Does anyone ever forget the first tune he or she learned to play?
Mine is seared in my head and hands, and I continue to teach it to beginners, before Twinkle, unorthodox as it is in its pedagogy (double stops, all down-bow, Shinichi Suzuki would shudder!). My teacher called in the "Irish Jig," but I think it's not a Jig, and it might not even be Irish. It's all open strings and is a duet.
Here are some of the "first songs" listed by V.com members who entered the contest to win Mark O'Connor's new method books. (By the way, the contest is still going, if you want to enter!) "Twinkle" is certainly in the lead! The tune that Mark O'Connor has first in his book is "Boil 'em Cabbage Down," and it looks like at least one person learned that song first, other than Mark!
Twinkle Twinkle (26)
Mary Had a Little Lamb (7)
Lightly Row (3)
Hot Cross Buns (3)
Irish Jig
Dulce Dame Jolie
Jolly Old St. Nicholas
"The Snowman" from the Sam Applebaum series, aka "French Folk Song"
Hoe Down
Tunes from "Tune a Day"
Hobby-Horse by Tchaikovsky
The theme from the movie "Superman"
Tennessee Waltz
The E String Concerto
O Susanna
Merrily We Roll Along
Open String Waltz
Smoke on the Water
Bile em Cabbage Down
Autumn Moods
The Monkey Song
This wisdom came from one of my teaching mentors, Jim Maurer, who recognized that not all students can progress straight through the Suzuki method, or any course of study, without reaching the occasional plateau. When a student has been stuck on the same piece, week after week, don't keep beating it into the ground. Move on. If you aren't ready to move up, find something different, but at the same level.
Learn the same thing, a new way. Teach the same thing, a new way.
These are my thoughts as the much-awaited Mark O'Connor Violin Method is released today, exclusively through Shar Music.
Photo courtesy Mark O'Connor
Mark just might help us find a new way to teach violin playing, but one that moves alongside traditional and Suzuki methods. No need to throw anything away, but here is a way to move sideways, to broaden our base as we move forward.
Mark's stated goal is to create an “American School of Violin Playing," using all American music to teach violin technique. Some of the titles in Mark's first two books include: Boil 'em Cabbage Down, Oh Susanna, Amazing Grace, When the Saints Go Marching In, Old Joe Clark, Sweet Betsy from Pike, Red Wing, Cielito Lindo, and Shenandoah. In addition, Mark wrote many of the pieces included in the books, including his Appalachia Waltz (an arrangement of the piece he recorded with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer), Beautiful Skies, In the Summertime and more.
In the unlikely event that you have never heard of Mark O'Connor, he spent his childhood winning fiddle contests and studying with American fiddler Benny Thomasson as well as with French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, has collaborated with famous musicians of many different genres and trains people young and old to learn new genres of violin playing every year at his fiddle camps. Lately he also has spent much time performing and recording in classical spheres, having released recordings earlier this year of his American Symphony and String Quartets, Op. 2 and 3.
I talked with Mark over the phone on Friday about his O'Connor Violin Method, and he emphasized that there is an entire history of the violin – an American history – that is yet to be told.
“Not just classical musicians, but even folk musicians don't know most of this (history)," Mark said. “People from all over the world cross-pollinated their cultures to create these amazing American music styles. Through hundreds of years of musical experimentation, we have some of the most important musical contributions the world has ever seen. That story needs to be told. Also, people need to be reminded that the violin itself took a lead role in that for 350 years, up until, arguably, when rock 'n' roll came into play in the 1950s. The violin was there at every single turn of every cultural movement, of every musical style: ragtime, blues, bluegrass, swing, jazz, and Cajun, Tin Pan Alley, vaudeville. That's something that this method will expose. The histories are riveting all the way through it."
Indeed, there is a lot more than sheet music in these books. First, they come with a CD of Mark playing all the tunes. They also include a history for each piece, colored photos and illustrations, alternate ways of playing the tunes, lyrics, theory and technique, and a cute little Mark avatar named “Fiddle Boy" who has a kid-like comment for each piece.
So far, Mark has written two method books for violin, with piano accompaniment, and he plans to write a total of 10 books. He said that over the coming months he will work on versions of the first two books for viola, cello and bass, as well as orchestral arrangements meant for group or school settings.
“It is an oversimplification to say that this is 'just like the Suzuki method but with American music as its content,' but that is a pretty fair and concise description," said Charleston, S.C.-based violin teacher Pamela Wiley, who has been teaching the Suzuki method for more than 40 years. She was a consultant on the O'Connor method books, as was strings educator in Lexington, Boston, Washington D.C., Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, Albany, Cleveland and Toledo.
“Mark did not set out to copy or compete with the Suzuki method," Wiley said. “Both men have the same goal - the happiness of children and the love of the violin - so there are natural comparisons. There is certainly nothing anti-Suzuki or un-Suzuki about the method. I, personally, see Mark's method as a natural evolution of the Suzuki method for our emerging musical culture in America."
Suzuki had his Twinkle Variations that every beginner learns; Mark has “Boil 'em Cabbage Down" – an old African-American song that was the first tune Mark himself learned to play on the violin. The first book begins with the variations, then sprinkled throughout the books are more challenging variations that introduce new techniques.
“I patterned my method after some of the great methods out there, especially Suzuki, because they introduced very young people to a sequence of tunes. That's something that is also inherent in folk music learning, too," Mark said. The aural tradition – learning by ear – is another element shared between Suzuki and folk music. Ultimately, violin technique is the same, whether you are playing fiddle music, classical music, jazz or any style. The challenge was in creating a sequence of tunes that both teaches the proper techniques and holds together artistically – this is why the project had such a long gestation period – about 14 years, with pen going to paper over the last four of that.
“I was very careful in selecting the music for this method. I didn't pick something because it was a nice old tune," Mark said. “It had to bring something to the table, technically, so the student could acquire a specific skill." As with “Boil 'em Cabbage Down," Mark used a lot of the tunes he first learned as a student. “There are some of the old tunes that are not as instructive and not as pedagogical. But I was very lucky in that I had teachers who taught me tunes that helped me learn how to play the violin, as well as being timeless, cool tunes and great rhythms."
“There are a lot of beginning materials that might work technically but aren't artistically as sound," Mark said, “and there are a lot of traditional materials that are great artistically, but they don't really break down the skill acquisition correctly. So you have to think on all those different levels."
The sequence is progressive, with each new piece building on skills learned previously. The trick was to find the perfect piece to introduce each technique, and to get them in the right order. For example, the tune Mark chose for introducing the low second finger is “Old Joe Clark."
“Here's the perfect melody for the low two," Mark said. A student who hears “Old Joe Clark" wouldn't dare misplace the second finger when playing the tune. “You listen to it and you just know, there can't be any other way that melody is going to sound, that's the way it is. It's so catchy." When the music itself makes those kinds of demands on the student, the teacher finds it much easier to teach the needed technique. “The literature itself reveals some of the mysteries, secrets, and – honestly – a lot of the hardships that teachers deal with, trying to get the message across."
“Students want and need to learn traditions – history inspires young people," Mark said. “But they also want to be involved with something that's happening now." Mark's new pieces are a bridge between new and old, and he hopes that they also “show how these materials can develop into a new American classical music, to the point where this is no longer a fiddle method, or a folk music method or a traditional music method; it's designed to launch the player into any area of expertise that they ultimately want to go to. So if somebody wants to play Beethoven and Mendelssohn at some point, there's nothing in this method that will prevent them from doing that. Same way with jazz, same way with folk music."
“There's a whole creative component," Mark said. A student can choose more than one way to play these tunes, and the book shows this by offering alternate versions of various passages, accompanied by lyrics. “The children will get to see that the material is flexible: you can stretch it, you can twist it. Here are the lyrics, here is a slightly different rendition. I have made sure the student will be able to play the version that the lyric is attached to. Right away they'll see there are options."
My students were lucky enough to have been among the guinea pigs for Mark's new violin method over the last year, and quite honestly, they ate it up. And I'm evidently not the only teacher hungry for a new way to teach the timeless art of violin technique, for music that speaks to my American students.
“I've been using (Mark's) method in my own studio - private lessons and groups - since March," said Wiley. “The kids just love the music. They want to play this repertoire and they will do what needs to be done (technique-wise, practicing) to do it. I have kept up with some of the Suzuki repertoire also, but the children are more naturally motivated by Mark's music - both his original compositions and his choices from the American music tradition. I have also received many reports from other teachers using the method of similar experiences. The music is infectious and highly motivating."
“This sort of method gets people playing tunes that are also fun to play, but at the same time are very comprehensive in skill sets that they embody along the way," Mark said. And it is essential to get a student to play, and to play often. “There's only one way to learn the violin, and a teacher can't give that to you and a method book can't give it to you: It's called 'practice.' Unless the student is playing that violin, practicing and giving attention to the instrument, they're not going to be able to acquire this skill."
“What are you doing up there?” Robert said from his desk.
“New string.” I try to attach a new string with some elegance: tuck the end under, wind the string toward the peg box.
“What is that, about 16th-century technology?” Robert said, looking up from his MacBook Pro.
“Technology?” I said, not looking up. There we go: string tamped down, tightening. Now carefully, I hook my index fingers around the string on either side of the bridge, and with leverage from thumbs, lift the string up a fraction of a millimeter on either side of the bridge to relieve the pressure. Tighten again, repeat. Adjust bridge.
“Technology, maybe,” I said. “But definitely not time-saving.”
My friend and colleague, Circe Diaz, a cellist and graduate of El Sistema in Venezuela, forwarded me this video because one of her students is participating in this program. What a great opportunity for a young musician! (Double-click the video to start. Single-click to pause.)
Much of the United States may have been buried in snow, but Los Angeles had one of its rare, crystalline perfect days for violinist Augustin Hadelich's recital Sunday at Clark Library at UCLA with pianist Ian Parker.
The recital was held in the library's ornate drawing room, its ceiling painted with scenes from Anthony and Cleopatra, each scene framed with intricately carved wood. Along the side walls stood a marble fireplace, portraits of the library's founders and a picture window letting in sunshine from an opulent green lawn.
Something in this elaborate set-up seemed to match the meticulous work that goes into preparing a program of Beethoven, Takemitsu, Poulenc, Zimmermann and Prokofiev. And happily, the small venue was full; the Clark distributes tickets for its chamber music program by lottery, so nearly all of the 100 seats were filled.
I hadn't heard violinist Augustin Hadelich play since 2007, just after he won the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Since then, he's kept busy, recording the complete Haydn violin concerti, as well as a more recent recording called Flying Solo, with all solo violin works. This year he won the Avery Fisher Career Grant, and he continues with a full schedule of recital and orchestra appearances.
Hadelich and Parker started with Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 8 in G, op. 30 no. 3, the first movement an elegant wash of notes. Despite the technical and musical demands of the rest of the recital, I personally enjoyed the second movement of the Beethoven most. The movement features such a simple melody, like something from childhood. In spinning this melody, Hadelich reached a point where he held his audience still and spellbound – I didn't even want to tear away to move my pen. I confess, these days when I hear a violinist of high caliber, I'm less interested in how they handle this little turn or that harmonic (though I suppose if it were a heinous crime against propriety and genre I might flinch) than I am in whether this captivating quality exists. To reach out this much shows a generosity and selflessness, a willingness to communicate with the audience.
Without thinking, I noted that Hadelich's fiddle has a wonderful warmth, a chocolate tone that is rich enough to be a treat but not so rich as to sound over-sweet. Then I realized, he is still playing the ex-Gingold Strad (1683), which he'd been granted for winning the Indianapolis competition. The last time I'd seen this instrument was when I was watching Gingold himself teach at Indiana University, nearly 20 years ago. Happily, that golden tone lives on; it seems a wonderful use of Gingold's instrument, to start a young artist on his or her way every four years, following the competition.
Next was Takemitsu's "Hika," and as Parker explained, "It does not contain melodies you will likely want to hum or whistle on the way home." He was correct. The piece is based on a tone row; understandable more as gesture than as melody. It made me think of a walk through a minefield on, say, Halloween night. Nothing explodes, but the close calls are startling, in this cautious creep through the murk. It ends with a low-ish sustained note in the violin and "plink!" way up on the piano.
Parker and Hadelich introduced the next piece, Poulenc's Sonata for Violin and Piano, Schmidt 119, as a piece that the composer felt was an "utter failure," though they disagree with the composer.
"We both enjoy it!" Hadelich said.
The beginning sounds hurried and lost, with some melodic moments of deliberate direction. The piano pounds – it may have been pounding a bit too loud, I think the lid could have been lowered somewhat in this venue. The second movement was the one Parker and Hadelich said they liked, for its harmony. As Hadelich said beforehand, "The French have this great talent for creating harmonies that evoke a feeling, all on their own." A chord sounds, and the mood shifts. Indeed, the soft but insistent chords in the piano were like a canvas on which the violin could add its line, but the canvas changed color throughout the movement.
After intermission Hadelich played Bernd Zimmermann's Sonata for Solo Violin. If you like bariolage, left-hand pizzicato, huge leaps and millions of notes, you might try this sonata by this rather dark composer, who wrote the opera Die Soldaten and whose life ended in suicide in 1970. Hadelich, who recorded this piece on his most recent CD, negotiated the difficult piece with grace, whipping up the excitement at the ending, with frantic double stops becoming ever more frenzied until the one pizzicato that ends the piece.
The recital ended with one of my favorite pieces, Prokofiev's Flute Sonata-made-Violin Sonata, No. 2 in D major, Op. 94a. With all the pieces composed for us on the violin, do we really need to steal from the flute repertoire? In this case, certainly so. The piece should be played on both instruments. The openings feels like it was made for the violin, featuring some of the instrument's most resonant notes. The violin/flute line starts with an A, falling back upon it several times as though it were a comfortable pillow, before arriving at a G and repeating the pattern. A few bars later we land satisfyingly on D before getting down to business. This introduction is enough for falling in love with the piece, but there's much more. Prokofiev was a composer who knew how to tell a good joke, and the second movement "Scherzo" scurries in confusion, with occasional glimpses of a dance, and other occasional glimpses of a triumphant march that can never quite get going. The third movement is a haunting, meandering line that turns into a dizzy, wandering line. The fourth movement goes back into triumphant mode, but one gets the sense that the victors are slightly full of vodka. It all ends with a lot of noise, and this is exactly how you want to end your program because it brings people to their feet.
But they would have been on their feet anyway for Augustin. It was a pleasure to hear him play.
Mark O'Connor's method books -- released this week -- teach students using many styles of American music. Enter to win a set of the books this week, on Violinist.com. Photo: Deanna Rose
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