Tyrone Wilkins on Violinist.com

New Inspiration

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 02:09:25 GMT

The amazing Serbian violinist, Andrej Kurti came to my school today to help the violins with our all state pieces. He is a really cool guy in my opinion. Very funny and easy to talk to.I love his attitude. He wanted to play a little bit of his CD for us and he said something about wishing he had brought the sheet music with him so we could all follow along.(Most people hadn't heard of the pieces he was talking about) Me being the classical music freak that am....I raised my hand and suggested that I should plug my laptop into the t.v. screen because I have all the pieces on file :) It worked out. Everyone got to see the beautiful madness that is Ysaye. He thanked me for helping by giving me one of his CDs for free! He even signed the booklet\poster inside!!! At the end of his helping I went to talk to Mr.Kurti. He asked about my concerto concert audition (remembering that I was the one that played the Accolay) he said he was very impressed, especially since I've only been playing for 2 years. He asked about my plans for college and what I want to major in. After all that he suggested that I go to Northwestern to study with him. He said 'Institution is nice, but you really need a good teacher to get you moving , free you up,etc. because you're serious about this,not just *makes giggly noise* around. Julliard and Curtis are greats school but really hard to get into. I'm not trying to discourage you in any way,if that's what you want to do, but you know I studied at the Moscow Conservatory and you've heard me play, ah?' After telling him I'm a sophomore he said he wasn't sure where he'd be teaching in 2 years but encouraged me to study with him. As you can see he's pretty awesome! Very confident but not cocky at all. He's really down to earth and very funny. Anyone who gets the opportunity needs to see this guy play! I'm going to attend his performance of the Ysaye sonatas in spring :) Maybe one day he'll be my teacher...you never know. Well I've got to get back to practicing. Till next time. T.W.J

The Paiten International Music Competition

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 18:13:42 GMT

Hey guys. I've been gone for a while due to my busy schedule (theater,school work,violin of course) I will update my thoughts about my audition for my schools concerto concert another time but for now I'd like your opinion. There's a violin competition that I'm interested in entering. These are the prelim. requirements. ' 20-40 minutes of repertoire of own choice in contrasting style. (Preferably: 1 sonata movement, 1 solo Bach movement and 1 virtuosic piece' Live Round Competition Required Repertoire:STRINGS: 1. 2 contrasting movements of solo JS BACH. 2. 1 complete sonata with piano (i.e. Beethoven, Debussy, Mozart, etc.) 3. 1 virtuosic piece (i.e. Ysaye, Sarasate, Wieniawski, etc.) 4. 1 movement from a concerto from the standard repertoire (i.e. Walton, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, etc. I know that my selection should reflect my personality as a violinist,but I just want to know what you guys would choose if you were going to enter! :)

The Voice of an Angel

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 03:55:10 GMT

Tonight at my school we had a show called 'Broadway Night'. Students performed musical numbers and dances from their favorite musicals. Everyone did an amazing job but one performance stood out more than the others. My new friend Rachael sang 'Til I hear you sing' from 'Love Never Dies' Now I've heard some great voices in my life but something is different about hers. So smooth and connected. Every note,every word,every I eye closing moment...I felt it in my heart,and all over actually. I immediately thought of the musical possibilities,so many different emotions that can come from One. Single.Voice. Could it be possible to imitate a voice like hers on the violin? I know this is off from my normal posts but her performance was the most inspiring thing I've seen in a long time. I know she has a great future ahead of her and I'm really looking forward to working with her...possibly forming a group? Only time will tell,but her voice....is timeless.

Violin Competitions

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:04:58 GMT

I've always been interested in violin competitions and would like to enter some in the near future. Does anyone know of any prestigious violin competitions that could get me noticed?

True Virtuosity

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 14:23:18 GMT

*sigh* I dislike how quickly the violin community labels someone as a virtuoso. I just listened to a performance of a young 'virtuoso' and honestly...I was disappointed. Yes,you may say I'm just being picky but here me out. We overlook mistakes that virtuosi make because we know that can play without any,but that same respect shouldn't be given to someone who makes sloppy shifts,uses frightened vibrato,and has to chase harmonics Have our expectations lowered that much to where anyone who can play a few showpieces gets called a virtuoso? I'm sorry but a certain level of playing much be reached before someone receives that status. Virtuosi are master musicians,not someone with good talent that's still developing. No one would call a chef a virtuoso in the kitchen if his food was too spicy,or if the food was cold. Why should we do the same for violinists? It bothers me to see people cheat there way to what they think is the top. Maybe they don't get it...being called a virtuoso doesn't make my heart drop during the performance. It doesn't make me remember your name,or look up more of your work or concerts. That word...that title...is for true masters ONLY. No amateurs allowed.

My Violin Life: Benefits from playing piano/guitar hero?

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 17:14:50 GMT

I'll be dropping 'violin life' and starting a new series after this last post. When I started middle school, I started learning piano from my daily piano class. We had a book filled with easy, little pieces that we had to perform every friday for a grade. That was never a problem for me because piano comes some naturally to me. By the time I began to learn violin I was already pretty good at piano and descent at guitar. I was also (and still am) very good at guitar hero which I believe is responsible for my fast hands,shifting,and hand eye coordination. Playing piano was great for right and left hand coordination,right hand strength (I'm left handed) and speed. No wonder violin comes so easily! I've always wondered why everything about violin came so naturally to me while others struggle on them. Well,I know for a fact that the instruments I've learned previous to violin had a positive effect. My 2-3 years of guitar hero playing has helped me way more than I ever thought possible. If you have any interest in guitar hero I'd advise that you do your best to master the hardest songs on it as they are GREAT finger exercises that I use all the time. Sometimes I warm up on guitar hero before playing my scales! For those of you that are more 'normal' than I,try taking up a different instrument. I suggest piano,viola,cello,or guitar.If you take them seriously you can take your playing to a higher level,you'll understand more about stringed instruments in general,and hey! You learned a new instrument! Now you can enjoy music just that much more. If you wonder about how all this will turn out,look at me. I'm not perfect (yet) seeing as how I've only been playing for a year and a half,but I was concert master of the intermediate orchestra at my high school and I'm preparing for chair placement audition for the school's Chamber (advanced) orchestra in the fall.I'm in Suzuki book 5-6 and I'm working on completing Kayer's op.20 by the end of the year! Good fortune to anyone who tries! :D *NEW SERIES ON THE WAY!*

NEW SERIES

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 17:15:52 GMT

I'm taking a break from 'my violin life' to start something new. Something we can all enjoy and use for inspiration. I will be going into the lives and careers of the most respected composers/violinists our history and present have to offer. This also includes breakdowns of the most challenging,mentally straining,yet beautifully expressive pieces for violin. My list may leave out someone you're interested in so PLEASE if you'd like for me to do an article on someone,let me know in the comments. As a hint for the subject of the first article I will leave you with this...I'm starting with the King.

My Violin Life/Getting to the next level

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:35:40 GMT

As we all know,all violinists do not play on the same level. One may be working on Rode,and the other may be working on Paganini. A girl in the advanced orchestra,Clarissa, (that I'm joining this school year :D) has been somewhat of a mentor to me lately. I've always admired her playing and have been determined to get to her skill level.With help from violinmasteclass.com I now a good idea of the 'Rode' I'll take. *btw this is mainly about etudes and violin methods.* I remember talking to Clarissa one day about etudes and things and she stopped me in tracks saying 'wait...have you completed all the suzuki books yet?' That was a facepalm for the history books. I then realized that I needed to learn the 1st and 3rd movements or Vivaldi that I skipped for some reason before continuing with book 5 and 6. Because Clarissa's playing is much more advanced than mine,we've never discussed Kayser or Mazas. I do know that I'm going to continue working on Kayser op.20. At moment I'm perfecting nos.2,3,4,29 and variations of 1. As for Mazas...I guess I'll dive into his 75 Melodious and Progressive studies because I have book 1. After those are done I know I need to complete Dont op.37 and 35,Gavinies,Fiorillo,but I don't know their positions in relation to Kreutzer and Rode.(Help anyone?) Sight reading is something I need to work on.I'm a great sight reader because of all my years of playing guitar hero XD. The thing is...reading isn't the hard part. I struggled last school year sight reading small print pieces. I'm a little near sighted but I don't have glasses. Small print is impossible for me to sight read because my eyes get watery when I squint and try to read something far away. As concert master of my orchestra last year I didn't participate in some sight reading because I would lean too close to the music and block my stand partner's view.Embarrassing? Not really. My orchestra teacher knew I couldn't read small print.Because of this,I practice sight reading with the Wolhfahrt etudes op.45 on my computer. I don't have a planned map for concert pieces but I figure that after I finish all those etudes and Suzuki,I'll be ready for the big concertos,Bach S & P,showpieces,etc. *UPDATE* I will try street performing ASAP. I haven't tried all the violins in my local shop but I found a good one that is $2500+tax. Wish me luck :)

My Violin Life/Imitating the Professionals

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:49:48 GMT

In my 1 1/2 year experience with playing violin I've done some pretty crazy,yet interesting things. One of my favorites being...trying to play like the pros. How I possibly expected to do that? I'm just as clueless as you are. I'm not sure exactly when it started,but I remember watching Hilary Hahn's encore after performing the Beethoven violin concerto with Lorin Maazel an the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Germany.Just her playing such a huge piece at 15 is an outstanding accomplishment but.... she just HAD to go and make international debut one that will NEVER be forgotten. She played the Gigue from Bach's partita in D minor. Suddenly, I saw what true violin playing is. I saw Hilary in all her perfection. You could literally SEE everything she would become. With the bowing of the last note I put down my violin and thought...'THAT is what I want to do. I MUST play like her' I've been trying to reach her level ever since. HIlary's level is my goal but I've also tried playing like many other greats. Itzhak Perlman has amazing bowing and vibrato. Dmitri Makhtin (VERY UNDERRATED)is simply one of the most amazing Russian violinist I've ever heard. He has the best recording of Paganini's variations on 'Nel cor pui non mi sento' I dare you to look it up. Even though I have great love for Hilary Hahn...Leila Josefowicz isn't far behind. I love the way she plays so aggressively but keeps perfect accuracy. Shlomo Mintz plays the best paganini in my opinion. His reliable accuracy and precision bowing blows my mind.Henryk Szeryng has the best recordings of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas in my opinion (only because Hilary Hahn hasn't made a complete recording of them yet)Accuracy,power,expression. What more could you possibly ask from him? Last but DEFINITELY not least...Anna Savkina.This girl is BEYOND amazing. Child prodigy,winner of many violin competitions including the David Oistrakh VC. I'll also add that she's very pretty. Beautiful playing from a beautiful girl I guess. Have you ever tried to play like one of your violin idols? I'd love to hear your experiences.

My Violin Life/ Having an 'off' day.+ other issues

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:39:50 GMT

When I woke up this morning I was very excited to start practicing my violin until..... Have you ever had one of those days where nothing goes right for you during practice? Well I'm having one of those days. I can't get comfortable with my bow grip and my intonation is a little off.(because of my struggle with bow grip) My vibrato feels weak,my shifting is bad basically...EVERYTHING IS OFF!My rage is over powering my urge to practice. Who's to blame?... my cheap violin and bow. I was going to save this for later but I can't hold this in any longer. My 'violin shaped object' is a $100 SV 130 and my bow might as well be a tree branch with rosin on it. My mom bought it for me last fall and I was a late beginner then so I didn't notice any flaws,but now that I'm on an intermediate level I can't take it anymore. My teacher keeps nagging me about getting a better violin as if I'm not aware of my OWN needs. I mean... She can't be serious! I'm 15 years old......I'm not sitting on hundreds of dollars for a new violin/bow. My mom is no help because she thinks all violins are the same. My dad is aware of everything but is in no hurry at all.He wouldn't even take me to the violin shop to look at more bows. I'm not sure if you have noticed or not but I'm pretty much on my own.(as usual) I tried selling brownies and candy at my school to save money but I spent all my savings on my sister's new cellphone so I dropped back to zero. It's summer now and I have about $30 to my name.The violin I want is $800.(1998 copy of a 1713 strad)I have no job so I'm forced to put up with what I have until a miracle happens. I struggle to have productive practice sessions because I spend more time and effort on getting a good clear sound than actually studying my materials. I'm not asking for advice because I know there's nothing I can do. I'll just try my best to move forward...OH GREAT. I have a chair placement audition AND a violin competition audition for my school. This is gonna be embarrassing :D Sorry for the rant/depressing post. I had to get that off my chest.I feel so stuck I don't know what to do. :\