Here I follow up on
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31903157
post in this thread about Kanopy.
Here I give an introduction to how to start with violin.
Why violin? Classical solo music is written mostly for piano or violin, and the ensemble music is heavily dependent on a section of violins. So, violin is very important in music.
Now a lot of music can be generated by software on computers, but generating all the expressiveness of a good violin with a good violinist would be a big challenge. So, violins are not likely to be fully replaced by computer generated music.
I learned to play violin, enough to make it through parts of some of the most important pieces, the Bach Chaconne, etc.
Bach wrote that piece originally for solo violin. E.g., as in:
Hilary Hahn
1,458,170 views Aug 15, 2020
Johann Sebastian Bach - Partita for
solo violin Nº 2 in D minor, BWV
1004.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngjEVKxQCWs
A version arranged for piano by Busoni is:
Bach, Busoni - Chaconne in D minor
BWV 1004 - Helene Grimaud (piano)
3,785,361 views
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw9DlMNnpPM
After hear the piano version, that the piece in its original form was for violin is a bit amazing.
One version of an arrangement for orchestra is:
Boston Symphony Orchestra - J.S.Bach
Partita in D Minor, Chaconne BWV 1004
124,435 views Apr 4, 2013
Orchestration by Hideo Saito
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WpzfAd5gXk
That here an orchestra keeps itself busy playing a piece written just for solo violin is even more amazing.
Another version for orchestra is:
Bach - Stokowski. Chaconne (1950)
214,972 views Jun 4, 2012
L'orchestration de la Chaconne de
J.S.Bach par Leopold Stokowski.
Enregistré en 1950.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEUYq5t-cCM
There are also solo organ performances.
For more violin music there is:
Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Julia
Fischer - Performance Edit (Full HD 1080p)
3,567,731 views Jan 17, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS-W3lfcVvY
with just excellent, world class, nearly uniquely good, cases of (A) what violin can and basically should sound like, (B) violin tone quality and intonation accuracy, (C) musical expression, and (D) from the soloist Julia Fischer examples of how to hold the violin and bow and nearly everything about the left hand, tone quality, intonation, etc. Just excellent. For beginners I would mention that sometimes she has less curve in her left thumb than is usually recommended.
For a more modern view of what can be done with violin music there is:
Sibelius / Jascha Heifetz, 1960:
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 -
Walter Hendl, CSO - Complete
184,884 views Jun 1, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpPYat2aRB4
The CD of that music, played directly, not through YouTube, has significantly better sound quality and a convincing example of some of the reasons for the fame of Heifetz. What he does with his violin is beyond any simple explanation. A piano player can hit a key, maybe with a pedal, on a good piano, and that is about all; not at all so for a violinist with a good violin: There are the violin itself, the strings and rosin selected by the violinist, the bow itself and then the tension, adjustable, on the bow hairs, the bow contact area on the strings, the bow pressure and speed, and then the effect of the fingers of the left hand on the strings. It all can make significant differences.
Here are some good ways to start to learn to play violin:
(1) Listen to some famous violin music, say, on YouTube. So from this, get some understanding of what sounds and music a violin is good for. Sure, concentrate on some of the best violin music by Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Sibelius played by famous violinists, Heifetz, Hahn, Fischer, etc. Get the sheet music, learn the basics of how to read sheet music, and follow along with the YouTube performances.
(2) Look carefully at still images of famous violinists holding their violin, e.g., Heifetz, Hahn, especially the Fischer perforamance of The Four Seasons as above.
The goal here is to learn how to hold the violin and the bow. This learning is important, crucial, etc. Nearly all good violinists of the last 50 years use a special shoulder rest that clips onto the back of the violin. The one I got was from Sweden. An excellent view is the Fischer video above.
(3) Get a few in-person one-on-one beginner lessons in violin. A music school or maybe a music shop should be able to recommend good teachers. Generally you can get really good lessons from a really good professional violinist for not much money. The early lessons are on (a) how to hold the violin and bow, (b) how to change strings, (c) how to tune the violin, (d) how to use the rosin on the bow, (e) how to play in some of the major scales.
Below is a "Music Theory 101 for Beginning Violinists".
After that and some lessons, the main need is practice. Occasionally return for lessons with a good violinist to check that what you are practicing and learning are correct. You might find, as I did, that it takes 1000+ hours of practice alone to make good use of one lesson of one hour.
I recommend the book
Ivan Galamian, Principles of Violin Playing & Teaching, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1962.
I give more in