| "The violin is stupid! Nobody plays the violin anymore! I | | | | music than you can shake a stick at. And shake their |
| don't want to play the violin! Violin is just not cool!" | | | | bowsticks they do! And sing. And dance. And even |
| The parent of every violin student has probably heard | | | | tumble. And by the time they leave the stage the |
| most, if not all of those lines. I've heard . . . No, I've | | | | audience is clapping and stomping along with them. |
| USED every one of those lines. | | | | More than a quarter of a century after fiddler Charlie |
| I walked into the auditorium of a Fort Worth middle | | | | Daniels and his band recorded The Devil Went Down |
| school and saw a man playing an instrument that | | | | to Georgia, the song can still get a crowd hooting and |
| looked vaguely familiar on the stage. The music was | | | | hollering! And the band just keeps on going strong with |
| loud. The Led Zeppelin song being played had the kids | | | | the master showman/fiddler at the helm. I don't know |
| bobbing their heads, clapping their hands and stomping | | | | about you, but I'm not about to tell a bunch of good old |
| their feet. | | | | Southern boys that what gets their fans so excited |
| Mark Wood is a rock n roll violinist. He and his brothers | | | | just ain't cool! |
| toured the Northeast United States playing Beethoven | | | | Rachel Barton Pine is a phenomenon! A classical |
| string quartets when Mark was young. After high | | | | violinist, she is also a fan of heavy metal music. She's |
| school Mark attended the Juilliard School of Music to | | | | even recorded an album of rock transposed for string |
| study viola. He left when his teacher wouldn't teach | | | | quartet. Far from the stereotypical stuck-up classical |
| him to "play like Jimi Hendrix." | | | | violinist, she's overcome more obstacles in her |
| Mark preaches a gospel of good technique, diligent | | | | twenty-plus years than most people do in a lifetime. |
| practice, knowledge of basic music theory and having | | | | Now her pet projects include cataloging classical music |
| fun. And I don't know anyone who would accuse Mark | | | | written by Black composers and making sure through |
| of not being cool. His group, the Trans Siberian | | | | her Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation that talented |
| Orchestra, has traveled the world and regularly sells | | | | young violinists don't face the same economic |
| out venues seating 12,000 people. | | | | challenges she did. |
| Mark says that violin is the "final frontier." He points out | | | | I don't know about you, but I can't find an un-cool |
| that we've moved every family of instruments into the | | | | human being in the bunch! And every one of them can |
| popular music spotlight except for orchestral strings. | | | | give you a list of cool violinists that's as long as their |
| And his passion is to do for the violin what Leo Fender | | | | bow! |
| and his followers did for the guitar. And like Leo | | | | The problem is not the instrument. The problem is not |
| Fender, Mark has created his own instrument. The | | | | the pedagogy. As long as good technique is taught it |
| Viper is a radical self-supporting violin that is capable of | | | | doesn't really matter how we go about imparting that |
| playing anything from classic Paganini to, well, Jimi | | | | knowledge and skill set. |
| Hendrix! | | | | What does matter is the repertoire. (A 14-year old boy, |
| And Mark is not alone. | | | | when asked about Mark Wood's music, told me, "Of |
| Regina Carter is a jazz musician. Influenced by | | | | course it's cool - it's rock!) What does matter is the |
| Stephan Grappelli, she was so devoted to jazz that | | | | mindset with which we approach the instrument and |
| she left the New England Conservatory (which had no | | | | instruction - attitude. What does matter is the charisma |
| jazz department) to study at Oakland University. | | | | and communication skills of the person promoting the |
| There she learned by sitting in the brass section of the | | | | instrument. |
| band and listening. Then she would transpose the | | | | In summary, the proposition (the myth if you will) is: |
| saxophone parts she heard so she could play them on | | | | The violin is just not cool. |
| violin. | | | | As television's Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman |
| Barrage is a group of young musicians based in | | | | would say, "MYTH BUSTED. |
| Canada. Their stage covers more variations of fiddle | | | | |