Itzhak I am 46 years old, I started to play the violin when I was 16 way back in the 1980s. I became a violinist because of you. I saw you played on a TV show and I felt in love with the Violin. I said to myself at the time, I must learn to play the Violin or I would die trying because I could not get it out of my system. I have been playing now for 30 years because you have inspired me and changed my life. I even teach the violin to Children in Church. You have changed many lives. -NC
I was 61 years old when I met a well known violinist . I asked him if I could learn to play violin or can he teach me. He said no and added " you are too old " . I found another teacher. Now I am 66 and practicing Vivaldi concerto. I wanted to go and play for him to show him what a magnificent machine human brain is. but he passed away.
+hossein1326 Mr. Hossein I am also an Adult Beginner! When you have a great Teacher You can learn!! I am only Playing a little over a year and I started with a Teacher which graduated from Julliard, Then I played for a Day its called here in Vienna Day of Open Door at a Music Academy and the Director and Violin Teacher There Said I have talent and Accepted me! I am a Singer...I can now play many of the Beautiful Folk Songs , Classical Ave Marias,Balads etc Which I sIng Violin is used in many different types of Music Now .Maestro is right progress is slower than if we star at 5or 6 or started much younger but everyone s Parents Dont have the money or we did not have the time or oportunity as Children! My Parents had Six multitalented Children we all recieved a great Music Education in Public Schools, Music Schools Comunity Centers ,But as an Adult I fell in love again with The Violin at a Brahms Program/ where I acually Sing and I have much more dicipline now as when I was a Child and first wanted to learn So all the best for you Go for it!besides I worked sooo hard Payinng for a Violin and Music Lessons One must have time and energy! also to practice Now you Do!!LOLTHere are Beautiful Pieces for Beginners!Riedling concerto op.35, Küchler,concertino inGmajor op 11 I am having a great time!!:)
+Eudora Price Hello Eudora, that is very nice of you to share your thought with me. I do love playing violin and I practice every day. some may say oh I don't have time for that . But here what I do to find time. in the morning before leaving my house I play for 10 minutes, in my office i have a violin, there i play for 10 minutes when no one is around like launch time, At the end of the day after everyone leave to go home I practice 10 minutes. at night when i get home I practice for 10 minutes. so through the day I make so many small time practice that is equal 30 or 60 minutes. and that is enough for me. and I am happy. I wish I could see some video from you playing the violin. that would be wonderful.
Hello Thank you for :)Mr. Hossein Yes I am a positive Person and like to encourage People too and it keeps The mind active! great for Adults as I do here in Vienna Sometimes People forget That Music I think especially the Violin is a great Therapy and Relaxing. Healing, Its Interesting That a couple of My Doctorsand Doctor Friends Play Violin and other Instruments..I play only Easier Things at the moment but its ok One must start Somewhere. I have many Friends in Orchestras ,But They do only Music..They can practice 5or 6 hours.I find two hours time into 50 minutes like Maestro Perlman said more is too much at the moment. Plus if you do hard physical job like Hotel Restaurant/ Chef or Something you are too tired to hold a Bow or anything!!lol Anyway Keep practising also in Austria/Europe There are stillEvents Music Schools and Competitons with no "Age Limit" Thank God! All the best great to chat with you!
To anyone who thinks that this is a short answer to a large problem - it's not! The book Perlman means is 'Principles of Violin Playing & Teaching' and it is worth its' weight in gold. I've read most of it and it's been very enlightening for me. Highly recommend that book!
It is so nice to hear your voice dear Itzhak. And so kind of you to share your opinions on various topics. Thank you, thank you and thank you! Live long!
Thank-you, Maestro Perlman! My girl plays violin & finds these videos (not to mention those which feature music pouring through you) very cool. We found Galamian's book in our public library! I've had the privilege of hearing you twice in concert: once in Toronto in the '80s, once in Montreal in '94. What moved me most about you playing was the generosity of your soul in it. We live far off the concert-tour path now, but I hope to be able to give my girl the gift of hearing you live one day.
Hi Mr PEARLman! Thanks AGAIN ! for your time :-) It's a GREAT JOY to see you speaking to us on here.. and for YOU - a new GREAT experience of sharing :-) ... I knew you would say IVAN GALAMIAN ! Greetings from Greece !
Dear Itzhak! I love how you play Seitz concerto!!! I try to play exactly how you do it! I ev en tried to play together with you, but I could not keep up. And I try to hold the bow as you showed! You are my favourite favourite violinist
Practice Practice and practice intelligently. Spend as much time as the good players spend. Then you will achieve your goal. " I practied like devil" - Heifetz
חוייה גדולה ללמוד מהמאסטרו עצמו... לפני שנים הייתי תלמידה של ואלי בלוטנר ובתקופה האחרונה חזרתי לנגינה, לאחר הפסקה של שנים רבות. שיעורייך פותחים בפני דלתות חדשות ומדהימות. תודה על כל דקה מזמנך... חנן סבט
One practicing technique my violin teacher used for me was to take two bendy straws and stick them together at the short ends so they formed a sort of square arch and then stick the long ends into the back round holes in the sound holes. This formed a sort of "bow guard" so that my bow would stay in the right position. Eventually I felt comfortable enough keeping the bow held correctly that I no longer needed the straws.
Years ago i purchased Mr. Itzhak Perlman's recording of Paganini's 24 Caprices: the single-most challenging collection of compositions for the violin. He performed them with ease, yet was robust in courage in the most demanding passages. That's why I love Heifetz as well. The greater the demand the more he toyed with it. Both these men treat technical demands in music the way Christ treated sin: it had no hold on him.
I found you through Vivaldi, and I have enjoyed your playing immensely. I can across this page and I must say it is really neat, unique, interesting, to be able to hear you speak about music. Thank you for choosing music when you were you. Be well, M
Hello Itzhak! Thanks a lot for the videos and the reference to the book, bought it right away. Could you please share with me the name of the piece at the end of this video? It's been only a few months since I've been engulfed by classical music, bought piano, viola, began to learn all about music from any sources I could get my hands on and started listening through many works... but I can tell, from that short excerpt at the end of this video, there's more of the greatness where that came from. But since it's my first time hearing it, I wouldn't know where that "where" is. :) And lastly, HUGE THANKS for being the way you are. You literally inspired me to change my priorities, from viola being only my 2nd instrument to learn to making it equally important to my piano playing. When I heard and saw you play, I knew I will have to switch to violin one day and go for that level of mastery. You make it sound and look so much fun, or even like finding one's place and peace in the world,..it's amazing. Thanks once more and cheers! :)
Hi Mr. Perlman! I'm so glad that you've posted this video. It helps a lot. I've been trying to bow without bumps or/making it sound like it's a legato, and I can't find a way.. Do you have any advice or exercise that could make me have a legato sound bow stroke? Thanks.
I remember having 2 recordings of the 24 Caprices: Perlman's and another violinist, whose name escapes me at the moment. I was amazed that Perlman played Caprice # 1 exactly twice as fast as the other violinist - EXACTLY. Back in those days, everything was vinyl, so I slowed my record player down to half speed and - he hit every note cleanly and precisely. I have been a fan ever since. Of course, his virtuosity is not his defining feature, but it made an impression on a 12 year old me. :
ive had the pleasure of hearing you play live 3 times and the honor of meeting you and shaking your hand backstage in new york a few years ago, and i noticed that you have rather large hands just like i do. i am 6'10'' tall and am very large with large hands. i am currently enjoying the daunting task of learning the chaconne of bach and i was wondering if you had any tips regarding the many chords of the chaconne and of the violin in general as per playing with large hands. thank you so much.
Mr Perlman, the book: Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching by Mr Galamian has 2 publications on Amazon, the 1999 one(second-hand only) and the latest. Which one should I get? (Which is the correct one to get?)
ivan galamian was the teacher of my teacher's teacher! i also own his book and its full of vital information about technique and other things violinists should know!
I went on Amazon for the book you mentioned, I typed in Ivan Galamian, I am wondering if this is the correct book title? Contemporary Violin Technique, Volume 1: Scale and Arpeggio Exercises with Bowing and Rhythm Patterns by Frederick Neumann and Ivan Galamian by Schirmer
@adriwitto if your teacher did not give advice on how to fix your problem, it may be good to find a teacher who also had to fix their bowing so they can relate good habits. have you posted any videos of your playing? best of luck to you!!
I looked up the book by Galamian (Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching ), but it says the book is a $1000 dollars. Is the book supposed to be that expensive?
I know i sound racist but us egyptians have a bad history with Israel In fact any country that passes through the nile River has too I love his playing but him, Vengerov and gitlis are all from Israel
Haha, I als have problems with bow, it's probably the hardest aspect for playing a violin--to make a good sound. But after a while you start to understand it better from practice. For example, I had a really hard time with the G string, it always come out as a really terrible sound, then I realized that I was too close to the bridge while I was shifting to that string from another string, so after while I start to understand that actually each string you need to place your bow in a slightly different place (at least that's how it feels for me), And this also will help keeping your bow straight.
Dear Mr. Perlman. I am a violin player. Doing many auditions for orchestras. I'd like to ask you two questions. 1. Some people (after auditions) said that my vibrato is always the same. How would you advise me to work on turning it more versatile or varied. 2. I've been doing some introspection, and I am realizing now that I spent lots of time (years) rationalizing violin and technique. Which gave me a lot of understanding. But I feel I need to improve my musicality. What is your advise? Thanx
i dont know what to do i find it hard to do down bow because of the balance so my teacher tells me i dont get enough power in my bow i am grade 4 and can you please tell me if there is anything i can do to help me start doing down bows more
Hello Mr Perlman, hope you can advise me how to improve my 'intonation'. I started very late. Sometimes I'm so frustrated! I shall be there on your Münich Concerto in April this year. I'm sitting quite in front. Do you think I may talk to you?
I don't really consider myself Galamian material. I studied for many years ,and hoped for some kind of career and really good playing, if not soloist quality. I even took some auditions to get the experience of it. I was offered a job in the second violin section of Colorado Springs, but this would require much more employment to live on. Then I developed problems with emotional stress. The reasons don't need to be told at this point. I was given medication that I took as prescribed and it cause a tremor I couldn't get past and it affected my bowing. The neurologists were actually testing for Parkinsons' because it affected other walking , and grip problems for ordinary activities. I found out after I was hospitalized for what turned out to be damage from the other medication, and tremor problems that could only be remedied by stopping the mediation and the stuff did some bad things to my internal organs as well. Medicine is not an exact science. Before this happened, for a number of years , I felt increasing difficulty using my bow, to do upbow, downbow, , full length draws with good reverse transfer. And also my bow actually couldn't seem to be controlled by me as to sit on the string properly and do other needed more advanced work. There are different approaches to bow grips. And what ever I was using didn't help me anymore. I have had several well known teachers and each had a different way to grip and use the bow. I think I was unable to do some important work at the frog and tip that is basic to begin with, and keeping the bow straight was also a problem. So I have been too embarrassed or lazy to try to correct this and start again. I don't want to lose a skill I spent a great deal of time learning and did play well enough to compete in school programs at least. I don't have to have the goal of a standard orchestra or solo career. This is not realistic , nor was it ever , I feel. Music study helps you appreciate many genre of music, and playing is a discipline and learning experience that keep you together as well into your older years. I would likely use it in nursing homes or to entertain in more modest and less formal settings. I do have great anxiety and poor memory issues. Believe or not, manual dexterity problems as well. I thought if I got a viola , I could help the bow out with the added weight. It may be just a fantasy, and I like the experience I had on viola , and find it would be nice to be able to play both. I don't own a viola , and thats a problem as well. I have small hands, and my Grandfather did too, and was likely a really good violin player. Galamian favors large hands . I wouldn't need a restrung violin to be able to play viola. Sixteen inches I did handle well. David Michie of Philadelphia , says he knows of a 15 inch viola that is a real viola with all the sound qualities of one. What do you think. An awful lot of questions for a busy man I know.
Joyce, that's quite a journey, both healthwise and musically. Thanks for sharing. I hope you've had success in both the past three years. My thoughts, fwiw, re: meds, anxiety, memory, and health, are to look at nutritionfacts.org and see if it inspires you I got a beginner+ (Eastman vl200) violin on ebay in almost perfect condition for $300, so I bet you can score a beg-int viola for not much more. best of luck :-) I have almost no musical education but a lifelong dream to play violin. Now I'm starting at almost 60. Crazy, but other folks' stories are helping me.
Mr. Perlman do you have any advice for bouncing bow, hitting other strings, and string crossings in fast pieces? My bow just doesn't seem to cooperate and it brings down the quality of my playing by a vast amount. I have been playing for 2 years and you are my biggest inspiration. Thank you for what you do in music!
dear mr. perlman, I have been playing violin for 1,1/2 years. I just had my 65 th birthday. I love the violin. I want to be a skillful player. i have played several times at my church. However, I am getting discouraged trying to learn vibrato. You see, I am naturally left handed but I bow with my right hand because I have vision in my left eye so I chord for lack o a better word with my left hand. I cannot see to read music so the pieces I learn are played by ear. Do you know of any other visually impaired violinists who play well despite their visual impairment? Thank you for your response and for your videos.
Hi Ada, i'm no Mr. Perlman, but I know multiple violinists who play well and I believe that you can too. I think for them it is just a matter of angling themselves correctly but I will ask them for advice for you.
I have questions about the pinky....I have trouble keeping the pinky in the proper place...it falls off...I did have a bite in that finger with may make it a little weird..or perhaps I just not a relaxing type...too tense...help
I did too. I bought a little plastic device that goes over the end of my bow, has a place for my pinkie. It works! Try the music companies like Sam Ash Music or Sweetwater or Elderly music. 🎼
It should be mandatory for everyone to play violin, especially old people. It will make you a better person, and besides, there are worse things you could be doing with your time;
Maestro Hello My name is Gabriel Rosenbaum and I play the violin from the age of 15. I went through many crises. Ask you professional advice but deliberate practice violin every day of my crying in the closet.
Why do I care about bow technique?? I’m not a string player! I’m a singer, flutist, and organist, but I clicked and watched without even thinking, bc it’s 💕Itzhak Perlman,💕 dammit, lol!!
