Froggie Posted January 21, 2008 Report Posted January 21, 2008 I am giving lessons to my neighbor, a five year old girl. She comes from a musical family and her father is also teaching her guitar. She wants to be a movie star (as serious as a little girl can be) and I think that is a fantastic goal. I think that knowing about movie stars who also have a background in violin would be great encouragement to inspire her to practice. If anyone has a list of appropriate movie stars who also have a background in violin, I would appreciate that very much. Thanks, Pat
.Violint. Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 well, I saw Russell Crowe playing a violin or viola in the movie Master and Commander but I don't know if it was really him playing. Also, supposedly Jessica Alba took violin lessons for six months to play a solo in her new movie The Eye.
Guy_Gallo Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 Meryl Streep, Jayne Mansfield, Albert Einstein. Sherlock Holmes... Lori Singer is a cellist. I think Marlene Dietrich also played the violin.
CharlesP Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 Dear Froggie: I do not have a complete list, but I remember the following celebrity names: Dakota Fanning Reba McEntire Helen Hunt: took lessons as a child Meryl Streep Jack Benny Roy Clark Larry Fine: (larry, of "The Three Stooges"-as a teenager he was very talented and was asked to be a professional violinist, eventually learned Piano, Clarinet, Saxophone, Brass instruments, and in his life (after the Stooges) taught music. Werner Klemperer: (Famous for playing Colonel Klink in "Hogan's Heroes", was also in over 80 television shows) He also was a concert violinist and conductor of Symphony Orchestra. Other famous people who played violin: Patrick Henry: ("give me liberty, or give me death") Thomas Jefferson: (wrote the Declaration of Independence) President Woodrow Wilson Albert Einstein: (the Theory of Relativity) I am certain that there are more. Hope this helps you.
skiingfiddler Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 Nero's greatest talent was not playing the violin, but playing the violin some 1400 years before the violin was invented.
davet Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 You have slandered the violin. Nero had a fiddle (which may or may not have been invented during his time).
allegro Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 quote: Originally posted by: .Violint. well, I saw Russell Crowe playing a violin or viola in the movie Master and Commander but I don't know if it was really him playing. Also, supposedly Jessica Alba took violin lessons for six months to play a solo in her new movie The Eye. I believe Russell Crowe had lessons with Richard Tognetti (the artistic director/leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, he is also the one playing the 1743 Guarneri del Gesù) before he starred in this role.
Marie Brown Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 A five-year-old wouldn't know Ana Gasteyer, but her story is quite amazing.
troutabout Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 According to Webster's Online Dictionary : "Nero occurs only in the superscription (which is probably spurious, and is altogether omitted in the R.V.) to the Second Epistle to Timothy. He became emperor of Rome when he was about seventeen years of age (A.D. 54), and soon began to exhibit the character of a cruel tyrant and heathen debauchee. In May A.D. 64, a terrible conflagration broke out in Rome, which raged for six days and seven nights, and totally destroyed a great part of the city. The guilt of this fire was attached to him at the time, and the general verdict of history accuses him of the crime." Maybe a harp or some stringed instrument but not a fiddle or violin as we know it.
Banzai Posted January 23, 2008 Report Posted January 23, 2008 quote: Originally posted by: .Violint. well, I saw Russell Crowe playing a violin or viola in the movie Master and Commander but I don't know if it was really him playing. Also, supposedly Jessica Alba took violin lessons for six months to play a solo in her new movie The Eye. I have no plans to see that movie...but was her solo any good? That would be pretty impressive after six months of lessons.
Froggie Posted January 23, 2008 Author Report Posted January 23, 2008 Wow! This is great. At her last lesson, she mentioned The Three Stooges and how funny they were. I can't wait to tell her about Larry Fine, as weel as the others. She will be very excited. Pat
GMM22 Posted January 23, 2008 Report Posted January 23, 2008 Hmmm... 33.3% of stooges vs. one Albert Einstein, and you figure she will gravitate toward the former. Sigh. Oh well, with a little luck she will refine her own discernment by the time she hits double digits.
Richf Posted January 23, 2008 Report Posted January 23, 2008 You may have missed this discussion from a couple weeks back, but the photo is worth showing again even if Shaq doesn't really play: http://maestronet.com/forums/m...=y&keyword1=basketball
mommag Posted January 23, 2008 Report Posted January 23, 2008 I found this video on Youtube. Elmo is playing the violin accompanied by Yo Yo Ma. This may interest your five year-old student! "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHiSqTbNEoM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHiSqTbNEoM
verde Posted January 28, 2008 Report Posted January 28, 2008 Charly Chapplin played and composed violin music well. He played left hand.
maestramusica Posted February 3, 2008 Report Posted February 3, 2008 Well, Jeanine Garrafolo "plays" a violin in "The Truth About Cats and Dogs", but I could easily see it was faked. fingers going the wrong direction on the Prelude to the Bach Partita in E, etc. Of course, that is an argument for learning the violin- that way you can play the ROLE of a violinist and not gross out the actual string players in your audience. "Music from the Heart" would not have been such a good movie for ME, had it not been clear that Meryl Streep actually knew what she was doing with that violin (as opposed to Garrofalo). I wasn't sure about Crowe, either.
DR. S Posted February 8, 2008 Report Posted February 8, 2008 Meryl Streep actually learned for a movie, but did quite well in a very short time. Madonna, who originally was going to star in the same movie, before she quit and they hired Meryl Streep, took lessons for about 6-12 months in preparation. Dudley Moore was quite a good violinist, in addition to a pianist. I heard/saw Dolly Parton play fiddle once. Weird technique with the really long fingernails, but managed quite well. Roy Clark. Russel Crowe just was shown, how to hold the instrument and move the bow, but he never looked comfortable. Kind of like Michael Lamdon in Little House on the Prairie - the real life Mr. Ingles was an avid fiddler. Did Ephram Zimbalist Jr. Play? His dad was a great violinist.
crazy jane Posted February 8, 2008 Report Posted February 8, 2008 I don't know about EZ Jr.--but Werner Klemperer ("Colonel Klink") apparently can be seen playing in the violin section of the New Philharmonia Orchestra on the EMI Classics DVD "Otto Klemperer - Beethoven Symphony No. 9." J.
maestramusica Posted February 11, 2008 Report Posted February 11, 2008 Yeah, I remember just cringing when watching Michael Landon saw away on his fiddle. The fingernail thing is kind of when the middle-school, H.S. girls have to make the decision on how serious they are about playing the violin. I have a student I have to remind every week to trim or file her nails down. And she wonders why she's having trouble playing in tune?
DR. S Posted February 13, 2008 Report Posted February 13, 2008 I just heard someone say that Alan Greenspan was a musician, possibly a violinist. And I can't think of her name, but there is an anchor/news personality - a woman, on CNN I think that was a good cellist.
.Violint. Posted February 17, 2008 Report Posted February 17, 2008 quote: Originally posted by: Banzai quote: Originally posted by: .Violint. well, I saw Russell Crowe playing a violin or viola in the movie Master and Commander but I don't know if it was really him playing. Also, supposedly Jessica Alba took violin lessons for six months to play a solo in her new movie The Eye. I have no plans to see that movie...but was her solo any good? That would be pretty impressive after six months of lessons. Just watched the movie. I think she did alright. They most probably had a professional do the sound recording, but look-wise, she did okay. It was kind of obvious that she wasn't too experienced; her vibrato looked like a slight spasm, her right elbow was a little low, and her bowing was kind of stiff and curved. but I think it could've fooled others who haven't played before. Considering it was only 6 months of lesson, I think she did great. cool movie too.
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