Podcast Appearances
Scientists have long puzzled over the emergence of music in the story of human evolution, with Darwin describing it as the great mystery.
One theory emanating from Harvard is that music provided the distraction for early man to hold two dissonant thoughts long enough to evaluate them, to make better choices and, as a consequence, to evolve.
It was with notions of refinement and the arts that we encouraged our eight-year-old's interest in learning to play the violin.
We were beside ourselves with anticipation when she came home from her first bowing lesson with Loretto, equipped with a half-length violin and instructions to practice for 30 minutes every day.
Eager to demonstrate her newfound competence, Isabel cupped the violin to her chin, her left hand stretching to clasp the fingerboard, with index finger straining to press the A string in first position.
For weeks our house was filled with enamel-rasping screeches.
What sounded like nails being drawn across a blackboard, I learned were scales.
The disconcerting, caterwauling-like riffs were arpeggios.
We bit our lips and praised her efforts as we wondered just what exactly we had visited upon our once tranquil little hamlet.
relentlessly searching for something within the chaotic cadences, something she seemed instinctively to know was there but just out of reach.
The mist lifted, the veil drawn back.
It seemed as if in an instant the screeching resolved itself into sweetness and depth and a tonal quality emerged.
she had found the music she was searching for within the chaos.
As her finger placement precision improved, as her bowing became more confident and as she mastered vibrato, we realised we had a musician in the house.
Within a couple of years, she graduated to a three-quarter length violin and at 12, she was ready for full size.
we were recommended a violin maker in Dublin to make a selection.
More than a little out of my depth, it appeared to me that there were two types of violin on offer.