I
was wondering why I choose violin as my major until I watch the documentary ‘The
Art of Violin’.
I’m
not showing off. But I think that’s true that I’m not only good at violin. I born
with a beautiful voice and a natural sense of singing; I’m not too bad at piano
and organ with the account of what I’ve learned and whom I studied with; I’m not
too bad to express myself through conducting either.
It
seems that I start to choose violin when I decided to go to APA junior in F2.
But I still involved very much in singing in choirs and groups and playing
other stuffs in those times until uni. And actually in my secondary school life
my goal is to train myself as an all-rounded musician so that I can be a conductor
in the future. That’s why I didn’t concentrate only on violin. I had chances to
switch my major instrument as I have to decide what I would like to major in
uni. But I still choose violin. (By that time I already know that my character
is not suitable to e a conductor as my career.) Every time when I have to
choose, I choose violin. But I’m not so sure why I choose.
It
happened that I had 2 hrs of free time for supper when I was in APA the week
before. I decided to go to the HongKongRecord and see if there’s anything nice.
As I expected there are lots of ‘cheaper-then-HMV’ CDs. I was so happy to see
them and took some. I saw the DVD section and to my delight, I saw sth about
violin. So I bought ‘The Art of Violin’.
The
beginning of the documentary is episodes of the greatest violinists the turn of
the last century playing Mendelssohn E minor concerto. As the scenes go by, my
tears really wanted to come out. Seeing those masters expressing themselves on
the violin, the sound, the movements, the spirit are the things I’m looking for
with my violin. All of them sounded differently. And all of them are so unique.
The power and the character behind each giant is what I longed to discover
within myself. When I sing, learned by imitation – I can sing like whomever I
listen to; I can imitate the taste of sound of my friends on the piano; I can
imitate the movements of different teachers in conducting. But I’m sure my
violin sounds only like me. And that’s the reason I choose him.
Playing
violin takes much more individuality then any other instruments, as it is an
extremely sensitive instrument and playing it involves subtle technical
considerations. Probably this is the reason which makes every person sound
really different on the violin. I really enjoy being myself with it. Just like
talking with a friend boundlessly. And I really enjoy making the violin sound
like me.
The
challenge now is to discover who am I: to know myself, my character, better in
order to make the violin sound more like me; to know my body better so that to
make the instrument part of my body… and let myself ‘illuminate’ through the
music I play, unfold and display my own personality.