Ever Thought About Getting Back To Playing Violin?

Ever thought about getting back to playing music? Have you ever thought about getting back to playing violin? If you played the violin as a child, then sure as eggs you were turned off at some time by a teacher who harped on about practice. Who thought scales and Violin Technique were more important than enjoying the actual music; or who perhaps told you you couldn’t play in tune?

After An Innominato-Strings Concert

When our adult community group Innominato-Strings plays a concert, we have lots of people come up to us and say “That looks like fun, but I haven’t played for years”. Further into the conversation they might admit “I’ve got a violin under my bed collecting dust.”

Sadly, there are lots of reasons why the violin is in hiding:

• Teenage peer pressure,
• “I had a teacher I didn’t like,” or
• it was the style of teaching that didn’t suit them.
• “I had parents who paid for my lessons, but really never pushed me”
• and the opposite “….they pushed me too hard.”

Getting Back To Playing Violin

Here’s the other statement that we hear a lot of “I always wanted to learn the violin but now it’s too late.” Well guess what? We disagree. We disagree lots. Almost half our group started playing when they were over 50 years old. Getting back to playing violin can be a realistic goal at any age or starting from scratch. It’s just not true that you have to start playing when you’re three or you’ve missed the boat. What does it take to learn to play the violin again? Just a love of playing music with other people, a bit of determination and enthusiasm.

Need evidence? Here is Innominato-Strings in our June concert 2013 playing Hoedown from the Rodeo Ballet by Aaron Copland. It looks like we were having fun because we were. We’re not a professional orchestra, we get together because we love playing.

Hoedown from Rodeo

The circumstances surrounding the composition of Rodeo Hoedown by Aaron Copland led to its having a number of features that set it apart from other Copland compositions. Though many of Copland’s works incorporate traditional American folk tunes, Rodeo is unique in that it leaves them quite intact in the score, with very little alteration on the part of the composer.

The well-known main theme of “Hoedown from Rodeo” is based on a unique version of the American folk song called Bonaparte’s Retreat.