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I started violin as an adult. I'd liked classical music a lot
from the first time I heard it
at about age 10 and still like it
a lot -- it's one of the best joys
of my life. As I was starting in math in grad
school at Indiana University (IU),
a friend of my parents played violin;
his wife played piano; and he
told me that for learning violin
age really isn't the
problem and, instead, the main issue
is just time to practice. So, right, IU has long had a terrific
music department; in my second
year my dorm building was next to the
music school; an Issac Stern protege
and student of IU violin teacher
Josef Gingold put his
old Italian violin under my left chin and
gave me a first lesson; and I was
hooked. I took a beginning course in
violin: Good learning situation -- after the
semester was over the teacher went on
to play the Brahms concerto in Toronto! I continued, got a violin, later got a
better violin, got a copy of
Galamian's book, listened to a lot of
violin music, learned some about how
to hold the bow from pictures of
Heifetz (he did it the Russian
way and not the German way),
worked on both exercises and also
some of the famous pieces. So, I actually made it through the
famous, violin standard,
the Preludio to the
Bach E Major Partita.
Also the Preludio to the
first Bach unaccompanied cello
piece -- just transpose the
thing up to the corresponding
strings on violin -- it's
got to be easier to play on
violin than cello.
There's no end to how marvelous
that piece is, e.g., with its
ascending chromatic (just in
semi-tones) climax. It's really
famous, and for good reason.
GrooveShark had a marvelous
performance. The Bach Chaconne,
of course, was harder, and I got
through the central D major section
and parts of the rest. It was also
fun to be able to play Christmas
music, parts, a few
bars at a time, of some of the
famous concertos, the motives
(amazing, especially considering
how simple they are)
from Wagner, etc. It was fun, lots and lots of fun.
I was no good at it, but still it
was lots of fun. Now I'm too busy with my startup,
but I am eager to get back to
violin. Else I will use
a computer, with whatever software,
likely there is some; else I will
write some, to perform music
(ah, the Nyquist sampling theorem!),
learn more about
music, compose some,
and have a computer perform that.
Maybe the best I'll ever be able to
do is to compose yet another
score of low grade movie music,
but, still, it should be a lot of fun. Lesson: As an adult, it's quite
possible to learn violin, cello,
etc. The main issue is time to
practice. The hobby can be
a lot of fun even if the results
are not ready for public performance.
No chance of being another Heifetz
or Rostropovich, but, still, it can
be a lot of fun. E.g., a violin
is an amazing instrument, a beautiful
hunk of wood,
as sensitive, astounding, and
difficult to control as any human female! If you like the music and want to
try, then go ahead. First piece of advice: An early
challenge is learning how to hold
a violin. For this, f'get about
what Heifetz did and, instead,
do what nearly all violinists do
now -- use a support between
the violin and your shoulder.
For finding the right support,
each time in a violin shop,
buy at least one of each
support product they have
you don't and try it. Eventually
you will get quite comfortable
holding the violin appropriately,
e.g., where it belongs and
being held in place by your chin
and not by your left hand. Second Advice: Learn how
the scales and keys
work, major and minor,
all 12 of each, the
connection with key signatures
on the staff of the music
(they look complicated but actually
are simple -- mostly you don't pay
any attention, note by note, to
all those sharps and flats and, instead,
just play in the associated key),
the circle of fifths, etc. Learn
the connection with 2^(1/12), e.g.,
2^(7/12) is close to 1.5 and, thus,
a perfect fifth. You need to know
this stuff. Learn why the triad
is so important -- the overtones
line up really nicely, thank you J.
Fourier and L. Bernstein (on YouTube watch
his Harvard lectures). Second Lesson: Learn how the
tuning is based on ratios of
small whole numbers and get to
where you can hear those,
e.g., via bowing two strings
at once and listening to
the beats of the first overtone
in common to the two notes
(derive the trigonometry of
beats if you didn't get it
in physics class). Then learn to hear the notes
and intervals (especially major
third, fourth, fifth,
sixth, octave)
just one at a time. For your intonation,
from those ratios can
actually can pick out and confirm
(that is, check yourself)
the whole major and minor
scales. In the end, for all
your intonation and tuning,
all you need is just a simple
tuning fork at A = 440 Hz. Finally, work enough
with the scales so that you
can hear them -- quite
generally hear a note in your head
just before trying to play it
(makes it easier then actually to
play that note instead of
something else). Singing is a great way to
learn the notes -- you will
learn to hear the notes one way
or another, in singing you can
apply to violin or in violin
you can apply to singing. Go for it. But, it's 300 year old technology.
Really, the future of music
composition and performance
is software on computers! More advice: In many ways piano
is a better start into music
than violin or cello. There's
no law saying you can't do both. For a little of how some famous
violin music can be arranged for
piano, there's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOFflFiLlT8 Of course, also listen to
violin version, say, by
Heifetz, Hahn, Ibragimova, others,
on, say, YouTube. Yes, that's the Bach Chaconne.
Playing that can be one of the
greatest joys in all of life
(better than a lot, although not
all, of the sex I've had!).
With a violin, or, sure, the
piano version, can have own voice
of the human spirit just scream out to the
universe. So, you get an amazing
voice for "Listen up, universe:
On life here, I've got some
reactions for you". If really like that music, then
you are one of the ones
who should get started,
with piano, cello, violin,
or two of those or all three!
Then, later computers! Go for it! |
One of the first things I did was to get a teacher to guide me through it, and that has helped enormously. While I do like western classical music, I find compositions from modern Japanese composers such as Joe Hiashi much more fun to play.