The GrowlersWorld Violin Concertos - 5th Movement

INDEX

A late starter learning to play the violin, here are the inspirations for the journey...

<4th Movement | 6th Movement>

See also Growler's Violin - The Preludes , GrowlersWorld Symphony No.1 - Violin Links

and GrowlersWorld Philharmonic Orchestra - Classical Music Links

I started playing the violin at age 37 in September 2008.

Having had no background in music at all I knew it would be quite the challenge.

Most professional musicians start learning from age 4 upwards. Thinking back, my first exposure to classical music was listening to BBC Radio 4 as a child.

It was always on at home and a lot of the shows had classical music for their theme tunes.

It's only now I realise I was always drawn to the sound of the violin. I was recommended to the East London Late Starters Orchestra (ELLSO) by a friend, a cellist, who used to attend.

It's based in Mile End, London and considering I used to go to Queen Mary and Westfield Unversity, just down the road, in the early nineties, it was a feeling of deja vu.

The rest, as they say, is history. I can now read basic music and am learning how to perform with an orchestra and how to follow a conductor.

It's a steep learning curve but very enjoyable.

I named my violin, Irene, after a good friend who passed away in 2008 and I've started recording my progress on video which you can see on Growler's Violin.

Here's a short documentary film about ELLSO in which I have a brief cameo.

Enjoy!

I went to a free performance at Royal Festival Hall to see a young talent in action.

Violinist Mathieu Van Bellen started playing at the age of four. This tender age is quite common for most musicians.

Van Bellen was giving a recital as he was the winner of the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund.

As it was free we, the audience, could sit anywhere. Arriving early I picked a perfect spot and sat back to some of the most amazing sounds.

Accompanied by pianist Jaap Kooi, he played pieces by Mozart, Shostakovich and Saint-Saens, and he played them wonderfully.

Nothing beats a live performance and I came away inspired and reinvigorated.

The Royal Festival Hall often has free recitals so check out their website for more info.

The Mission. To learn to play the violin as good as Orpheus played the lyre.

Or to be as good as the wonderful virtuoso Sarah Chang.

I realised an early ambition by seeing Chang play recently at the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre in London.

Wow, the sound she made on her violin was pure magic.

It was like a clean voice, singing with every emotion on display.

Sitting some distance behind I'm glad I remembered to bring my binoculars to get a perfect view of her technique.

Including the way she held her bow and her general bow control which I am still learning.

She played Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op.26 by Max Bruch to perfection.

After the performance she signed autographs and I made a short video of that historic moment which you'll see below.

Before the performance I took a chance to read the programme.

It had brief histories of various composers and what struck me was, like superhero comic book writers and artists, these were ordinary people just being extraordinarily creative.

Using everyday inspirations to motivate and inspire them.

That's something I believe we can all learn from as we are all creative in our own way.

Anyway, here's the brief Sarah Chang video that I made;

(Scroll down to view some of her YouTube videos from earlier performances through her career).

Allow me to introduce you to, Growler's Violin.

A journey featuring scratches, squeaks, warts and all.

The quest for a clean sound and a quality level of playing.

Part 1.

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