Thank you guys for all your responses to The Hot Violinist end of 2015 Official Survey! Reading through them has got me reflecting on what a long strange trip it’s been since I started playing violin. Many of the things you said sounded like a letter from my past self.
I started at age 18 when many people said it was too late. I remember sitting on my bed with my violin after an entire year of trying to learn with my first teacher, and truly thinking that there must be something wrong with how my arms were attached to my body. Sure, I could play a collection of Irish fiddle tunes but EVERYTHING SOUNDED LIKE SH*T! (excuse my french, and pardon the yelling, but it was really frustrating…)
I can’t say I was perfectly dedicated to practicing every single day (confession: sometimes I even showed up to my next lesson without having practiced at all), but I was taking lessons each week and making an effort, so I could only think there must be something wrong with me. This thought made me terribly sad because I really wanted to play.
Even though I wasn’t really interested in classical music and no longer considered myself a complete beginner, I ate my humble pie and decided I probably needed to start all over with some classical technique. Over the next six months I tried three different teachers and still felt frustrated and confused! Then I found Bassam Nashwati, who at that time was second chair in the San Antonio symphony and has since taken the first chair.
He started me at the beginning of the Suzuki method and in that next 6 months I improved more than I had in the entire first year and a half. That’s when I discovered all my bad habits from playing without the basic good technique. That was a tough pill to swallow too because I had to realize that my prior 1.5 years of effort had actually made me worse not better in a way.
This era involved a whole bunch of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and other equally annoying and humbling repertoire, but I was having fun because it felt great to make some good sounds and actually track progress even if it seemed slow.
Then I spent a summer in Upstate New York living with my grandparents and studied with the amazing Judy Hyman, a professional performing fiddler with a classical background— perfect!! When I got back the next fall, I finally felt like I could maybe play in public, but I still wasn’t that great. Many thanks to Ren Faire shop owner Bill Vestal, there is actually footage of this stage.
Notice the very conservative tense playing style. And outfit to match.
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Since then I took part in building two different bands that played the largest stages at festivals nationwide and released 4 studio albums and 2 live albums (All-in-all I released 4 versions of the Theme from the Last of the Mohicans!! :-P). I’ve become an expert in adult violin learning from my own experience and from teaching over 20 students in the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, and South America.
And all this is in competition with people who had been playing since they were 3 or 7, or whatever beautifully young age, and likely had college degrees in violin. There’s no way I had enough time to catch up to these people who had been playing since they were kids!
I had to figure out how to work on the right things- the things that give the most musical impact for the littlest time and effort.
I’m not trying to brag, but I just want you to know that it’s possible to do what you want on violin no matter when you start. My goal with the Hot Violinist is to distill my trial and error into bite sized helpful info for all of you.
Your rendition of the Gael inspired me to play. You’re very talented and have a uniqueness about you. I really appreciate you telling your story. I love Irish, Scottish, and classical violin and look forward towards learning the Suzuki method because of your story. Thank you!
I hope that I can purchase your version of the Gael on iTunes soon. Although I love the band you have played and recorded with, ( I hope you don’t mind me saying this )..but I think you and your sister have something. Thanks again for your talent and story!
Pingrid
You are an inspiration! Watching that ‘Throwback’ video is just (by a ‘bow’ hair a two) above a level of style where I am with my venture to master the violin. When I watch a performer, such as yourself, play a piece of music at your current level of style, I get really enthusiastic. So I hunt down an old celtic tune like “Lilting Banshee” to practice on. It’s only two sets of 8 measures, how hard can that be. Well for me, it can be anything but how I’d hoped it sound like. The tune is in my head but I can’t seem to get to my fingers or bow in the manor I would like it to sound like. However, watching your ‘early performance year’ and seeing how you have improved (even in the beginning of this tune you can see your performance move from feeling a bit uneasy to a higher level of confidence, it really does) makes me think that I can improve. And I probably will since I do enjoy a good celtic tune or two. You are an inspiration indeed!
This was awesome to see! Really. Kind of a before and after effect.
I have been playing the violin for about 4 years now. Started when I was 41. I am only now starting to achieve a sound that is better than just sounding like a lesson. Ha ha. It takes time, tons of practice.
I personally practice at home, late at night with my silencer, at lunch at work, in the park in the morning. You name it I do it. No substitute for practice. Lots of it. Playing a tune over and over makes the difference.
Lessons and yes scales are key.
I remember something you wrote earlier when I first started. Start off slow… really slow. What I struggle with is keeping the beat. My instructor says it’s better to play the wrong note at the right time than the right note at the wrong time. I am usually in tune. Hitting the right notes. The timing takes work. For me at least. But it is coming.
I usually start off my lessons by doing exercises by Schradieck to,… not only promote finger Dexterity but it is like doing scales that get progressively more difficult and the notes are interchanged in many combinations to get your left fingers moving. I do this with the metronome. Spend the first 15 to half hour doing the exercises. It seems to SQUARE me up quite quickly. and get my foot tapping. Then I practice my tunes. First slowly, then quicker and quicker. Especially doing a new tune, trying to get in pace with the metronome is key. After I have learned the tune, practicing the tune by itself and tapping with my foot I start adding in all the slurs and trills. At least for me. By this time, the song starts to sound like the song. And by adding in your vibrato and trills and such; makes the song yours. And not sounding mechanical. 😉 Which the metronome sometimes can make you sound mechanical. You have to then do it on your own, just tapping your foot.
And the proof is in the pudding my wife and daughter are not asking me to stop playing after an hour anymore. I can see them humming to my tunes and tapping their feet. Hey, that alone… I must be doing something right. Lol.
Also for me Like you in the video, Playing in the park in the summer months helps me play in front of people to get rid of stage fright. And after these 4 years I can finally say I can play The Last Mohicans decent enough, and make it sound similar to your version. You are better of course. But I must thank you for helping me in the beginning. 😉
You are a true inspiration… Yes.
This violin playing has been fun and rewarding. I want to see how far I can take it. I want to learn more. Life long learning – right? Don’t know why I did not take it up sooner.
Cheers For now. Elvis
Your story is very inspiring too Elvis! Congrats on getting your wife and daughter up and dancing to your playing!
I’m curious if you started with tape (training wheels) on your finger board and if so how long did you use it before your instructor allowed you to remove it.
Hi Bob, I personally did not use tape to learn, but I have suggested it in some cases with my students. I think tape would have helped me, actually, because even though I had some musical background I didn’t really know what a “major scale” was or what it was supposed to sound like. I would use that as a general rule: use tape as a guide if you don’t know what a major scale is supposed to sound like, but also find a good example of a scale to listen to so it will start getting in your head. Try not to look at the tapes every time you practice the scale, kinda like coasting in between the training wheels. Then remove the tapes when you feel you know what the scale is supposed to sound like, or your teacher tells you you’re in tune without looking down the fingerboard at tapes. The tapes are never more than a general guide since a mm difference in placement or slight change in pressure or finger angle can be the difference of perfectly in tune and way off.
As roady i monitor my HBPM and powerlegs. As anesthésiologist i was monitoring heart and blood pressure and cardiac output of patients. I knew the time before monitoring and after… When i studyied back violin ( after 50 years when i couldnt play because of work) i was glad to notice that i could monitor my sound and Help my ear. Naturally i have not the eyes scotched to the tape, i only have a glance at it when ear find it is usefull. When riding my bike i am not always watching to the heart or power monitoring, i take care about trafic and scenic… In the OR clinical survey of the patient was always at the first Line more important than watching to the tape and screens of
monitor.
So i find tape is a good Help, if it is not an “obsession ” but just a light assesment.
I started at 58!
Twinkle Twinkle you say! I find this so funny now. The concentration! The grimace! Wish I had more from those beginning times. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150252035413973
…but not bad for only three lessons!
Will be pleased when I can play this well 🙂
Thanks for being so open about this topic. I know a few people who might be encouraged by what you’ve posted here, so I’ll pass on the URL. We were all novices once, and we’re all still novices at nearly everything. It’s good to have people fighting the old idea that we can only learn when we’re children. Or maybe it’s just that some of us never grow up, so we can keep learning through our whole lifetime.
Haha… that’s so great! I often feel like it is a fight- since the crusty old elitist ideas that only kids can learn is so widespread and seems to have such a firm hold on our culture! It’s so frustrating and untrue. I like your alternative work around though— just don’t grow up! 😀
There’s also the joke I heard recently, about a mother who asks her son what he wants to be when he grows up. He says “I want to be a musician.” She then says “Son, you have a choice: You can grow up, or you can be a musician.”
I’ve also heard a version of the same joke told with “scientist” as the occupation. It’s based on the observation that for most animals (and many humans), learning only happens during childhood, and when they reach adulthood, they know all they’ll ever need to know, so they stop learning. The idea is that scientists’ occupation is permanent learning, so they’re effectively stuck in a child-like state. The biologists have a term for this sort of change in a species: neoteny. It’s an important part of the evolution of some species, including humans. The wikipedia page for the term has a good description of it. (But it’s still good for making jokes about late learners.)
my my how things have changed. first saw you at irwindale faire the first time you were there. been a fan ever since. also saw you at Muskogee two years ago. Robert. the guy in the Persian helmet
Love the video. Thanks for sharing it. You are an inspiration, thanks for doing what you do, I have been watching your lessons for about a month.
I started with group lessons about 4 months ago and I have had so much fun with it, but I cannot wait until it becomes natural and the sound is better than a crying cat. I found out yesterday that my position is very wrong, which explains the pain in my shoulder and back. You can see it here.
https://youtu.be/vL5-_fSMoaI
As an adult beginner (started at 45), with about a year under my belt, this is one of the most inspirational things I have read. Thank you!
I’m glad to hear it, Matthew. I definitely needed all the encouragement I could get to stick with it back when it was tough to get a good sound.
I went through a six week period where I seriously considered giving up recently, but as a t-shirt I have says “I could give up playing violin but I’m not a quitter.” At this stage if my teacher is happy at the end of our weekly session, I’m good for another week (I’m doing this for me though). I still won’t play in front of people but that is one of my goals for 2016.
I am 55 and started learning to play harp about a year ago. I am also a private guitar instructor. What I think about learning an instrument as an adult is not that it is harder, but that we mind our mistakes more than children do and therefor often believe that it is harder. If we can enjoy the process and be like a child, not minding our mistakes or placing any judgments on the rate of our progress, I think we can progress as well or maybe even better. As an adult student of a new instrument, I bring to the process MUCH more maturity and I am willing to take the time to learn good technique. I am willing to take time for warm ups and exercises and I am seeing huge benefits after several months. I tried to skip over all that when I was younger and it worked …until… it didn’t.
I completely agree. I have said it time and again, that I am so thankful that my parents wouldn’t allow me to learn any instrument let alone violin because I have the maturity to practice and follow through. On the other hand as you say I am told constantly be my violin teacher to be aware of my mistakes but not to let them imped my progress.
Hi Jenny ! Thank you for the inspiring story. I started learning when I turned fifty. I joke that it was a cheaper midlife crises than a younger woman and a corvette ! 😆 Learning later in life does have its challenges, but the personal rewards are well worth it ! Thank you for what you do and please continue to make your music !
I had same thought, much cheaper mid-life crisis
I love that!
The violin– more expensive than a guitar, but still far less expensive than a sports car. 😀
Wow. And you are an accomplished professional now. Your rendition of Promontory is the best I’ve ever heard (and I’ve heard A LOT of professionals try it, never as well performed). Best wishes!
Thank so much!
Jenny
I enjoyed your supervision on Skype to Help me to improve my play of the Gaël (LMT) and especialy ur advice about how to improve the bow.
Ur u-tube vidéo learning the Celtic Roll is very’well’done and ur are good at teaching us. Maybe You could teach us another air? And I Wont take You too much time: just to assess my play’ and give me some tips about rythm,and bow learning. Fiddler Celtic is a spécialized part of violin technique that i wish discover. Unfotunately in our latin country there are more “formal academic teachers” than folk Celtic fiddlers. But our academic teachers encourage us to discover the Others area of art.
Very cool…and brave…and encouraging to see that even experts had to learn and grow. I have been enjoying a book about changing students’ beliefs about their ability to learn math. It seems recent brain research has turned the whole world of math education over on it’s ear. I think what I’m learning about teaching math applies to both teaching and learning music as well. (I am also a private music instructor) It seems that these authors have abundant research and studies supporting their position that everyone can achieve high levels of math when taught that they can do it instead of being taught that they are not good at math. They also need, of course, appropriate instruction to provide the support and foundation for any particular skill. Recent brain research has revealed amazing facts about brains and how they continue to grow and develop….and guess what: we get to learn new things and become VERY good at them even after we’re grown! The book I’m reading is Mathematical MIndsets by Jo Boaler and she has worked closely with Carol Dweck author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. If you can only glimpse the forward and introduction in a preview in Amazon, it’s a very engaging read. One of the most fun things I’m learning is how important mistakes are!! Math students tend to think mistakes are bad and often feel that mistakes mean they are not good at math, when in reality… the brain is more active and physically changes more when you make a mistake, and you learn more! So play, practice and love your mistakes….they are an extremely important part of learning.
Jenny’s mom.
Thanks Mom! That’s cool what you were saying about mistakes being the gold, even in brain research about learning.
I started taking private lessons at the age of 30 by a classicly trained teacher.and had a recital 4 months later with a bunch of kids. I learned to read music but always had to hear it before I could play it if it was something I didn’t know. Everyone was impressed that I had only been playing 4 months. I took lessons for about 6 months and just played what I had learned for about the next 2 years. I even made it to one of Mark O’Conner’ camps. I then started taking lessons from a Texas Champion Fiddler and my playing improved greatly over the next 3 years just by learning progressively harder tunes. I am now 54 and don’t play much anymore due to the time factor but think one day I will pick it up again.
It is never too late and if it was easy everyone would do it
I really respect that you got out there with the kids for the recital!! Being willing to be a beginner at something is a huge factor in being able to ultimately learn violin.
i must admit i would never have been able to play Last of ther M
ohicans without your help Thank you Jenny
Yay! How’s the Last of the Mohicans coming? I love hearing versions of it, so feel free to post a video here!
I would love to read a post that goes into more detail about concentrating on the things that give the most musical impact for the least amount of time. I really enjoyed this post and video thank you!
Thanks Jessica! I will do this in more detail sometime, especially since you asked, but here are a few little slap-dash tid-bits in no particular order. I think one of the main tricks to remember here is that the bow hold and bowing straight with the right amount of pressure tends to be the main bottle neck for beginners. Anything we do with the left hand is only heard by the grace of the right hand and arm so it’s worth spending a lot of extra time at the beginning focussing on the bow, even though the left hand grabs all the attention because we wanna play fast and learn lots of cool tunes. The third finger is the easiest to get in tune, and easiest to hear with the octave of string below so focus on perfect intonation there with first finger down at the same time and then perfect other fingers around that. (That may require a demo video- added to my list.) Once good tone and intonation is in the muscle memory, finger patterns and speed can fall into place. Then of the advanced skills the only ones really needed are vibrato and double stops. A great trick is to focus on runs and tunes with double stops (two strings being played at once with bow) but only using left hand fingers on one string while keeping the other string open. This sounds almost just as impressive as double stops with left hand fingering on two or more strings at once, only it’s WAY easier. Shifting and fancy bowing techniques are great for the long run but takes a lot of time to develop and isn’t really needed to play basic emotionally impactful fiddle music. On the other hand, basic ornaments like grace note and five-note-roll actually aren’t that hard but pack a huge musical punch and are totally needed for fiddle tunes!
How long have you been playing?