"How long have you been playing?"
Or
"Is it hard to learn violin?"
Or
"How long will it take me to learn to play?"
And the grand finale...
"What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle?"
So, in case you were wondering, I'll go ahead and answer those, as well as offer up a little glimpse into my fiddling past.
The story begins with a 5 year old American girl living in Tokyo, a tiny little violin, and this thing called "Suzuki". That's where it all began. Picture it, a toe-headed kid with a mini instrument learning Twinkle Twinkle and Tell Me the Story. Precious.
Back in the states, I started with private lessons at the age of 8 and learned my way through Mozart and Bach and Vivaldi up through book 4 of the Suzuki method (there's 10 books and they get progressively harder and more complicated).
By age 10, we were in North Carolina and I landed in the Meredith College Suzuki program, where I stayed until leaving for college at age 18, having made it through book 8. Books 9 and 10 remain an ocean I will never cross.
During high school, I hated practicing violin, but my dear, wise mother would force and coerce me to play, promising one day I'd thank her. When I got to college, I realized she was right. Dangit.
There I learned to play by ear as I stepped into something completely different than classical Suzuki method violin. Its what we Christians like to call Worship Music. I joined the Cru band and had to play things that actually mattered to me, things I wrote or discovered, things that were fluid and organic instead of rigid and old. The music went beyond the page and beyond honoring some dead guy from the 17th Century to honoring the God I so deeply loved, who was so deeply alive. It was a beautiful thing. Oddly enough, that's when I learned to sing harmony as well, something I could never do before. Maybe I had more reasons to sing at that point.
My junior year of college, I spent a semester abroad in England, 3 miles north of Wales in a city called Chester. My 5th night in the city, I heard traditional Irish music in a traditional Irish pub, and it was love at first sight. I found a fiddle teacher and some free time, and there I learned to fiddle, in about 5 months. We played a few shows, did a little traveling to Ireland to play, and made several pounds, a dollar, a used shot glass, and a few nuts and bolts that I still carry in my case as a little reminder of those lovely days.
When I got back to Asheville for my senior year, fiddling was on my mind. Finally, music that didn't have rules and totally kicked my butt. Its hard and fast and totally freaking awesome. I wanted more.
So I found new friends and started learned Old Time tunes, Appalachian style fiddle. Despite its roots in the Celtic music I'd grown to love, Old Time proved a whole new beast to tackle, and I'm still learning more 8 years later.
Now, I'm in Durham, playing incredible worship music with the most talented group of folks I've ever played with, and sneaking in a little fiddle here and there. Hopefully I can dedicate more time to fiddling at some point in my life, but for now, I love what I play and who I'm playing with, and honestly, who I'm playing for.
That's the story, in a nutshell. Now to answer those popular questions...
I'm play since I was 5, so that's almost 25 years. I think I should be better than I am.
Since I've been playing for so long, its hard to remember "learning" violin, but I'm pretty sure its hard to learn. Learning violin never sounds good. But it pays off eventually.
Its taken my 25 years to learn violin, and I'm still learning. However, to be proficient in violin, I think it'd take about 2-3 years of consistent practice and lessons for an adult. Kids usually take less time, because they are brilliant.
The different between violin and fiddle? For me, its simply style and attitude. Classical violin has a specific tuning (E,A,D,G) and specific rules involving dynamics, rhythm, and tone. Its fairly rigid and absolutely beautiful when played well, especially in a orchestral setting. Fiddles sometimes have a lower bridge, which is the wooden thing that holds the strings off the body of the violin and looks like a bridge, and some fiddlers have alternate tunings (like E,A,E,A). You find that mostly in Old Time and Bluegrass.
As far as style and attitude are concerned, fiddlers are less inclined to follow the rules, and are all about embellishment, speed, and making that instrument sing. It can make you laugh and stomp your feet and even dance a jig, or it can reduce you to tears. I like both, but then again, I'm emotional.
So there you go. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I love talking about fiddle and think everyone else might too.
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