The Violin
My oldest child is 17 and an amazing violinist. She started at age 3 . . . every day for a YEAR, she pestered me for a violin and lessons. At 4, she started at a university in a young strings program and took to it like a duck to water. From there . . . she just skyrocketed. Until now, at 17, she is auditioning for conservatories and playing professionally in a quartet. And we are getting ready to upgrade her violin.
For anyone who doesn't know--and believe me, the last 14 years have been an education--your instrument is important. Audition on a piece of crap, and no matter how good you are, you may not be able to get your foot in the door. A bow costs as much as a car. Her violin upgrade, even trading in TWO violins, will cost about $10,000. And that doesn't include the bow. Or reconfiguring the strings so she has a GOLD E-string.
As I explained to my parents last night, arts in this country (because no actual public school programs offered what she wanted to take as a child) are way down on everyone's priority list, I think to the detriment of all children. And certain arts--like the violin--are out of reach of the middle class, let alone the poor. I have four kids, and I can tell you the sacrifices for the violin have included driving only one car between us all, giving up haircuts for my significant other, and countless other things, big and small. And HAD I KNOWN what a long, expensive road we were embarking on, I might have said, when she was 3, "Hey kid, why not take up SOCCER?"
But really? I wouldn't have. Because this is what makes my child's heart sing. And I couldn't do that to her or anyone.
So bringing it back to writing . . . is there something I know now that I wished I knew then? I don't know. If the joy is in the journey, then no. I guess not. I needed each experience--good and bad--along the way. There are little things I might have wanted to know. Like I might have taken a pen name all the way through my career. I wished I had known about that pesky passive voice in high school rather than later. I might have warned my young self how hard it would be to succeed in this brutal biz. Or that I would meet people who are less than nice or less than honest. As well as find some writer pals who would mean everything to me. But I don't think so. I think my journey was as it was meant to be.
So how about you? Is there something you know now that you wished you knew then? Would you rather have taken up needlepoint than writing? Or the violin?
Peace,
E
For anyone who doesn't know--and believe me, the last 14 years have been an education--your instrument is important. Audition on a piece of crap, and no matter how good you are, you may not be able to get your foot in the door. A bow costs as much as a car. Her violin upgrade, even trading in TWO violins, will cost about $10,000. And that doesn't include the bow. Or reconfiguring the strings so she has a GOLD E-string.
As I explained to my parents last night, arts in this country (because no actual public school programs offered what she wanted to take as a child) are way down on everyone's priority list, I think to the detriment of all children. And certain arts--like the violin--are out of reach of the middle class, let alone the poor. I have four kids, and I can tell you the sacrifices for the violin have included driving only one car between us all, giving up haircuts for my significant other, and countless other things, big and small. And HAD I KNOWN what a long, expensive road we were embarking on, I might have said, when she was 3, "Hey kid, why not take up SOCCER?"
But really? I wouldn't have. Because this is what makes my child's heart sing. And I couldn't do that to her or anyone.
So bringing it back to writing . . . is there something I know now that I wished I knew then? I don't know. If the joy is in the journey, then no. I guess not. I needed each experience--good and bad--along the way. There are little things I might have wanted to know. Like I might have taken a pen name all the way through my career. I wished I had known about that pesky passive voice in high school rather than later. I might have warned my young self how hard it would be to succeed in this brutal biz. Or that I would meet people who are less than nice or less than honest. As well as find some writer pals who would mean everything to me. But I don't think so. I think my journey was as it was meant to be.
So how about you? Is there something you know now that you wished you knew then? Would you rather have taken up needlepoint than writing? Or the violin?
Peace,
E
Labels: wisdom, writer's journey. violins
posted by Erica Orloff at 8:21 AM
11 Comments:
I'd just like to say that a crafts-type hobby isn't nearly as cheap as you and many other people think it is. No, we don't have 10k instruments, but the total amount of cash that goes into a single project can be over a thousand dollars, once you get past the simple cross-stitch kits and such. Even the most basic needlework stand costs several hundred USD.
LOL. I always say writing is a good hobby to have because what you absolutely must have to write is just a pencil and paper, or if you need a computer to write, nearly everyone has one or access to one nowadays.
Hi May:
Actually, very true. I got into gardening and have spent more money than I would like to admit on gardening supplies, plants, topsoil, birdbaths, hummingbird feeders and so on. And I took up knitting. And I like nice, soft, expensive yarn! :-) So yes, all hobbies can be expensive. The violin just happens to be WAY up there. :-)
And yes, money-wise writing is a good hobby. But it consumes all your time. :-)
E
People make time for hobbies because they want to. That's time and money. Writing's just time, so it's still cheaper. From an economist's POV, your time is probably worth a lot less than you think it is. ;)
Hi May:
Yes. I didn't mean to imply all hobbies don't eat up your time. Writing just consumes my day--but I also make a living at it. And I can easily spend the same time in my grden--where I don't make a dime. . . but it saves my sanity. I thinkk of hobbies as priceless in a way.
E
I wished I wouldn't have given up writing for awhile. But I did, and I can't change it. Maybe I'm on a better path now.
I can just hear it now (Erica to S.O.): "I'm sorry, honey, but you'll have to wait till NEXT year for that haircut you've been wanting..." ;)
The first instrument I ever took lessons on was the violin (4th grade). I was good, for a beginner, but then my teacher (this was a public school orchestra program back then) was in a car accident and out for the rest of the year. I started playing drums in 5th grade, and never stopped. I'm probably a little bit ahead on the money I've made vs. the money I've spent (not counting the booze and chicks, LOL). But it's all good. If your daughter never makes a dime playing, I still believe in the arts as an investment in the soul.
I sort of wish I had started writing (novels) sooner. Then again, maybe I just wasn't ready yet. I started three and a half years ago, and now I can't imagine my life without it. :)
Hi Edie:
I've always written, though I gave up journaling about 10 years ago--and sometimes I wish I hadn't. But now I have this blog, so it does fill that internal need, I guess.
E
Jude:
I've wondered about that with you--you'r pretty different in that you came to writing in your mid-40s--and have learned the craft amazingly well from what I've read.
E
Thanks. :)
Wow, Erica I'd so love to hear your daughter play.
And having a musical daughter myself, I know all about the expense (lessons, instruments, exams...) but you forget all about the sacrifices when you see them perform (my daughter sings and plays the clarinet - though has chosen to go the academic, rather than musical route at Uni - which I was a little sad about, but her choice).
In comparison, writing is cheaper but all consuming... even when you're not actually doing it, you're thinking about it. Though I can't think of it as a hobby.... nor did I before I sold... to me it's my profession.
Sara:
I do forget all the money and time and so on when I hear her play. It's a gift.
And writing is my profession--I never thought of it as a hobby. Even when I was unpublished--and not even thinking of being published yet--I thought of it as who I was. Some sort of . . . calling. Whereas, with gardening or movies or whatever, it's not a calling, but something I do and enjoy.
E
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