As my teenage contemporaries redecorated random homes with vast strands of bathroom tissue, I was cloistered away fervently practicing my violin five hours each day. My mother never once had to remind me to practice.

Musicians advocate that practice is of utmost importance in the development of any player. Jascha Heifetz, possibly the 20th Century’s most amazing violinist, said, If I don’t practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.

For something that is so crucial to musicians, it is surprising that so many players resist it. Telling a child to practice can be like asking him/her to eat brussels sprouts or to clean his/her room. As a violin teacher, I deal with the dreaded P word every week. (This also applies to adults!)

What’s so terrible about practicing?

Priorities: The common complaint is I don’t have any time to practice. Really, in the end it’s not a matter of having a full plate. The amazing players who practice every day are not working with 28-hours a day. Students who practice regularly have simply made practicing a priority. These dedicated individuals enjoy practicing and its benefits so much that they sacrifice other activities to make time for their playing.

This doesn’t mean you have to give your right arm as an offering to the merciless practice gods. You may get a bit less time on the tv or computer, or maybe you have to ignore the ringing phone until you’re done. A nip and tuck here and there can add up to a lot of previously unavailable time.

Be Inspired: The key to enjoyable practicing is inspiration. For example, when a musician feels inspired by a favourite song or role model s/he is compelled to practice. Inspiration frequently emerges while attending a live concert and meeting a famous musician. Just ask anyone who’s seen a famous musician play live in concert.

Perhaps the materials you’re working with are too dry for your tastes? Maybe you’re not being challenged enough? Discuss any inspirations or lack thereof with your teacher or another musician to get you back on track.

Set Goals: Many players also thrive on setting and meeting goals, such as to play with an advanced group, to learn a challenging piece, or to perform well in festival or an upcoming concert. My best music making has come from feeling inspired and by achieving personal aspirations.

Each summer I ask my students to set goals for the following fall and also for 1 year, 5 year and 10-year. Their responses are impressive; more than half aspire to teach violin someday and most others just want to be more confident players and to play for pay!

Check-Points: My job as teacher is to help the students make their goals a reality. We create appropriate time-lines for the goals, including check-points to make sure the players’ actions are aligned with their end goal.

For example, if a student’s goal is to master a concerto, we make sure they’ve have outlined the steps to learning the piece along with the technique and skills required required. I’ll practice these exercizes for two months, and by December I will be starting on 5th position.

Sometimes this practice involves excercizes, scales and theory, but other times it’s as simple as completing a book or gaining more confidence through public performance. By setting up check-points at comfortable intervals to make sure you are on the right track and to make the overall goal seem less daunting.

And besides, life is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the journey to meeting your goal and once you get there you’ll have plenty more road ahead to explore.

Goals Can Change: I’ve always got a list of short to long-term goals for myself, ranging from one-week, one-month, six-month, and 1, 2, 5, 10-year goals. Sometimes the goals change, which is okay because I am constantly learning and growing. What was important to me 10 years ago may not be a big deal to me now. The important thing

Incentives: Everything we work for has reward. Just as brussels sprouts contribute to physical health, practice contributes to better musicianship. However, musicianship just isn’t tangible to 5-year-olds.

Thus, teachers and parents are prompted to offer fun incentives for practice. Kids are rewarded with stickers, ice cream coupons and other treats. My students can earnFiddlebucks for their practicing, which can be used to purchase trinkets and toys.

These programs work for most children, but even stickers can become pass? after a while. Children should be encouraged to aspire to higher goals, thus setting higher rewards. As my students progress, they curb their spending to save Fiddlebucks for long-term rewards, like lunch with the teacher, which takes over a year to earn.

How to Practice: Though students understand the benefits and rewards of practice, many do not know exactly *how* to practice. Each teacher has particular requirements and expectations, but generally my start/focus/playtime routine works best.

Start: The student stretches and warms-up with long, clear tones, then scales and arpeggios, and finally a warm-up piece or exercise.

Focus: Here the student works on new and challenging pieces, paying close attention to detail and correcting mistakes but also focusing on his/her strengths. Focus allows the player to make improvements and build confidence simultaneously.

Playtime: Saving the best for last, Playtime is when the student reviews favourite songs and has some fun. Tasks such as playing with the radio (ear training in disguise), recording yourself, composition and improvising are all enjoyable assignments that can motivate a player.

Homework: Sometimes I assign violin homework to students of all ages. The assignments vary from draw a picture of your violin, to play a concert for your family andwrite a report about your favourite or a famous violinist. Interestingly all the children love these special assignments and become increasingly inspired and motivated to practice.

For example, one of my students e-mailed Natalie MacMaster for an essay project and was encouraged by Natalie, herself, to play the fiddle each day. The Cape Breton Canadian fiddler said, it really does make things better.

Consistency: I don’t know how many times I’ve heard, I meant to practice, but it slipped my mind. Consistency is the most important step to enjoying successful practice. The truth is that practice is best done and easiest when done consistently. The more we practice, the more we are inspired to practice.

Have a hard time with consistency? I’m sure you still manage to eat and sleep every day, so you’ll find a way to get the practice in if it works around one of those schedules! Play just after waking or right before bedtime. Eat your lunch halfway between your warm-up and pieces. When you make it a routine it’s harder to leave out of your day and you’ll actually get it done! No more guilty lessons!

Sometimes it’s not possible to play every day, but it does make a tremendous difference. For players just starting a consistent routine it’s best to do two shorter practices rather than one long one. Going at it full steam can tire a player out and make them less inclined to want to do it again. You’ll be left with more energy after a couple of shorter practices and will gradually lengthen them.

Family Support: It is of utmost importance that parents or spouses of aspiring musicians provide encouragement for the player. Never poke fun at sour notes or say things like, if you don’t practice we’ll take away your lessons. Through thick and thin the family’s job is to support the player as they master their art.

Other Perks: For students who still find it difficult to keep a practice routine I suggest they opt out of washing dinner dishes and serenade the dishwashers each night. It’s amazing how quickly they jump to it when they know there is no more dishwashing! There are countless other perks (excuses to get out of work) to practice that can be sorted out with your family.

I spent my formative years either grounded or due for a grounding due to the occasional landscaping mummification. However, in the 542 times I was grounded, my kind mother never took away my violin. I could be heard playing my violin sadly from my bedroom prison cell: Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.

And I loved it.

**Rhiannon Schmitt (nee Nachbaur) is a professional violinist and music teacher who has enjoyed creative writing for years.

She currently writes columns for two Canadian publications and has been featured in Australia’s Music Teacher Magazine. Writing allows her to teach people that the world of music is as fun as you spin it to be!

Rhiannon, age 29, has worn the hats of businesswoman, performer, events promoter, classical music radio host and school orchestra music arranger in rural British Columbia, Canada.

Her business, Fiddleheads Violin School & Shop, has won several distinguished young entrepreneur business awards for her commitment to excellence. Her shop offers beginner to professional level instruments, accessories and supplies for very reasonable prices: Visit http://www.fiddleheads.ca

Rhiannon is also Founding President of the Shuswap Violin Society which promotes violin & fiddle music and helps young musicians in need: http://www.violinsociety.ca

Canada’s Interior Provincial Exhibition in British Columbia is renowned for its prize-winning pigs, 10-gallon hats and cowboys being flung from the backs of snorting bulls.

Did I mention classical violin music?

In 2001 the IPE hosted the Festival of the Arts, an all classical, jazz and theatre venue in the heart of the fairgrounds. I’d honestly never been out to the fair before but was hired to emcee and play violin in the new event.

From the moment I pulled into the dusty parking lot full of pickups and horse trailers I knew I was in for an interesting five days. Dressed in a formal satin gown I entered Armstrong’s Centennial Hall as farmers and cowboys watched with curiosity and suspicion. Imagine a decked-out diva playing Mozart in the “Tumbleweed Saloon” and you get the picture. Though the carnies teased me that I’d "gotten lost on the way to the opera house" I smiled coyly: I had an ace up my sleeve.

In the past I’d gotten myself into all sorts of embarrassing gigs where the music did not suit the venue. As a relatively shy and inexperienced performer I was hired to play classical violin at the formal (and final) Royal Canadian Mounted Police Regimental Ball in Trail, BC in 1997. The evening consisted of over 100 less-than-sober Mounties and dignitaries who incessantly requested “Achy Breakie Heart,” a song I was certainly not prepared to play that night.

I was obligated by my contract to play all classical repetoire and it was with much effort I was able to sustain it to the end of my set. Just before packing up I surrendered to play a few fiddle tunes. The crowd went wild and I was thrown from background music to front and center entertainer, a place I was far to shy to want to be.

I left the party just as some resourceful officers at the nearest table discovered their wide-brim hats could also function as frisbees. I couldn’t have felt more out of place!

To keep everyone feeling comfortable in the concert hall each style of music has developed a distinct set of audience protocols.

For example, Jazz modus operandi requires we clap after the solos, whereas proper classical etiquette insists the audience hold applause until all the movements are completed. Folk and country music’s tradition has us clapping with the beat.

By stark contrast there was no clapping permitted in Baroque concerts held in churches during the 1600’s. Always looking for a way around the formality, Antonio Vivaldi’s inventive fans adapted a way of showing their appreciation for the music by shuffling their feet, coughing and blowing their noses loudly.

If stuffy clergy could bring themselves to blow their schnozzes in appreciation, I could modify my performance to make my classical music suit the audience. Along came a considerable challenge: I was invited to play British Columbia’s wacky “Streetfest” alongside fire-swallowers, stilt-walkers and sultry female impersonators.

I couldn’t be shy at this gig so I carefully developed a “circle show” that helped me fit into the zany antics while still doing what came naturally to me. Clad in an extravagant red sequined gown and combat boots I played the overstated role of “Virtuoso Violinist,” a direct poke at classical music’s stuffiness.

Keeping it simple I performed the same set of music I always played, but this time on my 5-string Zeta electric violin, and amused the audience with hilarious true stories about classical composers.

The result was an entertaining educational show that made classical music and it’s history accessible to people of all ages and music preferences. Analogous to protein-rich chocolate-coated ants, it was a sneaky way of making classical music more palatable! Disasters such as the infamous “Mountie Incident” would hopefully never happen again.

Though they squirmed in their seats at first, the farmers and cowboys at the IPE were pleasantly surprised to discover a hidden appreciation for classical music in each of my and other groups’ performances. One such ensemble, the “Stoney String Quartet,” earned the audiences’ admiration and respect for their musicality and familiar backround.

The group of siblings played superb classical music in addition to working on their parents’ farm building barns, haying and processing poultry. It was amusing to imagine the nimble fingers that plucked out delightful melodies under the bright lights of the stage also plucked chickens back on the family farm.

Thanks to receptive audiences the IPE had a Jazz and Classical festival that year where showing appreciation for a great saxophone solo, a magnificent Shakespeare sonnet or a Mozart masterpiece meant yelling “YEE HA” at the top of your lungs!

It sure beat blowing your nose for five days.

**Rhiannon Schmitt (nee Nachbaur) is a professional violinist and music teacher who has enjoyed creative writing for years.

She currently writes columns for two Canadian publications and has been featured in Australia’s Music Teacher Magazine. Writing allows her to teach people that the world of music is as fun as you spin it to be!

Rhiannon’s business, Fiddleheads Violin School & Shop, has won several distinguished young entrepreneur business awards for her commitment to excellence. Her shop offers beginner to professional level instruments, accessories and supplies for very reasonable prices: Visit http://www.fiddleheads.ca

Rhiannon is also Founding President of the Shuswap Violin Society which promotes violin & fiddle music and helps young musicians in need: http://www.violinsociety.ca

Led Zeppelin was blaring on the stereo and our violins trembled in the back seat. We devoured our fast food suppers as we zoomed along the dark winter highway to the big city two hours away from our small, rural Canadian town.

Anticipating the evening with mixed anxiety and excitement, our insides danced a quick nervous jig. We were travelling to the first of seven practices this month with a symphony orchestra and were already sick of the drive.

Ari, a 17-year-old fiddle student of mine, had never played in an orchestra but had won plenty of hardware at fiddle contests. Seeing the opportunity as great career experience, he reluctantly agreed to spend four Wednesdays and an entire weekend away from his friends in rehearsals. He was a proficient player and incredibly confident, which I hoped would keep him from bailing out before any music was played.

We were not at all prepared to play our parts since the music was held up by another orchestra until the day before. Thus the entire orchestra would have to sight-read (musician for fake it or die a terrible death) the music with the rest of the orchestra.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have been nervous in the least. I played first violin for a year with the symphony, but had spent a couple years pregnant then raising my son. My mind had turned into a mish-mash of strained carrots and Barney and I was worrying about everything all at once.

Did I still have what it took to play with an orchestra? Was the cat fed today? Would I be able to stay awake at the rehearsal after only 4 hours sleep the night previous? Did I leave the stove on? Would my child survive at home with my unobservant husband? What if the conductor asked me to play in front of everyone else and I spontaneously forgot how to play the violin?

Leaving behind a toddler screaming for mommy was difficult, but no where near as frightening as the impending embarrassment that could have struck if I have lost my touch. My nervous tension grew as we approached the city lights.

After getting lost and being locked out of the building we were late, but thankfully, so was our boss, the section leader. We finally settled into our seats, clutching our violins with cold, shaking hands, and were met with intimidating folders crammed full of what a non-musician would think to be inkblot exams for testing the insane. On second thought, they very well could be tonight. The conductor raised his baton and we began.

Playing with a symphony is always wonderfully intense and the enormous volume within the orchestra is fantastic. Our conductor waved his hands with enthusiasm and the complete concentration everyone was immersed in was wonderfully intense. During an overture I was busy avoiding blasting unwanted notes when there was supposed to be silence and looking out for my young pupil beside me that he was on the same track.

For me the tension melted away when we pulled Beethoven Symphony No. 4 out of our folders.

Playing Beethoven was what inspired me to leave my warm cozy home and family to subject myself to potential humiliation. Playing Beethoven was enough incentive to keep all of us coming to rehearsals, though most of us were volunteers and weren’t paid to rehearse or perform in the concert. Playing Beethoven was what made the 4-hour drive in winter weather and midnight bedtime worthwhile.

Surprisingly, Ari was the one slumped over a kettledrum napping during the break, and not me. My maternal instinct took over and I helped him into a chair. He’s new to all this, I said to another player and she smirked and let him rest in peace, with full understanding of how the late rehearsals can drain a player. Players exchanged baby pictures, ate cake, then played Happy Birthday for a flautist.

Bruce, not The Maestro, but Bruce, was a great leader who told jokes and hung with the rest of us. His friendliness and encouragement always made orchestra rehearsals fun for me and I’m sure all the musicians played better as a result.

At one point he asked the rookie, Ari, how he was holding up with the music. Fine, Ari replied. How’s she doing, Bruce teased, looking at me, the teacher. Oh, I don’t know about her! Ari said with an impish grin. We all laughed and again I felt my tension evaporate until I was just having fun again.

After playing remarkably well and avoiding the wrath of the sectionleader we drove home and reflected on the events behind us. Ari was having the time of his life and became delirious and giddy with fatigue. At one point he took his violin out of the case and started playing hyper-fast jigs in the car, his bow bumping the soft ceiling. We laughed and sang and talked.

Inside I was cherishing the feeling of being back in my element: I’m playing Beethoven again I kept reminding myself as the words’ euphoric effect had not yet worn off. Ari thought playing with a symphony was pretty cool and was glad he was giving it a try.

I thought of all the other musicians around the world who were on their way home from rehearsals and concerts, dog-tired and hopelessly broke, but content because they were feeding their souls. In the weeks to come our duo would run out of gas in the middle of nowhere, my son would nearly drive my husband batty with frustration and Ari would expose my car stereo to so-called music featuring indecent bodily noises, but it was all part of the musicians’ experience.

It allowed me to play Beethoven again.

We cranked up the Zeppelin and air-guitared all the way back home through a light blizzard, enjoying every minute of the drive together.

**Rhiannon Schmitt (nee Nachbaur) is a professional violinist and music teacher who has enjoyed creative writing for years.

Her business, Fiddleheads Violin School & Shop, has won several distinguished young entrepreneur business awards for her commitment to excellence. Her shop offers beginner to professional level instruments, accessories and supplies for very reasonable prices: Visit http://www.fiddleheads.ca

Rhiannon is also Founding President of the Shuswap Violin Society which promotes violin & fiddle music and helps young musicians in need: http://www.violinsociety.ca

The following is a process designed to get your brain to assimilate new musical material. This system will let you memorize music fast and help you reprogram your mental synapses and learn music the right way rather than relying on muscle memory only. This process applies to all music and all instruments and assumes that you have some competency on your instrument.

1. Look at the page you are about to learn and make mental notes of all the new music.

2. Break this material into small sections. i.e. (One measure or two measures or a Phrase)

3. Focus completely on the first of these small sections and allow all the details to register clearly in your mind. For example you may ask yourself what octaves, what rhythm, what fingering etc. Try to picture in your mind how you are going to play the section, then when you have an absolutely clear mental image of the section of music, PLAY THROUGH ONCE SLOWLY.

4. Try to associate this new material to something which you are familiar, for instance it may remind you of some song you have heard, etc.

5. Now, turn away from the music and PRACTICE REMEMBERING what you saw. Try to avoid taking a second look at the music. Go ahead and practice the entire section of music entirely from memory.

6. Always practice new material very slowly at first and gradually build up to a faster tempo this may take a week to reach a desired tempo. Use a metronome to help build up to tempo.

7. Once you have mastered the first small section, put down your instrument and take a short break for longer sections take a longer break.

8. When you have mastered all the small sections then start stringing them together by playing the piece from start to finish. Do not stop if you make a mistake, keep on playing through to the end. Afterwards, go back and clear up any problem spots individually. Refuse to go over and over things you already know.

Repeat this process on any music or sections of music you are learning EXACTLY and include the rest period. Immediately begin to look for places to apply what you have learned. Always be on the lookout for new ways to use what you know.

Dennis St Germain is a jazz musician located in Eugene Oregon. Currently he is playing in two bands, Ritmo de la Noche a Latin Jazz band as well as Calango a Brazilian Dance music band. If you want to learn an instrument or become a better musician visit http://www.music-lessons-on-dvd.com

The violin can quite easily be considered one of the noblest stringed instruments whose notes have mesmerized generations of music lovers. Its origin is quite obscure, the general belief being that it originated in Asia and was perfected in Europe. Three other stringed instruments that form the violin family are the viola, the violoncello (or cello) and the double bass (or bass).

The violin itself is a very graceful instrument. Its parts are made of different kinds of wood. The belly, bass bar, and the sound post are made of spruce wood; the back, ribs, neck and bridge are made of maple; the fingerboard, the peg box, the nut and the saddle are made of ebony; while the pegs and the button are made of rosewood.

The violin makers are very particular of the age of wood used to make the instrument. They prefer wood that has been seasoned for 10 to 20 years. According to them, the quality of a violin’s sound is determined by the thickness of the wood, its age and seasoning.

A violin is usually around 36 cm (14 inches) long and is made of a hollow wooden box with a neck that has an internal sound post connecting the front (belly) with the back. The belly is reinforced by an internal bass bar, which runs beneath the lowest string. The sides of the violin are known as ribs.

Four strings run from a tailpiece attached to the base of the violin across a wooden bridge and the fingerboard. They end up in a peg box, mounted slightly above the fingerboard, where they are wound around tuning pegs.

The bridge holds the strings in an arched configuration, allowing the violinist to play the strings separately. It also transmits the string vibrations to the belly, from where they are transmitted to the back by the sound post producing notes of great timbre and nobility.

Initially, the violin strings were made of gut. However, these strings have been replaced by metal-cored strings since they last long and produce better notes. A few violin makers also use synthetic-cored strings because they are less prone to humidity and temperature changes.

The violinist generally cradles the violin in the left hand, and uses the right hand to run the bow across the strings. The pitch is controlled with the help of the bow while the sound is regulated by depressing the string with a left hand finger.

Before the nineteenth century, some of the famous violinists were also composers. They included such famous names as Corelli, Vivaldi, Locatelli, and later Paganini, Sarasate, Wieniawski, Vieuxtemps, Ysa?e, Kreisler and Enesco. The 20th century saw the separation of the two functions. Among the great violinists of this era are J. Joachim, Brahms and Yehudi Menuhin.

This article was written by Darrell Tyler, a violin music lover for many years. If you would like to see a great resource of information about the violin, we would ask you to visit: FL Violin

This is a new site and one you will want to bookmark and come back to often. There are violin articles on the main page and we will have a Violin Quiz, Blog and Forum on our site very soon.

If you have the ability to write articles about violins, you can submit them on our site.

FL Violin is also affiliated with FAS Music and F Karaoke

It was a dark and stormy night. A feeble old man’s hands shivered with excited anticipation as he carved away the last curled shaving from the ancient piece of maple.

Magnifique! he exclaimed at his masterpiece as he caressed it like a mother with a newborn child. He kissed the smooth wood then gently hung it from a wire attached to a gold-gilded chandelier. The shapely object swayed gently above the master’s head. Flickering candlelight danced with the ox-hair brush as the violin received its first of more than twenty fine coats of hot oil varnish.

The violin was completed and labeled at the poignant stroke of midnight on the start of the year 1912 in Lyon, France. The year would later be known for other historic events such as the establishment of the Republic of China, the discovery of the South Pole, and more notably, the addition of prizes to Cracker Jack boxes. All these events are shadowed by the creation of a violin that would someday find its way to me.

My violin’s rust-brown varnish had just finished curing when it was wrapped in fine silk and sent away in a wooden case. Due to highway congestion and no available carrier pigeons, French aviator Henri Seimet was asked to deliver the violin and made the first non-stop airplane flight from Paris to London in three hours.

The violin’s first owner was the great-grandson of legendary violinist Nicol? Paganini who suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The violin’s astonishing tone helped auditioners overlook the player’s affliction and earned the him a gig with an 8-man band on a cruise ship. The Atlantic voyage was uneventful, unless you consider that last bit when the Titanic stuck an ice shelf and sank.

The violin’s last tune with the band that night was a jolly rendition ofRoll Out the Barrel before it was laid to rest in the coffin case, its owner saying a final goodbye. The ship went down in a fury of bubbles and miraculously the case came up out of the vessel with an infant sleeping peacefully on top. When the rescue ships arrived several hours later, infant Eva Braun and violin were in the care of another survivor on a nearby lifeboat: Margaret Molly Brown.

Eva was reunited with her family and would grow up to make poor decisions in politics and boyfriends. The violin, however, belonged to no one and was donated to a music society as a tax write-off. Joe Dawson, an eccentric race car driver, purchased the violin (also for tax reasons, though historians dispute this fact) and won the first Indianapolis 500 race with the violin in the trunk for good luck.

Soon afterwards Dawson lost his bet with Woodrow Wilson that the latter would not win the Presidential election; the winner took the violin. Wilson gave the violin to former ice hockey teammate Igor Stravinsky, who composed many of his best works using the violin. A year later, in 1913, the premiere of The Rite of Spring was poorly received and fights broke out in the audience. Stravinsky himself was so upset due to its reception that he fled the theater in mid-scene, leaving the violin behind in his haste.

Historians believe this is when my violin received extensive damage to the lower bout at the end-pin. The facts that follow are fuzzy due to poor documentation, but it is believed the violin was discovered in the theatre rubble and taken to a medicine man in Cuba who repaired the violin with guar gum and papyrus extracts. The dear violin spent the next forty-nine years passed from village virtuoso to virtuoso, who played for dignitaries, millionaires and other ridiculous people.

This happy holiday in the violin’s life ended in 1962 when one village violinist, fearing the worst of the Cuban Missile Crisis, hid the violin in a fall-out shelter behind 200-cans of extra-juicy pork and beans. In 2005 the canned food’s expiration date came and as the cans were being disposed of the violin was discovered again.

A compulsive gambler who worked with the fallout shelter’s janitorial service stole the violin and put the violin up for auction on Ebay. It was won by my cousin’s dog groomer’s babysitter’s nephew for 50 pesos. I heard there was a violin in the family and traded the guy an old lawnmower (he needed the wheels for a go-cart) for the violin, which is now safely in my possession and care.

Over this past year I have pondered over the mysterious label inside the violin, Lyon 1912, and the spider-like cracks on the bottom that seem to be so expertly repaired using methods unknown to local luthiers. Hence I took it upon myself to extensively research the history of my violin and learned what little I could about the violin’s history, which I have presented here truthfully to you.

Strangely, the people I’ve shared my flawless findings with have been disappointed as they’re only marginally glamourous or mysterious. Sometimes the truth is pretty boring. I wish it could be more than that.

So now when people ask for stories about my violin’s past, I lie and say my violin was discovered in Elvis’ dead grasp in a Vegas hotel bathroom. That’ll keep them interested.

**Rhiannon Schmitt (nee Nachbaur) is a professional violinist and music teacher who has enjoyed creative writing for years.

Rhiannon, age 29, has worn the hats of events promoter, classical music radio host and school orchestra music arranger in rural British Columbia, Canada.

Her business, Fiddleheads Violin School & Shop, has won several distinguished young entrepreneur business awards for her comittment to excellence. Her shop offers beginner to professional level instruments, accessories and supplies. http://www.fiddleheads.ca provides a rich resource of information on her school, violin, products for sale and her many writings.

Rhiannon is Founding President of the Shuswap Violin Society http://www.violinsociety.ca She dedicates much of her time to community music projects and helping young musicians in financial need.

Rhiannon currently writes columns for two Canadian publications and has been featured in Australia’s Music Teacher Magazine. Writing allows her to be a creative smart-ass and to teach people that the world of music is as fun as you spin it to be!

Every day musical instruments enrich the lives of people around the world and continue to promote culture and art throughout every society and community, no matter what size or structure. Even those people of the world who live outside the realm of technology enjoy and use musical instruments to tell stories or entertain. Someone who has never played musical instruments but is interested in trying one has quite a selection to choose from

Playing the violin is a wonderful experience and relatively easy to learn if you take it step by step. Firstly however you need to understand the mechanics of the violin so you know where to put your fingers and why.

The main components of the violin are the front, also called the belly, top, or soundboard, usually made of well-seasoned spruce; the back, usually made of well-seasoned maple; and the ribs, neck, fingerboard, pegbox, scroll, bridge, tailpiece, and f-holes, or soundholes. The front, back, and ribs are joined together to form a hollow sound box. The sound box contains the sound post, a thin, dowel-like stick of wood wedged inside underneath the right side of the bridge and connecting the front and back of the violin; and the bass-bar, a long strip of wood glued to the inside of the front under the left side of the bridge. The sound post and bass-bar are important for the transmission of sound, and they also give additional support to the construction. The strings are fastened to the tailpiece, rest on the bridge, are suspended over the fingerboard, and run to the pegbox, where they are attached to tuning pegs that can be turned to change the pitch of the string.

A violinist makes different pitches by placing the left-hand fingers on the string and pressing against the fingerboard. The strings are set in vibration and produce sound when the player draws the bow across them at a right angle near the bridge.

Among the most decorated characteristics of the violin are its singing tone and its potential to play rapid, brilliant figurations as well as lyrical melodies. Violinists can easily create special effects by means of the following techniques: pizzicato, plucking the strings; tremolo, moving the bow rapidly back and forth on a string; sul ponticello, playing with the bow extremely close to the bridge to produce a thin, glassy sound; col legno, playing with the wooden part of the bow instead of with the hair; harmonics, placing the fingers of the left hand lightly on certain points of the string to obtain a light, flutelike sound; and glissando, steadily gliding the left-hand fingers up and down along the string to produce an upward- or downward-sliding pitch.

Among composers of major solo and chamber works for the violin are Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven in the baroque and classical eras; the Austrian Franz Schubert, the Germans Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn, and Robert Schumann, and the Russian Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky in the romantic era; and the French Claude Debussy, the Austrian Arnold Schoenberg, the Hungarian B?la Bart?k, and the Russian-born Igor Stravinsky in the 20th century.

You are certainly joining an elite group when you pick up a violin.

Looking for information about the violin? Go to: http://www.mrviolin.com

‘Mr Violin’ is published by Helen Baxter – The Complete A to Z Of Violin Resources! Check out more violin articles at: http://www.mrviolin.com/archive

The Ave Maria Polka is blaring on the radio, Jingle Cats are meowing Greensleeves, and the doorbell is chiming a shrill Silent Night. To the untrained ear this musical goulash may seem tacky and not, by any means, traditional. However, this festive household has been influenced by many sophisticated classical composers!

Its easy to forget the classical origins of our most cherished carols when the 9-year-old next door is hollering Batman Smells! to the tune of Jingle Bells. To most childrens (and adults) surprise those dead guys with wigs are responsible for many of their favourite holiday tunes.

German composer Felix Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concertos, masses and hundreds of other works. Strangely his most recognizable piece, excluding his popular Wedding March, is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. It was written in 1840 as a part of his cantata Festgesang that honored printer Johann Gutenberg and the invention of printing!

The original lyrics were written by Charles Wesley 99 years before the music, but were changed to suit the cantata. Ironically, Wesley had specifically requested slow solemn music for his words. To top it all off, Mendelssohn had made it clear that his music was for secular use only!

Though it was written 260 years ago, George Frideric Handels Messiah is the most performed Christmas work in symphonies around the world. Oddly enough, it was composed while Handel suffered partial paralysis on his left side as a consequence of a stroke and took only 3 weeks to write! Even stranger was the cool reception it received during Handels lifetime. It was only through annual Eastertide performances to benefit the Foundling Hospital that Messiah was heard at all!

Music historians have recently discovered an embarrassing credit error. Cleric Isaac Watts published Psalms of David, based on Psalm 98 of the Old Testament, in 1719. In 1839 American composer Lowell Mason decided to set Watts translations to music and Joy to the World was born.

The confusion came from Masons modest footnote, From George Frederick Handel, which was said to be a tribute to the late composer. A misunderstanding was soon accepted as truth and for 100 years Handel was given credit for writing the music to Joy to the World!

Other music greats such as Beethoven, J.S. Bach, Holst, Corelli, Saint-Sans and Vaughan Williams are responsible for lovely Christmas Cantatas, Oratorios, and Carols we hear every December. Whether they meant to or not, these beloved artists have inspired generations of carolers.

Yes, even the off-key 9-year-old next door.

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