Music Tracks
Jim Hastings - Violin
Joe Benghauser - Guitar
Mark Ruiz - Piano
Unaccompanied Background Questions or Comments Violinist.com
I MAJORED IN MUSIC, and I know from experience the special kick a performer gets from connecting
with a live audience. Yet, in the high-tech era, performers will need to keep finding new ways to reach audiences
where they are -- homes, offices, cars, malls, Internet cafés -- not just concert halls and recital rooms.
This page is one small contribution I decided to make in that direction.
LINKS BELOW ARE NOT YET ACTIVE, but this page will give you a tentative list of the unaccompanied selections I plan to upload first. Because of other demands, and because of the weather, I can't record and upload anything till spring 2012. The garage, with its reverb, has the best acoustics for recording; but since it's too cold now to play out there, I will have to wait a few months. Meanwhile, I continue to practice and play indoors.
For a tentative list of accompanied selections, click here. -- JH 12-19-2011
Unaccompanied
Violin
Franko, Sam
Cadenza to 1st Movement of Mozart Concerto No. 3
2:30
Hastings, Jim
Improvisation 1
4:35
Improvisation 2
5:15
Kreisler, Fritz
Cadenza to 1st Movement of Beethoven Concerto
3:20
Mazas, Jacques Féréol
Etude In A, Op. 36, No. 40: Andante Cantabile
4:40
Rodgers, Richard
VICTORY AT SEA: Hard Work and Horseplay
3:30
Strauss, Richard
DON QUIXOTE: Viola Solo from Variation III -- Adapted for Violin
2:55
I began elementary piano lessons at age 7, but soon the violin bug bit me. I started fingering and bowing tunes on a small-sized instrument several months before the first lessons. I couldn't explain now how I managed to pull this off, but somehow I did. My parents didn't have to tell me to practice -- I was hooked on it. In fact, now and then, as the evening wore on and bedtime drew near, they would ask me to wrap up.
In my later teens, I auditioned for a seat in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, training school of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and played a couple of seasons, gaining experience in both violin sections -- second and first. Yet, by age 20, I began to feel that orchestra playing was too confining and just didn't fit my individualistic, free-spirited personality. At 21, only a few weeks into the last season, I decided to resign my chair and regain my freedom.
I've never regretted the decision. I'm thankful for the whole
experience -- but grateful I realized early in life that the music business just didn't suit me. I became a small-business
owner in 1996, and I keep playing as a serious amateur. I prefer violin/piano and violin/guitar combos and small
chamber groups -- one player to a part -- especially when a piano is part of the scoring.
Copyright © 2010-2012 by Jim Hastings. All
rights reserved.