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Although I’ve played piano since I was seven, played French horn for a number years, and always sang, I felt I found my true voice in the violin. So at the age of 50, I decided to learn it. Having been classically trained and having to basically “unlearn” all that in order to get into Jewish music, which is essentially folk/ethnic, I decided to get as little violin training as possible; I took about 3-4 lessons. So I can pretty safely say that I’m self taught. It’s interesting that most of the great Jewish classical violinists of the early 20th century (and there were lots of them) were self taught, and only after gaining considerable proficiency went for classical training. So since I’m not interested in going classical, I guess I’m exempt. I actually play mainly by ear.
Originally, I practiced about an hour a day, but that decreased as time went on, and today I hardly practice at all. That’s partly because I’m recording instead of performing live, so I can do things over and do post-processing if necessary. Once I start performing, I’ll have to practice more. At any rate, having the musical background certainly accelerated things, and I already knew the sound I was after, something much thicker and more gutsy than the silky smooth classical style. So, though not very technically proficient, I can usually get what I’m after.
My goal was never to become a virtuoso; I just want it to be expressive, like singing. It’s not great, but it has character. The problem I find with many violinists is that they’re so hung up on intonation, sound quality, etc. that they’re afraid to put real emotion into it for fear of ruining something. For me, that misses the whole point. I’m also not interested in stylistic correctness – I’m not trying to play in correct klezmer style, with all the kvetches, etc. that are easy to overdo and just make it sound cutesy and dated. Chassidic music, for me, is living and relevant, not a stylized museum piece.
I use an acoustic violin with a Shadow pickup. There are several reasons for this. Violins are difficult to mic, and require a better recording environment than my office. This way, there’s no background noise, as it goes directly into the computer. It’s not a very expensive violin, so the sound of the violin itself is nothing special to capture, and the pickup is pretty natural sounding (and I’ve been through a few). Using the special effects also helps to shape the tone to whatever is appropriate for the song. It gives a thicker sound, but not as artificial sounding as some electric violins (I also have one, but rarely use it). In a few cases, I’ve used it with electric guitar overdrive effects when I felt I needed it. (e.g. Bnei Heicholah).
I also value the violin as a characteristically Jewish instrument. There were areas in the Ukraine a hundred years ago that you could tell how many Jews lived in a house by how many fiddles hung on the wall. Almost all the great classical violinists of the previous generation were Jews from Eastern Europe, most of whom learned to play in the ghetto or shtetl. The violin was the staple of the klezmer band until the advent of the clarinet. There were chassidic rebbes that played fiddle (specifically from the Nadvorner dynasty), and the chassidic musicians playing for the Bobover Rebbe on Simchas Beis Sho’evah are exclusively on violin. Although the many references to the “kinor” in Tehillim (Psalms) refer to a harp, not a fiddle, the latter has definitely replaced the former as the Jewish instrument of choice; perhaps the use of the word “kinor” for violin in modern Hebrew is some indication. It’s expressiveness makes it uniquely qualified to communicate the emotional aspect of Jewish music. Somethings I think you can get away with a more emotional style on the fiddle than you can with singing.
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