Music Tracks
Jim Hastings - Violin | Tad 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.
February 7, 2013, Update:
ONCE IT'S WARM ENOUGH AGAIN TO PLAY IN THE GARAGE, which has the reverb I like for recording, I'll begin recording selections in digital audio to upload. Heavy tech and yard projects kept me from it in summer 2012. But this is Alabama, which can get some warm winter days; so I may not have to wait till spring. Right now, I'm just thankful to be able to practice and play each day. Stay tuned.
I have played these pieces before; but for the interim, till I can offer my own renditions, check out these YouTube performances by other players and posted by other uploaders. I've rounded off runtimes to nearest 5-second intervals:
O'Carolan, Turlough: Traditional Irish Air: Si Bheag Si Mhor (So Big, So Small). Retaw
Boyce, Soloist (3:20).
- Verdi, Giuseppe: Violin Solo from Act III, Scene 3 Intro, of I Lombardi (The Lombards). Vilmos Szabadi, Soloist (4:05).
- Rodgers, Richard: Hard Work and Horseplay from Victory at Sea. RCA Victor Orchestra. Robert Russell Bennett, Conductor (3:40).
- Kreisler, Fritz: Liebesleid (Love's Sorrow). Joshua Bell, Soloist (4:35).
Links below for unaccompanied selections are not yet active.
For a tentative list of accompanied selections, check out page 2.
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 when a professional orchestra played at my elementary school. I started fingering and bowing tunes on a small-sized instrument before I even had my first lessons, reading the music from what was to become my first instruction book. It's hard to explain how I managed to pull this off, but somehow I did. Of course, I had already watched a couple of other kids play from the same book, which undoubtedly helped.
As I got into the study, 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 © 2010-2013 by Jim Hastings. All
rights reserved.