Going to the next level

I've always admired and been inspired by Stephane Grappelli, I went to see him play live when he was in his 90's and he played with the speed and fluidity of a 20 yr old...even though he was wheeled onto the stage in a wheelchair. I am so glad that my friend Penny donated a ticket to me to see him.

He was one of the many influences (but definitely the strongest) that led me to attend The Jazz course at Auckland University a few years back.

This was an extremely challenging step for me, and I possibly only was accepted into the course because the school had only just started, so the level was not as high as it is now.

The challenges I faced were these:

I had no understanding or awareness of chords, even at a basic level.
I could not hear the bass at all, my ears being tuned to the higher registry
My understanding of theory didn't translate into the practical
The rest of the students, although nearly half my age, were way ahead of me on every level.

Despite this, I attended for a year and passed nearly all my courses. While there I had wonderful lessons with an exceptional...but classical teacher, because they had no one to teach jazz violin.

Bob Issel, as I've said before, used to play with the London Symphony Orchestra. Despite having a strong resistance to the exam system,(he actively discouraged his students from sitting exams, preferring to focus on instilling a passion for music) - When he had to prepare a student for an exam (for example to enter the University classical dept) his students were known to perform best out of the whole country.

His technical help on bowing totally transformed my playing. At that point I was great with a fast Irish jig, but fell apart playing anything slow. In fact I learned more from him in 20 mins than I had from years of lessons with other teachers.

Bob had an unusual style of teaching. The first first twenty minutes of the lesson he would spend telling lively stories, only slightly related to the subject at hand. I learned about his experiences in the Army, where he was in the Norton Motor cycle acrobatic troop, and played in the Army band. he relayed the gossip from the local classical scene, and had great tales to tell of players such as Yehudi Menuhin, which I will retell here because they have important lessons for any gifted young player.

After 20 mins or so of stories, I was very relaxed, and then the teaching would begin. I am sure being in a relaxed state helped the lesson to be received more deeply. He restored my faith in teachers and I will never forget his input into my sadly lacking technique.

After a year of jazz school my young son was diagnosed with a mild form of Austism, and needing to support him, I was unable to continue my studies. However just one year gave me the basic tools for improvisation, and I was able to play in a Duo, initially playing Irish music, and then extending to jazz, Latin, Spanish, gypsy, and even a smattering of rock, with a strong emphasis on improvisation.

At one point I was playing with a band that included 2 didgeridoos that played pulsating counter rhythms, to the accompaniment of a full drum kit with added percussion, a soprano saxophone, bass clarinet and violin. very unusual but it worked. We played world dance music. We would hire a community hall, and do our own promotion, make flyers etc.around 200 people would turn up, including many of the dance students from local polytechs.

All our music, although it had some structure that held it together had a lot of space for improvisation. And we had a lot of fun. It stopped when I left Auckland and moved to the country...but another musical phase took up where that left off.

Anyway....this is a long way of coming to where I started...taking it to the next level.

Because of my broken history with the violin, and the way I was taught it in my early years, I had hardly used my 4th finger in five years of playing (this has to be wrong...they don't seem to teach like that these days!). I had dependancy on open strings, and my 4th finger was very weak. Vibrato had also not been covered in my lessons. As well as this of course I struggled with any key that required 4th finger fluency.

The many clips around the ear that I received practicing violin in the kitchen with my mother while she cooked breakfast, gave me an aversion to the violin for a long time...and when I finally managed to get kicked out by a teacher who refused to teach me due to my bad attitude...I never intended to take it up again. I now realise that I missed 10 crucial years of development, but I think that classical training can ruin a violinist for jazz...so perhaps it was a good thing.

Being a mother of a special needs child has often conflicted with being a violinist, but I like to think that the rough and the smooth of our experience all contributes to the making of a musician. My son is now 15 and is doing well, so I am back to focusing on developing my playing.

I gave instructions for an exercise that is extremely beneficial in my last post. Now I have to confess that I have only recently began to really apply myself to this exercise. I'm determined to master the speed and fluency of Stephane Grappelli, and the only way to achieve this is hard work, and lots of it. I had filed this exercise in my back burner for many years, as my fingers have slowly developed...every time I stuck to it even briefly I noticed results... but this time I want to go all the way. I mean it!! lol.

Scales, arpeggios, jazz patterns ....repetition and slow as well as fast practice is the key.
The 4th finger is vital in Jazz, and lack of it severely limits the keys that can be played confidently and fluently.

Jazz violin is all about patterns, and moving up and down the keyboard, to the place that fits the key being played. the patterns are the same for every key, as long as the open string is not used.

In my next post I'll share a story that Bob told me regarding Yehudi Menuhin that illustrates the importance of foundation work ie scales and strength building exercises with the violin...and the devastating effect not doing them had on his playing and his career.