Violinists! What Genre Of Music Do You Play?
By DarlingGirl
@DarlingGirl (745)
United States
March 18, 2007 10:56pm CST
As a kid classical was forced upon us in the most horrific way: tabs.
I rue the day I ever saw a violin tab. Quite honestly, I didn't pay attention to them, and learned the music by heart. Finally when they taught music reading in General Music, I was too bored to pay attention.
It was at that time that my violin teacher made a little bet with the class:
"Play The Star Spangled Banner standing on your head, and I'll give you a whole bag of Snickers."
That was too much for me! I trooped up there and said I could do it, and did! 'Course I had help getting up there, and I was allowed to rest my feet against a wall, but damn if my head hurt by the time I was finished! Anything for candy, though...
Little did I know that it was a test, and that I'd be shuttled off to a private teacher who would teach me to read music as well as to play all the crap that was in the typical violin books of the time.
Finally, in high school I was given real music- real classical music like Mahler and Grieg, and Vivaldi! I was very happy with classical until in college I was given folk music to play, and then rock -- I really was still grounded in classical.
Nowadays I prefer baroque and Vivaldi, but I also dabble in Brecht and Schoenberg. (Thanks to David Bowie for introducing me!)
So what about you, what genre of music do you play, and how did you arrive at this favorite form?
3 responses
@not4me (1711)
• United States
19 Mar 07
I too enjoyed Baroque as a kid but now that I'm older and maybe it's just from my experience but I find most Baroque to be cliche or at least The Four Seasons are cliche classical pieces but I do prefer their liveliness to other types of classical. As a teen I dabbled in country although I don't like country and enjoyed Russian classical composers somewhat. Now I enjoy Chinese classical such as Sunshine over Tashkorgan which I first heard on the arts channel several years back.I immediately fell in love with its beauty and complexity. As a strong classically-trained player I needed a challenge and something to keep me interested and Chinese classical was it.
If you have a chance, listen to the original recording of Sunshine over Tashkorgan. It's a good first piece if you've never heard Chinese. The violinist was only 13 when he recorded it and the first time I heard it I cried.
1 person likes this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
19 Mar 07
Wow, I never heard of violin tabs! That absolutely sounds horrible!
I learned to play viola before violin, so I had to learn a new clef to read the music. It was awesome though, that was absolutely my favorite clef as it made the most sense to me. I played a lot of classical music, but later played a lot of movie music as well, which was really cool.
In college, I took up the violin on my own while still playing viola in the orchestra. I came to enjoy fiddle music, especially bluegrass. I have since dropped out of orchestra, but still pick up my violin from time to time.
1 person likes this
@Craz3hC (110)
• United States
10 Jul 08
Right now, I'm forced to live in the Classical and Baroque realm. It's not my favorite, but I still enjoy playing it. I don't really have a favorite. I don't get to explore different genres because I'm a procrastinator and I don't have a permenant private teacher. But yeah. Jazz interests me, since I was introduced to it from a project I did on Regina Carter. She has inspired me so much!
