Playing with Autumn Leaves

This is a little jam based on Autumn Leaves. I'll post one with a backing track after this, this one is real loose.

Lindsey stomp

Another Lindsey, different style,equally good,

Hip hop Violin - Lindsey

another of my favs, I love it when people put their own spin on the violin...go girl, love the dancing too, I'm going to practice so that I can keep up with these guys again, it's kinda embarrassing when they're so good

finding the beat

been listening to the previous vid over and over, not because it's great, but I find it really helpful to record everything, and I really recommend it as a valuable learning tool, and listen for what works and what could be improved on. What stands for me as I listen that session is subtleties of timing and phrasing.

One of the reasons I've ended up on the creative side of the musical fence is that I love messing around with phrasing. Listening to that track, although the begining starts off ok phrasing wise, there are lots of place, where I'd like to add pauses, with a swing feel. A little more space and a little more swing in places would have given a better groove to the piece and given it a bit of a lift.

What speaks to me most strongly as a violinist is the subtleties and nuances of phrasing and dynamics. Often I'll go over and over a piece, feeling what story it wants to tell through me.

Now singers seem to be allowed to play around and reinterpret songs forever but violinists are notorious purists which is why I haven't fitted in to well to that scene.

Interpretation is EVERYTHING to me, I like to find my own sense of the dynamics of a piece, as well as jazzing up the phrasing, basically I try breathe as much life into a piece as possible, while having great respect for the power of the small subtle changes.

The classical folks, and even to some degree the celtic and country fiddlers too, value exact renditions as the composer intended it...(even if the composer died 100s of years before it was possible to record live music)

But if people hadnt played what they heard, and felt inside them, and been influenced by the cultures and enviroments around them ( for example Irish music came to America and was influenced by blues, by trains, by the louisiana backwoods , by the Florida swamps, by the African American slaves, and the Appalacian mountains etc)...then styles such as Bluegrass and Texas swing never would have evolved.

Isolation has always forced evolution in music-(as in isolation from the original source of a piece, or a style of music) Because many traditional pieces have been handed down chinese whisper style, and have often not been transcribed onto sheet music, or been available as recordings until well down their evolutionary trail, each player has put their personal stamp on a piece as they passed it on and slowly new styles of playing emerge that reflect the lives and cultures of the players.

I understand the desire to preserve classic forms of all styles of music. By preserving the original form of any piece, it keeps its place in history, and archiving in this way has it's value. Plus of course many pieces are gorgeous in their original state.

However with the violin, more than any other instrument, especially in new Zealand where I live, the way it is currently taught here, discourages the creative musician.

While there is a lot of support to forge new territories with other instruments, (people like Jimi Hendrix for example blasted the boundaries of the guitar and pathed the way for other innovators to follow.) The way violin is taught here, where the expression of every note is rigidly dictated by a teacher, and original creative expression not even considered until university level, creativity is often killed by well meaning and well intended teachers who have never thought for themselves in the whole of their musical careers.

For people who want to be patted on the back for "doing it right" this isn't a problem - but for the many many people whose strengths lie in innovation, classical style of training can be very damaging.

Good technique is a wonderful thing, but "it don't mean a thing if it aint got that swing" doo wah doo wah doowah ....

Now if you can swing, with great technique...like Stephane Grapelli or the best country fiddle players, then that's magic :-)

anji jam 4

This is an old jam, I think of these sessions as like an artists sketchbook, they are rough sketches to be reworked into something more polished later, or used as a resource for ideas.

Stephane Grappelli - Warsaw - How high is the moon

This is my all time, all time favorite violinist, can't play anything like him, but who knows....a little practice? one day maybe :-) he plays fast hot jazz but is always sweet & melodic. I saw him in Christchurch when he was on a world tour in his nineties, they wheeled him on in a wheel chair, but he played like a 20yr old. His playing is always fluid and relaxed, no matter how fast he gets.

First part of the tune is slower, then he takes flight into his classic style of improvisation.

haven't found a vid of Stephane's Autumn leaves yet so this is "how highs the moon"

Blues on fiddle - Retaw Boyce

Just to show how diverse Retaw is, here he is again playing blues,
if you look him up on you tube, you'll find all kinds of other stuff from celtic to classical, too much for me to put on here so check him out :-)he doesn't wear a shirt very often lol, prob cause he's Australian and it's bl@@dy hot over there. He has a website too - www.myspace.com/retawboyce

First part of this vid he's beggin for a place to stay in Paris, once that's done, the music starts..

Here he is again playing jazz

I just love this guy, just to show how versatile he is, here he is playing one of my all time favorite pieces to play -Autumn Leaves. It's not the hardest of pieces to play, but has a beautiful poignant melody that I love.



later i'll post some videos of my all time favorite player and maestro Stephane Grappelli and his version of this song

Heavy Metal on Electric Violin - Retaw Boyce

Something a bit different - This one will blow the cobwebs away, heavy metal shredding on electric violin, one of my favorites, mostly because it stretches peoples concepts of what the violin is all about, plus he's actually good at what he does.

not just about me...

I initially planned this blog to be a my personal fiddle diary but decided it's a great opportunity for me to share the wonderfully diverse violinists I've come across who have influenced and who inspire me. I'd like this website to be a resource for other up and coming fiddles player, so we can share the journey together. I live in a very small town, and since moving here my music has just about died, thank God for the internet because now I'm connected to players from all around the world, and I'd like to share them. So from now on it's a place to celebrate everything fiddle. :-)

negotiating you tube can be a mission, gonna put all my favorites in one place, and hopefully you'll hear from me to on my fiddle soon.

When I'm in the big smoke, I love playing with my mate Yogi, hope to post a jam we had some time in the future. Here's a little Yogi magic

James Sanders - Violin and George Sawyn

The last two versions were hillbilly style, real fiddle playing, this one is more classical. I think it's good to see a range of players, each has their own style and handle it slightly differently.

I wanted to show the version with Jethro Tull, you can view it here on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ES48CECqCc

Ann Marie Calhoun's style is probably most similar my performance style, very passionate and animated, and very clear notes, makes me fall in love ...with the violin all over again - love it!

Bluegrass in the Backwoods - Turkey Creek Ramblers

Here's another version by the Turkey Creek Ramblers

You tube fiddle players

Going to start posting some of my favorite you tube finds here. You tube is a fantastic resource. Can't believe I have access to some of the best musicians around the world at the click of a button (assuming my broadband is up to speed which it isn't right now....school holidays should be banned lol stop gaming and go outside and play!!)

heres my first link, the tune I want to learn next : bluegrass in the backwoods.


The version I wanted to show didn't allow embedding, this one is by the hillbilly gypsies.

Well, I had great plans for this blog, then winter happened and my gas heater died :-) I had just filled it up for the first time, and was looking forward to a warm room to play fiddle in. For me it's essential to have a warm private place to play in. The potbelly does a great job of heating the room I use for my art and my son has his computer in...but the heat doesn't extend to my bedroom and I'm too stingy to pay for more than a hot water bottle unless an excessive amount of money comes my way soon. Will have to find some way around that, because I don't want to give up the violin for the whole winter. It really doesn't sound good in the cold, a warm room is the difference between sweetness and screechiness. The bathroom is the easiest room to heat and has pretty good acoustics, so may have become the new music studio.....and day now :-)