putting the violin first

well... it's been ages since I've been here, blogs have gone right to the back burner, partly because my son dropped my laptop a while back and it's been in the shop for a while getting repaired and other bills have taken priority so it's been there for a while! The music videos have stopped for now, I've started work again so have less time and energy for the internet...but good news is that after hardly picking the violin up for ages, have been back into it with a vengeance for the last couple of months. Did a bit of a road trip over the Christmas period, busked my way around new Plymouth, Hamilton, Raglan & Auckland. being on the road meant that i did most of my practice outside in nature - which I highly recommend. Found beautiful spots at beaches and reserves on my travels, and I found that playing outside instead of practicing in my room at home, inspired new qualities in my playing in response to the feeling qualities of the places I visited. I tried to tune into and interpret the qualities of the beaches, the wildlife, the waves, the streets etc in my playing. I found a new freedom in this approach and even my son noticed a lighter more freer style of playing emerging over the time we were away.

Part of the purpose of my trip was to find a direction with my music and my life. Now that I'm back home, I've fallen into a job for a while, which takes some of the financial pressure, and a different direction is definitely forming for my playing.

After years of enjoying playing with other musicians in various bands, I've decided make a shift to being solo violinist. this doesn't mean I won't play with other musicians, but I've made a decision that I really want to showcase the violin, and in bands the violin tends to mostly just support the other musicians with occasional solo breaks. I play the violin because I love the violin itself. I want to be able to develop my potential as a fiddle player, and share the pieces of music that have inspired me to appreciate and love the violin. hand in hand with that is a desire to continue to develop as an improviser and composer of original violin music and styles of playing.

In other words I want to be 100% dedicated to the violin. I feel that quality playing, by performers that can really bring out the beauty and versatility of the violin is rare, and I want to dedicate myself to developing my capacity to share the violins true depth and potential.

The violin is a deeply spiritual instrument when played well. It has the capacity to stir deep emotions, to lift the spirits, and to reconnect the listener with their own soul. The violin has healing qualities that can impact the listener deeply when played with soul and passion. As a totally biased violin lover...I never get enough live violin played with heart & depth. In New Zealand where I live, to hear live violin is rare. I'd like to share my love of the violin with others, while updating and modernising the image of the violin too. In the last few month since I posted my first quite rusty videos here, the work I've been doing with my violin has slowly been paying off as I've felt my playing lift a notch or two. I hope that by the time I finally get my laptop back, I'll have a lot more to share, and a better quality of playing. It's the sensitivity and subtlety of the violin that really appeal to me, it has such a range of expression possible, from incredible sweetness, deep soulfulness, heartbreaking melancholy, to bluesy, jazzy, celtic, gypsy - foot tapping fun. It can make your heart mind and soul soar, and express the heights and the depths of being human.

I plan once I have the laptop again, to create backing tracks that I can play to and improvise around. In the meantime..just lots of practice everyday :-)

I used to play every weekend, but I'd rather do less gigs, and have the ones I do have real impact. like a rare treat, a wine you wouldn't have everyday but save for a very special occasion. Once I've developed a repertoire that I'm really happy with, and backing tracks to go with it, have myself set up with all the gear I need etc I'll start marketing myself, producing promotional materials etc. It wont happen overnight, playing solo requires a much higher level of playing to sustain the listeners interest, and I plan to master some really difficult pieces...but I have a direction and a focus now and am excited about the violin again.

To play the violin really well, takes a lot of time and an incredible amount of patience. Despite courses that are being marketed on the internet that promise otherwise, I believe that a lifetime is hardly long enough. I'm in my forties and am just starting to take the violin seriously. I plan for when I'm 70. I watched Stephane Grappelli play live in his 90's - and he was brilliant. The violin benefits from emotional and spiritual maturity. They say that great violin players peak in their 70's and I plan to find out if that's true! I'm pretty sure that it is, for the dedicated violinist, maturity is a blessing as is age and wisdom.