William Fitzpatrick - violin expert

The Many Stories of Bill Fitzpatrick: My Secret

Another story about the secret of violin-playing

In this video, Prof. Fitzpatrick tells a story about his "secret" of playing the violin.

Released on March 30, 2022

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DISCLAIMER: The views and the opinions expressed in this video are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Virtual Sheet Music and its employees.

Video Transcription

It was my secret. No one at my school knew that I played the violin. But one day the school choral director spoke with my grandmother and had me come over to her home one Sunday to rehearse the Beriot scene de ballet I was working on. She was impressed and so they decided without asking me that I should play for the entire Haynes student body. My school life persona was in jeapordy. Anyways I played for the entire student body and sure enough things became awkward. I worked very hard on my image from then on, for example playing oboe and percussion in the band. I tried to be as cool as I possibly could be. But then I would go crosstown to Blair for my violin lessons and other courses.
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Comments, Questions, Requests:

Tosh * VSM MEMBER * on March 30, 2022 @12:47 pm PST
Stereotypes about musicians and music students have always been there. Malcolm Lowe, who used to be concert master of the Boston Symphony was a very good baseball player when he was young. James Ehnes, the famous concert violinist, played hockey with his friends when he was young. Both are some of the finest violinists Canada ever produced. I understand Joshua Bell plays golf whenever he can find the time during his busy concert tours. When Nathan Milstein took time off from his concert touring in the summer months, he would stop playing the violin and play tennis instead. When I was a kid, I played hockey, football, and baseball...but in junior high school, another kid came up to me and said he found it puzzling that I also played the violin. Don't think helicopter parents are doing their kids any favors by not letting them play sports as well as learning to play music. Think in the long run, it's better to develop well rounded rather than narrow interests...especially since nearly all of us will never become great musicians like Mr. Lowe, Ehnes, Bell and Milstein. I've had as much pleasure out of my sporting activities as I have had playing music...though now, my sporting activities are confined to golf because I'm no longer a young person.
reply
William - host, on March 30, 2022 @4:37 pm PST
Thank you! Well said!
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