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Anne-Marie Proulx

Hi, violin is everything in life for me. I do not come from a musical family and I have always heard horor stories saying that the "poor" kids who play violin are forced by their parents to practice and can not play outdoors etc. So, I was sceared to try myself until ,unfourtunately, 14 years old! I had a very bad start because of frequent induries, no technique, horrible stage experiences (also because of "tennager" stage fright!)and always less confidence... I really want to add though that the kind teachers I had at this school really helped me to create my love for this instrument.
Strangly, even as a beginner with not much "violin knoledge", everything related with the sound was so clear in my head. I wanted a nice sound more than ever and I naturally falled in love with the sound (I don't know why!) of russian violinists. I felt I had to change to another school (I wanted to try conservatory courses).

Then at 16, I was so lucky to arrive unexpectedly with a fantastic competent russian teacher and pianists at Mc Gill Conservatory! Since then, people who listen to me say that I'm not at all same player and that you can't believe it is the same girl. I have such good comments on my sound in gigs that I always ask myself if people only say that to make me happy! I can now play at the same level as the others without feeling like the big clumsy teen that has just begin! Well, I don't know if my "improvement" is true or not since I prefer letting the others judging of my playing. I do know one thing, though, HARD WORK, PATIENCE a VERY STRONG WILL and PERSONNAL REASEARCH (Even the best teacher in the world is not ennough : I found the violin of my dreams, a really good deal, by doing self reasearch this year) can be paying even for a very ordinary player like me or anyone else. I'm now 19 and in collegial level in violin which is in no way high ennough to handle a competitive carreer as a musician nowadays because of the emergence of the numerous prodigies all over the place... But, I still have the dream of playing really well one day and I read a lot of stories about successful amateur violinists (even people who started as late as 60 years old succeded in playing Mendelshonn in their 80's) Well, I don't know for this concerto but I definitively never want to quit to play violin just in case!!!

The continuation: Now (2009) 20, I have decided to enter in a science program in collegial even if I'm a big big 0 in sciences/maths/chaemestry despite hard work :) Curiously, many violinists seem to be like me for this: language oriented people unstead of maths physics heads. I made a little survey here on this... However, I'm not masochist and my goal is to find something ok, (not extraordinairy because I don't have the grades high ennough... and wouldn't want to work 70 hours a week either in order to play music)to be able to do the most violin possible! It's really tough times for me because I am forced to focus on something very very complex that I hate profoundly and my heart is still in my violin even if I can not practice much (I'm still taking lessons and try to aim for the best I can though)+ I am so afraid each day to fail in this program. Though, I definitivly prommised myself that my studies would NEVER make me stop my violin completely! I think about my violin once/every 5 minutes at least when I can not play it physically! I am desperatly hoping for better days... but I have to assure my survival in the futur in these economic hard times... It's very frightning for youngsters who are trying to plan their futur!!! My violin is my only element to "escape" myself from this and I understand more than ever how music can be a "refuge" for someone. For this reason, if I can get out ok of this and still play decently, I really want to play later on for people who need comfort and something to give them hope! We often hear that musicians are selfish and just think about their personal success but it's not true and I don't want to be in these few ones!

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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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