How DO you get to Carnegie Hall?

dennisn

Something like 10 years ago, at the ripe old age of 52, I decided I wanted to learn to play the violin. I have always enjoyed fiddle music, be it classical, country, or whatever, so i made the plunge. I thought it best to simply rent an inexpensive violin and bow to find out if this were really something I might stick with. After a few years I made the decision to buy my own gear as it appeared that I had gotten over my initial frustration with trying to
learn to play this most difficult instrument. With my instructors advice I bought a $2000 USD violin and a $500 USD bow, which she said would serve me very well for many years. And so it has.
I get all the violin catalogs now, with all of the greatest stuff in them. Do I want to buy that $9,000 violin and the $4,000 bow I've seen advertised in one of the them? Oh, you bet I do. Beautiful, simply beautiful, works of art if you will. If I had that much disposable income I assure you they would be mine. I've even went so far as to travel a couple hundred miles to the store to play them, such is my lust for these two items. So, the obvious question everyone wants answered is - Did they sound better and / or play better(in my hands) than my, almost junk by comparison, instruments that I have at home? Sad to say that I didn't and / or couldn't make these two gorgeous pieces play or sound any better than what I already have. I wanted to believe, and badly, that I could "pull" better sound out of these simply because they were "better" quality instruments. Maybe in a few years I'll gain enough insight and skill to need a better violin. As for now I guess I haven't paid enough "dues", so to speak.
So in answer to the old joke "How DO you get to Carnegie Hall?- practice, practice, practice".
Which in retrospect isn't really so much a joke as a very, very, wise saying.

Aggieboy

dennisn wrote:

Something like 10 years ago, at the ripe old age of 52, I decided I wanted to learn to play the violin. I have always enjoyed fiddle music, be it classical, country, or whatever, so i made the plunge. I thought it best to simply rent an inexpensive violin and bow to find out if this were really something I might stick with. After a few years I made the decision to buy my own gear as it appeared that I had gotten over my initial frustration with trying to
learn to play this most difficult instrument. With my instructors advice I bought a $2000 USD violin and a $500 USD bow, which she said would serve me very well for many years. And so it has.
I get all the violin catalogs now, with all of the greatest stuff in them. Do I want to buy that $9,000 violin and the $4,000 bow I've seen advertised in one of the them? Oh, you bet I do. Beautiful, simply beautiful, works of art if you will. If I had that much disposable income I assure you they would be mine. I've even went so far as to travel a couple hundred miles to the store to play them, such is my lust for these two items. So, the obvious question everyone wants answered is - Did they sound better and / or play better(in my hands) than my, almost junk by comparison, instruments that I have at home? Sad to say that I didn't and / or couldn't make these two gorgeous pieces play or sound any better than what I already have. I wanted to believe, and badly, that I could "pull" better sound out of these simply because they were "better" quality instruments. Maybe in a few years I'll gain enough insight and skill to need a better violin. As for now I guess I haven't paid enough "dues", so to speak.
So in answer to the old joke "How DO you get to Carnegie Hall?- practice, practice, practice".
Which in retrospect isn't really so much a joke as a very, very, wise saying.

'A bad workman always blames his tools'. Not so much a joke as a very wise saying.

MattC59

Does it come with Shimano or Campag ?

Ollieda

I've played Carnegie Hall, not as good as Royal Albert Hall was though

All jokes aside, you do have to practice and be good, or just lucky enough to get that last minute phone call as one of the booked musicians was ill!

deptfordmarmoset

I've played the Royal Festival Hall - but that was double bass playing in a London Youth Orchestra so it really didn't require the same degree of skill and application as even a 2nd violins player would have needed to play in the same orchestra.

And then I got the piano-playing bug. I've spent years of my life learning Beethoven and Chopin pieces - decades of dedication - but, if I'm honest, the only thing I was really any good at was my pedal work. Unfortunately it's not an automatically transferable skill...

On the other hand, it's really easy to get to the Royal Festival Hall - head out along the Lower Road and keep close to the Thames,you can't miss it...

B3rnieMac

well............from my house......... http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Cromwell+Road,+Belfast&daddr=Carnegie+Hall,+Northcote+Ave,+Isleworth+TW7+7JQ,+United+Kingdom&hl=en&geocode=FZPwQAMdjIWl_ykRVy7z-ghhSDHR_H12FZ1rbQ%3BFWw5EQMdBP36_ykb08RzWAx2SDErXOkfvlRg4w&mra=pd&sll=53.023999,-3.129206&sspn=3.595452,10.821533&ie=UTF8&z=6

Cleat Eastwood

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

On the other hand, it's really easy to get to the Royal Festival Hall - head out along the Lower Road and keep close to the Thames,you can't miss it...

Oh Dennis its so important you carry on. There is a fine history of violin/fiddle playing from the US.

and to coin another phrase 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. The difference between a layman playing and a 'professional' is refined technique. More importantly the similarity is a pure unadulterated passion for the task in hand.

I love cajun music and recently came across this, the great dewey balfa he plays in an effortless way, but what comes through is his enjoyment of playing.

dewey balfa


And look at the playing of these amateurs jamming away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7mHcbjLsro&feature=related

compare to this:

its really beautiful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtoB6yHuhx0

All different styles but for me the latter is an emotion chopin strove to address rather than using the instrument to explore their own feelings. Its interpretation rather than pure expression.

Yes money wont buy you technique but it will make you realise that you are so passionate about something that you will invest in it. Your dilemma, and what a nice dilemma it is, is which style to focus on, classical, country, arcadian etc.

My mindset has always been that there are no boundaries or examples of perfection and that we are all a work in progress: there is no 'better' or 'worse', so if I was asked how do you get to carnegie hall, I'd say you build your own. Build it high, Populate it with your music and your style and your individuality.

I liked your post dennis, its a rare one on the forum thats about positive creative endeavour (a bit like the photo one on the MTB hub). So good luck with it and enjoy the journey to your own carnegie.

and play as nathan abshire played….to tickle under the toes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjWZ9OyYdj4&feature=related

sandy hill

I'm sure this thread is an analogy of cyclists and their bikes. :?:

Weejie54

I've played in both the Albert Hall and the Carnegie Hall - in Stirling and Dunfermline respectively. If you want to know how to get to the latter, use the Google method suggested earlier.

Keith47

sandy hill wrote:

I'm sure this thread is an analogy of cyclists and their bikes. :?:

My thoughts exactly. Do I lust after the latest £8000 bike? You bet I do. Will I be any better than I am on my £600 Boardman? Of course not. I'm 50 years old, overweight, don't train enough but still love cycling enough to keep trying to improve my fitness and lose weight, albeit in very tiny increments!!!!

Now, how long will it take me to save up for that MCIPOLLINI RB1000 in this months mag..................?

dennisn

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

On the other hand, it's really easy to get to the Royal Festival Hall - head out along the Lower Road and keep close to the Thames,you can't miss it...

Oh Dennis its so important you carry on. There is a fine history of violin/fiddle playing from the US.

and to coin another phrase 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. The difference between a layman playing and a 'professional' is refined technique. More importantly the similarity is a pure unadulterated passion for the task in hand.

I love cajun music and recently came across this, the great dewey balfa he plays in an effortless way, but what comes through is his enjoyment of playing.

dewey balfa


And look at the playing of these amateurs jamming away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7mHcbjLsro&feature=related

compare to this:

its really beautiful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtoB6yHuhx0

All different styles but for me the latter is an emotion chopin strove to address rather than using the instrument to explore their own feelings. Its interpretation rather than pure expression.

Yes money wont buy you technique but it will make you realise that you are so passionate about something that you will invest in it. Your dilemma, and what a nice dilemma it is, is which style to focus on, classical, country, arcadian etc.

My mindset has always been that there are no boundaries or examples of perfection and that we are all a work in progress: there is no 'better' or 'worse', so if I was asked how do you get to carnegie hall, I'd say you build your own. Build it high, Populate it with your music and your style and your individuality.

I liked your post dennis, its a rare one on the forum thats about positive creative endeavour (a bit like the photo one on the MTB hub). So good luck with it and enjoy the journey to your own carnegie.

and play as nathan abshire played….to tickle under the toes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjWZ9OyYdj4&feature=related

Good stuff. Thanks a lot.

dennisn

Aggieboy wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Something like 10 years ago, at the ripe old age of 52, I decided I wanted to learn to play the violin. I have always enjoyed fiddle music, be it classical, country, or whatever, so i made the plunge. I thought it best to simply rent an inexpensive violin and bow to find out if this were really something I might stick with. After a few years I made the decision to buy my own gear as it appeared that I had gotten over my initial frustration with trying to
learn to play this most difficult instrument. With my instructors advice I bought a $2000 USD violin and a $500 USD bow, which she said would serve me very well for many years. And so it has.
I get all the violin catalogs now, with all of the greatest stuff in them. Do I want to buy that $9,000 violin and the $4,000 bow I've seen advertised in one of the them? Oh, you bet I do. Beautiful, simply beautiful, works of art if you will. If I had that much disposable income I assure you they would be mine. I've even went so far as to travel a couple hundred miles to the store to play them, such is my lust for these two items. So, the obvious question everyone wants answered is - Did they sound better and / or play better(in my hands) than my, almost junk by comparison, instruments that I have at home? Sad to say that I didn't and / or couldn't make these two gorgeous pieces play or sound any better than what I already have. I wanted to believe, and badly, that I could "pull" better sound out of these simply because they were "better" quality instruments. Maybe in a few years I'll gain enough insight and skill to need a better violin. As for now I guess I haven't paid enough "dues", so to speak.
So in answer to the old joke "How DO you get to Carnegie Hall?- practice, practice, practice".
Which in retrospect isn't really so much a joke as a very, very, wise saying.

'A bad workman always blames his tools'. Not so much a joke as a very wise saying.

Whoa, that takes me back to my wood shop days in High School. Our teacher always said that.

redjeepǃ

Weejie54 wrote:

I've played in both the Albert Hall and the Carnegie Hall - in Stirling and Dunfermline respectively. If you want to know how to get to the latter, use the Google method suggested earlier.

Surely the Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline can claim to be THE Carnegie Hall being as how he was from about 100 yards away.

dennisn

Well, along the lines of "learn something new each day" I now realize that there is more than one Carnegie Hall. Most likely none of which I'll ever play. :oops: :oops: :oops:

dennisn

sandy hill wrote:

I'm sure this thread is an analogy of cyclists and their bikes. :?:

No, no, no. Strictly a bit of commentary about violins and peoples ability to play them.
How could it relate to bicycles? Surely no thinking bike rider would believe, as I had, that by buying an expensive violin I would play a whole lot better? Bike riders are smarter than that. They realize that they can't simply buy some pretty thing and go faster. Don't they? :? :? :?

edhornby

I've played some pretty pricey saxophones in my time, some of which were brilliant and some of which were trash with a badge that made people want to pay over the odds for them

there is an analogy with bikes - if you know what you are talking about and can demonstrate, you are likely to be able to spot a deficiency that is the difference between being pro quality or not, but there are a lot of (bikes/instruments) that can be used quite comfortably by pros even if they don't have a rep or pricetag to match

the analogy between bikes and instruments is also true that talent is overrated, it's all about bl00dy hard work

nwallace

Easy, it's just down the other end of Fife from me. Wouldn't really want to go to Dunfermline though.