How to learn the violin

I should take this moment to point you towards an irreverently-toned (if that's the best way to put it) blog about music wherein the authors are actually updating it with some regularity. Enter vaughnvsviolin, a blog chronicling one man's no-holds-barred octagon-style battle against the violin, which he is learning to play as an adult student. But not just learning to play- his self-imposed challenge is to learn the Paganini 24th Caprice in a year. I have some comments on this. Did you notice that I made an an ultimate fighting championship reference though? That's awesome.

Now, I'm not sure if this is possible. My hunch is it depends on just how you define "play." But if the name of the game is speed and you focus on one piece, it does raise some interesting questions. Like, for instance, should he bother to learn to read music? He addresses this question in a recent post. Well, Pavarotti couldn't read music either. And once he does this for a year and achieves his goal, are he and violin through forever? Can he just walk away? If the main point of learning the violin is to write a blog about it, it changes some things. This is interesting.

Oh did I mention that he's married to a world-class violinist? This is great material here, folks. Somebody should write a book about it.

Sometimes it seems these days that the best way to get a nonfiction book deal is to propose trying to do something absurd for one year. This is a sure fire way to get covered on NPR's All Things Considered (the other method is to write a piece about the impending arrival of the alien super-bionic Mothership for the youTube symphony orchestra). It seems everywhere I turn authors are volunteering to go vegan for a year, eat only at McDonalds for a year, eat only locally grown food for a year (things involving eating are very popular), produce no trash for a year, wear no shoes for a year, use no electricity for a year, go on no dates for a year, go on a date every day with a different person for a year, be fat for a year, etc. Inevitably, these authors, who start out looking to make an idealist point about the ecological impoverishment of modern life, end up learning an important and touching lesson about themselves!! Oh, authors!

At least Ryan has decided to do something practical. But really, it's the journey that counts. How could it not be a good idea?

The Process

Well things have been super busy the past month what with the new Rogue Artists' show and the big concert in Minnesota. But I wanted to get a chance to get back to sharing a few things that I find amusing.

First, as you may have guessed, I listen to a fair amount of NPR. Now I'm not the biggest fan of many of the local commentators (sorry Sandra Tsing Loh), but Rob Long on KCRW is pretty hilarious. And not only is he funny, but he gives those of us on the periphery of the entertainment industry a chance to hear things that we can relate to, you know, so that a composer of serious concert music like me, driving down the freeway in my beat-up '95 Honda on my way to a gig that works out to paying like $7 an hour, can feel like I'm somehow part of the business too. Like, hey, oh meetings! I go to meetings! I'm like you, Rob Long! Haha! Producers are so ignorant! (Knowing, smug look at driver of car next to me).

Because you see in L.A., we all like to feel like we're part of the business, even if our part is delivering groceries to Don Cheadle. It's why when we see Jodie Foster in Target, we don't run up and ask for her autograph- that would be so embarrassing!- no, we awkwardly avoid making eye contact. We ignore them. We implicitly say, I'm in this with you, Jodie Foster. I understand. And heaven-knows I wouldn't want star-struck Mid-western tourists bothering me in Target.

Knowing smug look around Target, secretly hoping that somebody recognizes but is ignoring me as a serious concert music composer.