composers heard growing up or travelling and incorporated those themes into their works. To answer your original question I like both. Sometimes I am in the mood for Bach, Dvorak, Rimsky-Korsakov or some other classical composer, other times just simple tunes or even some lively rock.
There’s that real tight bow hair that the classical players use, and she doesn’t seem to slacken it for the playing after 7:00. Nice to see that her thumb position is similar to my uncorrected thumb position.
Its all music. Sometimes people play difficult music to understand. They then give a long monologue about how wonderful it is. Why not just play wonderful music.
Hilary was playing wonderful music. The Bach pieces are after all, just jigs and reels and airs as we know them in Irish music. Bach played with the melody so that it wove in and out of the instrument… genius. But all music has the seed within it to become timeless….. unless course it is played by an electrical machine.. that starts to leave the realm of music.
Hilary has a lovely touch with the bow. That takes artistry. I enjoyed that too. Cheers Chris
I do prefer Bach to the other pieces. Especially the Siciliana. And I don’t think an absolute beginner would be able to play the folk songs with double stops, vibrato and position changes like Hillary does after 1-2 years of learning 😉
Haha… totally true! 🙂
Interesting. Unfortunately for me all of the music sounded a bit cold and lifeless. I believe the one that people are having difficulty identifying is Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Thank you for sharing this Hilary Hahn moment with me.
Loved every minute of Hilary Hahn’s music, Jenny! Very uplifting!
Thanks for sharing with us!
Loved her “Battle Cry of Freedom” rendition!
What was the name of the tune immediately following that?
Thanks again!
I’d take the fedora music on a Saturday afternoon.
🙂
Loved it! To see another piece in a similar vein, check out Eileen Ivers’s “Pachelbel’s Frolics”
I enjoyed both, but the ‘traditional/folk’ more. Possibly because I’m more used to hearing Bach performed by orchestra.
I probably wouldn’t listen to Hilary Hahn at all on a Saturday afternoon, or any other for that matter. While I can appreciate that she is technically very skilled, for me her playing lacks any kind of passion. It was all a bit too sterile for my liking.
If I had to choose between the two halves, the second half was better. Still, I feel she really missed the opportunity to infuse some her own personality into the tunes though. The best part was her conversation about the hat.
Am I odd to say I enjoyed both equally? I actually like the Bach pieces more because I feel like the Ives’ performance is better if you can add some more fun beats to them (some drums, wood blocks, and crowd noise). Maybe it’s just because I was trained playing classical piano pieces growing up (all them Bach books, yikes) and without too much of the folk/country influences throughout my life. My music taste is kind of everything (except metal… I REALLY don’t understand that).
The 3rd tune is Rally ‘Round the Flag. Someone above identified it with the phrase “Battle Cry of Freedom”, which is the final words of its chorus. I found it curious that Hilary seemed to say she didn’t know them before she played the Ives piece, because I found myself singing the words to all 4 within about 1 measure of the start. Maybe it’s partly because I sometimes hang out with the Early Music crowd. (I haven’t been involved with a church in years, but I still remember those 3 hymns.)
If you want to hear more of this sort of incorporation of “folk” tunes into orchestral and other stage works, listen to just about anything of Bach’s contemporary, Gerog(e) Handel. After he moved from Germany to England, where he spent the rest of his life, he found that he really liked a lot of the local music that the “common folk” sang and played. He listened and incorporated lots of the local music into his own works. Meanwhile, his music was extremely popular which those same common folks, who heard and quickly adopted his compositions into their own music. This causes no end of headaches for the music historians, who have a lot of trouble separating his music from the traditional music of the British Isles. He wasn’t nearly the only composer who took this approach, of course, but he may have been the one with the biggest impact on his adopted culture’s music. (Check out Rossini for another example. Tunes that he composed can be found in the “traditional” repertoire all over Europe.)
The third piece was published under the name “The Battle Cry of Freedom”. It was written by George F. Root in 1862. Root also composed a number of other well-known songs from the war, such as “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp”, and “The Vacant Chair”. Root’s song was definitely pro-Union, but the tune was popular everywhere, and H. L. Schreiner and W. H. Barnes adapted it for the South.
Thank you for sharing. All were beautiful but I lean toward the Hymns
i love both classical and folk, but it is hard to chose. For instance in the movie High Society I love Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby Louie Armstrong, Grace Kelly but I also loved Bing Crosby and David Bowie. How can you chose!!!!!!
Hilary is wonderfully talented ! I liked the Folk tunes.
I really loved this piece, and many more of Hilary’s classical pieces. I love the violin itself for it’s sound touches our heart deeply. I have been loving a girl for several years, but because the life is harsh in my country the people are also hard hearted, they think about everything economically, and love doesn’t mean much to them.
I have found that the violin can talk to our heart and gives peace, therefore I have been interested to learn it and make it my friend.
I wish someone helps me learn it, to whom one person’s fee doesn’t make much difference, because as a refugee I have only the right to watch how my life is being passed since June of 2013 in Indonesia, and can’t afford to pay for it.
I could teach you music theory but I play the guitar, not the violin. There would be no charge as I have sufficient means.
Thanks for sharing! She is an incredible violinist and I enjoyed both sets of music she played. For me neither was particularly familiar so all the music fell on fresh ears. The Bach pieces had sections that I enjoyed but as a whole the music seems like it lacks certain theme or melody that I loved in the folk music. I hear a lot of notes and timing played exquisitely, but it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense or connect to itself or to me. I’m sure I’m missing something. The folk tunes were much more evocative and emotional for me, despite or perhaps because of being more modest. I’m reminded of a old bandmates response when someone asked what is the difference between old time and bluegrass music. He responded that Bluegrass music is all about showcasing the musicians and that old time music was all about showcasing the songs.
As a musician I love learning complex, complicated and sometimes confusing pieces, but as a listener I connect more with music that is less showy and more direct. Art is often a continuum with absolute realism on one side and complete abstraction on the other. I enjoy it best when there is a balance.
I LOVE all this video. It reminded me of the music in my father’s churches. I like it all!
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