Tell me about yourself

December 30, 2015 at 04:54 PM · I got nothing better to do so I decided to write this post. Tell me about yourself fallowing this format.

Name: Julio

Age:20

Years of noodling (playing):8

Violin style: Frantz Carmen

Maker: Los Angeles Violin Shop

Violin's age: 4 months.

Violin's name: Madeline

Mind Set: Of a !@#$&^% child

Favorite saying: "Madness is the key to victory."

Replies (39)

January 31, 2016 at 08:05 PM · Name: Lucillia

Age: 16

Years of Playing: 9

Violin Style: Not sure what you mean by that, but I assume what you maean what it's a copy of and/or make, so, Ole Bull

Violin's Age: Since I've had the one, a few days, and my other one, five years

Violins Name: My recent is called Basil, and my older one is called August

Mind Set: frustrated adult

Favorite Saying: Never thought about it before...

February 1, 2016 at 04:51 AM · Haha nice!

Also yes I am as mad as a hatter so expect random questions!

February 1, 2016 at 05:06 AM · Name: Steven J. Lee

Age: 24

Years of Playing: 3.6

Violin Style: Yet to be established.

Violin's Age: 57

Violins Name: Socia

Mind Set: Mad scientist... apparently

Favorite Saying: I think I'll settle for a stalemate.

February 1, 2016 at 05:28 AM · Awesome:D and yes another mad scientist!

February 1, 2016 at 03:27 PM · Name: Paul

Age: 50

Years of "playing": 45 - 25 = 20

Violin: Wojciech Topa 2006

Viola: Ming-Jiang Zhu Workshop "AA" 2015

Violin's name: (none)

Mind Set: Bear of little brain

Favorite saying (of the day): Book 'em, Danno.

February 1, 2016 at 04:47 PM · "Book 'em, Danno." Love it.

February 2, 2016 at 07:58 AM · Name: Mollie

Age: In my 60s (no need to be too specific!)

Years of playing: 5 >>>>>>>> + 4 = 9

Violin: Arcadia

Violin's Age: 4 years

Violin's Name: Lily

Mind set: So many tunes - so little time!

Favourite Saying: K. B. O. (attributed to Sir Winston Churchill)

February 2, 2016 at 08:58 AM · Name: David (or just Dave)

Age: 31

Years of noodling (playing): 1.5

Violin style: Guarneri

Maker: Karel Poplstein

Violin's age: new

Violin's name: El Diablo

Mind Set: It's only got 4 strings (my guitar has 6), how hard can this be???

Favourite saying: "We try to play in tune not because we want to be good people, but because our instruments resonate better" - Kurt Sassmannshaus (paraphrased)

February 2, 2016 at 04:48 PM · Name: Leon

Years of noodling: 7

Age: 63

Violin style: Guarneri

Maker: Robert E. Weber

Violin's age: 73

Violin's name: Little Betty. Unless she's acting up. Then it's @#$^%!

Mind set: "If I only had a brain." Key of F

Favorite saying: "Onward! Thru the fog!"

February 3, 2016 at 11:20 AM · Name: Angel

Age:18

Years of noodling (playing):3

Violin style: Carlo Tononi

Maker: Carlo Tononi

Violin's age: 284 years

Violin's name: (none)

Mind Set: It's crazy, but you can do it!

Favorite saying: "Sky is the beggining of the limit" (can't remember who said that"

February 3, 2016 at 05:34 PM · Your violin is 284 years old!!

February 3, 2016 at 09:42 PM · 248? It has reached middle-age! Mine is a 200 yr old youngster..

February 4, 2016 at 02:41 AM · Julio, the late Sir John Tavener traced his ancestry back to that other composer, John Taverner (d. 1545). Can you trace yours back to Richard Strauss's inspirer, Miguel de Cervantes (d. 1616), by any chance?

February 4, 2016 at 04:20 AM · Unfortunately no, my blood line is really mixed up I don't even know who my grand parents are. Bio-Mom and my dad don't talk about them.

March 17, 2016 at 01:37 PM · Name: Bob

Age:48

Years of noodling (playing):0 (First lesson tomorrow). 7 years of Clarinet and 4 years of saxophone in school

Violin style: Franz Hoffmann Concert Violin

Violin's age: Rental

Violin's name: TBD

Mind Set: Be better than yesterday

March 17, 2016 at 05:29 PM · Name: Jessy

Age:35

Years of noodling (playing):1

Violin style: not sure?

Maker: Somewhere in VSO province: china

Violin's age: 1 yr

Violin's name: The little engine that could

Mind Set: Obsessed

Favorite saying: "The ground is the ocean, I am a shark and most people don't even know how to swim"- Jean Jaques Machado

March 18, 2016 at 05:21 AM · Name: Gary

Age: 37

Years of noodling (playing): 8 (off and on)

Violin style: ?

Maker: ? No markings or anything to indicate

Violin's age: 10+ years (I've had it for 8 and bought it used)

Violin's name: Umm, Violin? LOL

Mind Set: Bipolar? Sometimes I'm cool as a cucumber, sometimes I'm hot as a 'Habanero'

Favorite saying: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

March 18, 2016 at 03:58 PM · Name: Kayla

Age: That's personal!

Years of noodling (playing): 3

Violin style: Not sure

Maker: Samuel Eastman

Violin's age: 4 years

Violin's name: Paul

Mind Set: when it comes to violin very serious... but everything else I'm like a child

Favorite saying: "Only practice on the days you eat" AKA practice everyday!

March 18, 2016 at 04:16 PM · Name: Johanna

Age: all grown up

Years of noodling (playing): 8+

Violin style: J. B. Schweitzer after Amati

Maker: anonymous German maker

Violin's age: 100-115 years

Violin's name: violin

Mind Set: just never stop playing

Favorite saying: "I am never satisfied. Satisfaction would mean I have set my goals too low." (paraphrased. Nikolaus Harnoncourt, RIP)

March 20, 2016 at 04:34 AM · Name: Dave

Age: 62

years playing: 40

Violin style: Strad-ish

Maker: Louis Lowendall - Berlin

violins age: 123 yrs.

Violin name: The German

Mind set: depends on the meds

Favorite saying: "you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Guitar player"

March 20, 2016 at 02:59 PM · Name: Christopher

Age:51

Years of noodling (playing): 10 weeks formal training and about 3 months of messing around prior to that

Violin style: Don't know

Maker: Eastman, Clotelle, others

Violin's age: from 6 months to (apparently) 66 years

Violin's name: Not yet named - still culling the herd

Mind Set: Wonderment and bewilderment and longing ......

Favorite saying: Good things come to those who deserve them

March 20, 2016 at 04:47 PM · Name: Lily

Age: 14

Years of noodling (playing): 7

Violin style: Mostly German, I think

Maker: Unknown (potentially forged label)

Violin's age: Also unknown, but probably in the 250-300 year range

Violin's name: Faux-Benti

Mind Set: Currently, obsessed. Often stressed. Sometimes unreliable.

Favorite saying: "To play a wrong note is insignificant. To play without passion is inexcusable." (~Beethoven)

March 21, 2016 at 01:27 AM · Name- Nancy Wilson

age- 62

years of playing- about three I guess

violins style- strad copy with flowery inlay, Chinese with shell inlay parts from Vietnam

violins age 2

Love is it's name

Mindset- that of Burgess Meredeth when he breaks his glasses in The Twilight Zone- "It doesn't seem fair" wish I'd started this instrument years ago!

Favorite saying: "I've never known anyone who wasn't mentally ill in some way."

March 21, 2016 at 01:47 AM · Name: Kirk

Age:28

Years of noodling (playing): 12 days

Violin style: scratch and screech student :P

Maker: Mendini

Violin's age: No idea but it was covered in dust when it arrived

Violin's name: Mendini

Mind Set: Aries??? lol

Favorite saying: "What is truly lost can never be found."

March 21, 2016 at 05:36 PM · Name: Charlie

Years of noodling (playing): I've played violin for 7 and viola for 1.

Violin style: Uh.

Maker: My violin is Italian, my viola is English.

Violin's age: Very old. My violin was from the late 1700's and my viola is also (presumably) old but there is no date.

Violin's name: It doesn't have one, but my father calls it "baby Italian".

Mind Set: Tired. Very tired.

Favorite saying: Don't think I have one...

March 22, 2016 at 04:52 AM · Name: Katie

Years of noodling (playing): 2.5

Violin style: ummm

Maker: Palmer

Violin's age: a month

Violin's name: undecided

Mind Set: should probably be practicing

Favorite saying: “What does it mean to be a ‘successful’ musician? You can play a hundred or a thousand concerts, as long as there are two or three occasions that you remember yourself.”

March 23, 2016 at 02:53 PM · Wow a lot of fun people have popped up since the last time I checked on this post. Thank you all very much for taking the time to amusme me. You all have such interesting stories to tell.

March 23, 2016 at 03:27 PM · Years playing: about 4

violin style: viola

hair style: balding

Maker: Liu Xi (Yitamusic)

eyes: smoldering

Viola name: Madame

Mind Set: middle aged forgetfulness

Favorite saying: "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're correct"

March 25, 2016 at 01:25 AM · Years of playing: 6 (played from13-19)

Violin style: Amati pattern

Maker: Chinese

Violins age: 1 year old

Violins name: Tiny Tim

Mind set: make up for the last 13 year break I have been on

Favorite saying: Nunc aut Nunquam

March 25, 2016 at 11:29 AM · Name: Jascha Heifetz (had we dared to ask and if he'd cared to respond)

Age: posthumous

Main violin: the "David" del Gesu. Have also owned a Strad, a Tononi and others.

Favorite bows: a Kittel and a Tourte

Mind set : too complicated to get into

Short auto bio: first lessons at 3; first big concert at 7. I've been playing ever since.

Favorite saying: it's all to be found in the poem, "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

PS If you bother me any more I'll sue you!

March 25, 2016 at 03:13 PM · God damn, you are someone I want to meet. Like seriously you are my kind of evil! Mr. Klayman

March 25, 2016 at 07:13 PM · lol!

March 25, 2016 at 07:13 PM · lol!

March 28, 2016 at 12:16 AM · Name: Maddie

Years of noodling: 10

Age: 14 years

Violin Style: idkkk....

Maker: Jay Haide

Violin's Age: not sure...it's a rental...my parents won't get me a violin because they're pretty expensive

Violin's name: never really thought about that...no idea.

Mind set: *currently has some sort of classical music stuck in my head*

March 28, 2016 at 04:56 AM · Name: Em

Age:20

Years of noodling: like a decade

Playing style: your drunk neighbor

Makers: Josef Dvorak (Luby u Chebu), another from Luby and an Eastman viola

Instrument ages: younguns of 8, 7 & 6

Mind Set: dazed and confused

Favorite saying: death before decaf

March 28, 2016 at 02:21 PM · Emily you and I would be great friends because of your favorite saying.

March 31, 2016 at 03:49 AM · Name: Isaac Stern

Age: posthumous

Favorite violins: 2 del Gesus - the "ex Ysaye" of 1740 and the "Panette" of 1737, also copies of my del Gesus by Sam Z.

Favorite bow: an Adam, which broke :-(

Personality: control freak (so they say)

Favorite sayings: 1. Use the violin to make music, don't use music as a pretext to play the violin.

2. At every concert at least one person should be enjoying himself - and it might as well be me!

Name: Yehudi Menuhin

Age: posthumous

Favorite violins: the "Soil" Strad, 1714 and the "Lord Wilton" del Gesu, 1741. Also own many modern violins

personality: bodhisatva - according to my wife, when she isn't otherwise needling me.

Favorite sayings: I can't limit myself to one, which is why I've written so much.

RK annotation: I don't know how these Posthumous folks have sneaked in here. Sorry!

March 31, 2016 at 04:09 AM · OK, time to uncloak:

Name: Raphael Klayman

Age: old enough to know my 5th amendment rights. Or let's put it this way: when I began music lessons I had to start on a gamba because the violin hadn't been invented yet.

Years playing: see above

Violins and their names: 2 Ed Maday violins: 2008 inspired by Paganini's del Gesu, "ill Cannone" and so, called "Ill Cannone Secundo"

An Ed Maday, 2011, orginal model with a lion's head and a Latin inscription on the ribs, called "Sir Lionheart" (Originally just "Lionheart", but I gave it a free upgrade!)

2 violins by Vittorio Villa: a del Gesu model, 2010 called "Michelangelo" and an ornamented Amati copy, 2011, called "Leonardo".

A decent Chinese violin

A couple of extra violins for sale.

Which is your favorite? I don't want to say. It would make the others jealous.

Bows by FR Simon, Bazin, EA Ouchard, Hill and Hang Wang. I named my Ouchard "Excalibur" and my Louis Bazin "Excelsior".

Personality: varies... from saintly to illegal.

Favorite saying: It's hard to limit myself but I'll take the Latin phrase I chose for the ribs of "Sir Lionheart": IN MVSICA FELICITAS - in music happiness.

March 31, 2016 at 06:52 PM · I now can say this post has reached a level of awesomeness that far surpasses anything I have ever posted before.

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