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 :-)