Violin

I have been a musician for many years, you could say it is embedded as part of me as I can't go more than a day or two without trying a tune out on some instrument or another. In my time of musicianship I have dabbled on many instruments and the violin is still one of my favourite sounds. I have to confess that the piano is my first instrument, and I have never actually taken lessons for the violin, but have on the viola. So my violin playing is self taught from a combination of all these things. The viola is similar to the violin, a few inches bigger, and it's range is a fifth lower ... more

I saw the violin for the first time at a performance called shipwreck at the Anvil in Basingstoke, then I saw the violin again, the mellow sound tingled through my ears and seemed very relaxing and chilling. I soon began mimicking the violinist, my mum and dad noticed and asked whether I would like to play, just see how it goes, and if I didn’t like it I could quit. I went to our nearest music shop, Modern Music, www.modernmusic.co.uk, and asked to look at their list of violin teachers, then they recommended Kim Graham (water-witch is her username) Kim is an amazing music teacher, she has ... more

I am one in a long line of a VERY musical family so I count myself lucky that I could have help from my mother (who is a very respected teacher of violin, piano, singing and theory lessons in Basingstoke and surrounding areas). I first started to learn at the age of 3 but after a few lessons of me hiding under a chair and refusing to come out whilst sitting on my hands my mum decided to take matters into her own hands and teach me herself. I have always been encouraged greatly by both my parents, my uncle and aunt and my granparents and my "talents" are still being pursued. One of the things ... more

I admit it- I am one of those responsible for teaching those little blighters to play the violin! The violin, it must be said has an unfortunate reputation. There are all those violin jokes about cats, earplugs etc. It is a shame. I actively encourage yougsters to try the violin. I always give a suitability assessment, and to be honest it is only very rarely that I find a child totally unsuitable.Most children can manage to achieve something if a few criteria are followed: 1: THE INSTRUMENT: Buy the best instrument you can afford. No, don't take out a loan on a strad- find out if your child is ... more

Whilst on my daily 25 minute dawdle home from school, a thought suddenly occurred to me. I’d promised the third in my Trilogy of Terror opinions to be released this week, and I had absolutely no idea what to write about. The first two have been about my favourite drinks, the idea being that all my hard earned, or, well, earned money and effort goes into them. However, I haven’t really got a third favourite drink, and, the first two opinions didn’t amount to too much, (they were alright, but there’s a limit to how long you can talk about carbonated water with colourings ... more