The Jaded Violinist

Did you know that the Jaded Accountant used to play the violin and earn a living teaching music? Does it surprise you?

If I still remember clearly, I was first introduced to the instrument when I was selected to be the minstrel in a school play. Later on I thought I saw my classmate in a TV ad playing the violin. It looked and sounded complicated and cool!

I first learnt the violin when I was six years old. My first teacher was a second violinist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from Beijing. He was rather stern and old-fashioned in his teaching and had wanted me to stand in front of a full-length mirror to practise everyday. After he left, my next teacher was a young lady who played with the orchestra as well. She made lessons really fun by showing me that the violin could mimic all sorts of sounds such as a bird calling, or the siren of a fire engine. She also promised to play me a song after every lesson.

I stopped violin lessons when I left Sydney and only resumed lessons five years later, now in Malaysia. By now, I had outgrown the quarter sized violin and needed a full sized violin. It was back to learning how to hold the violin, bowing and fingering. Boring stuff if you ask me now, but extremely important to get right in order to obtain a strong foundation to progress to more advanced matter.

For the advanced student, there comes a time when average intermediate lesson-grade violins just won't do anymore. While preparing for my diploma, I realised that I needed a better violin and bow - one that would respond more sensitively to how I played, and also one that would produce a quality of sound pleasing to the ears. I purchased my first real deal violin while on a holiday in Sydney. The instant I tried it at the violin maker's shop, I fell in love with it. Its higher register sounded smooth, bright and sweet, while the lower register was deep and mellow. It was my 'holy grail' of all holy grails!

I completed my grade eight examinations five years later and was halfway through preparing for my diploma when I decided to further my studies in Sydney and had to stop lessons again. After a year of study in Sydney and then joining the workforce back in Malaysia, I now find that I do not have the time (and patience) to pick up the instrument I so loved again. It is now lying in the case with two of its strings snapped and wanting replacement...