Cami Shaskin

Violin Blog


About


This blog is about all things violin. It is meant to educate, inspire, and provide resources for parents, teachers, and students. The author takes full responsibility for the viewpoints expressed here. In instances where she quotes ideas from others, she pledges to cite her sources as fully, responsibly, and accurately as possible. Topics will include book reviews, technique tips, entertaining anecdotes, quotes, jokes, educational findings, instrument care suggestions, violin in the news, repertoire lists, etc.

Cami J. Shaskin graduated with her master's degree in Music Education in 2008. Violin has always been her primary instrument, since beginning private lessons at age five. See camishaskinviolin.com/info for her music résumé, or click on Spotlights for historical recordings. Cami has enjoyed an array of experiences in writing, from penning award-winning articles as a journalism staff writer in high school, tutoring peers at BYU's Writing Center, earning a Writing Fellows scholarship and a minor in Language and Computers, and later becoming a published author. She recently picked up web programming as a hobby, earning a certificate in Web Programming and Development from the local community college. This blog has been a collaborative effort between her and her husband, who is a Web Developer by profession. Together, they designed and coded this blog and its original content "from scratch."

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2021
    Jan
        16 - Welcome to My Blog
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        30 - The Power of Inspiration
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        07 - From the Top
        13 - In Honor of Valentine's Day
        20 - Violin Jokes
        28 - Beginning Orchestra Teaching
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        06 - Singing in Orchestra
        13 - Nurtured by Love
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        27 - Unique Case Uses
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        02 - Favorite Music Quotes
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        02 - Believing Teachers?
        15 - Violin in Art & Architecture
        23 - A Solo Repertoire List
        29 - Our Quartet
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        20 - Theft and Other Lessons
        26 - Violin Bridge Tips
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        04 - Music During Covid
        16 - Favorite Music
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        12 - Being There
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        16 - Sight Reading Tips
    Nov
        05 - Why It's the Frog
    Dec
        20 - Bach on the Brain
        30 - Impact for Life
2022
    Jan
        23 - Tendonitis Helps
    Feb
        21 - An Old Performance
    Mar
        23 - Cars3 & Coaching
    Apr
        28 - Buying a Violin for Dummies
        29 - Preferred Brands
    May
        27 - Love: A Calling
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        20 - Gratitude for Idaho Shop
    Jul
        19 - Violinist Interviews Books
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        08 - Music Opens Doors
        23 - Top Classical Tunes for Violin
    Sep
    Oct
        11 - 100 Days of Listening
    Nov
        27 - Useful Analogies
    Dec
        28 - A Humorous Anecdote
2023
    Jan
        14 - Favorite Concertos & Sonatas
    Feb
        15 - Our Commonality
    Mar
        10 - Extras
        18 - Autopilot
    Apr
    May
    Jun
        06 - Motivation
        07 - Starting Lessons Again
    Jul
        08 - A Tale of Three Cloths
    Aug
        26 - The Ink
    Sep
        23 - Raw and Real Recital Reactions
    Oct
        18 - In Honor of Halloween
    Nov
        26 - Music Copyright
    Dec
        13 - Memes: Fun Facebook Finds
2024
    Jan
        15 - Fame and Fortune
    Feb
        05 - Details and the Big Picture
    Mar
        14 - Intermission
    Apr
        18 - A Day in the Life
    May
        02 - Oops!
    Jun
        14 - A Science or an Art?
    Jul
        15 - A Difficult Post
    Aug
        01 - Character Transference
    Sep
        20 - Anxiety Interview
    Oct
        02 - Sounds of Italy
    Nov
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Posts


Sounds of Italy
02 Oct 2024

My husband and I recently returned from the most epic vacation of our lives: a tour of Italy. We were celebrating a number of milestones, which I won’t mention here. As recently promised to my subscribers, here’s my take on some of the music experiences I had there.

Actually, there wasn’t quite as much music on the street as I had anticipated, especially for a country with such a rich music tradition. But imagine my delight when we did indeed get serenaded on a train! We were in our seats, watching people board. In walked a solo passenger carrying an amp and . . . not a guitar in a case, like you might expect, but a violin and bow! And yes, after boarding, he began to play, starting near us! Even an amateur musician would have noticed certain happy things going for him—he played the notes in tune and he could play fast and do so cleanly, which was a little bit of a surprise to me. I was also impressed that he chose tunes that were well in his ability to show off accurately. Sadly, virtually all the passengers ignored him. But it was a sign to myself that I was indeed a musician who had truly experienced the musician life as I found myself instinctively wanting to give him a coin for his efforts. I’m sure he would have liked more than the little we had on hand. Yet, as he walked to various areas of the train and continued to play a little way off, I imagine he felt my gaze and smile follow him. Hopefully he was able to appreciate that his talent offerings were admired by at least one person there!

As a musician, naturally I ensured we had at least two different concerts planned into our two-week itinerary. One concert we attended in Venice was breath-taking. First, having a full house was exciting, with no empty chair in sight by the time it began. The space itself was inspiring, with statues, paintings, and impossibly high ceilings in a small, unique cathedral with incredible acoustics. Add to that the fact that each night, 300-year-old legendary and well-preserved instruments made by the likes of Amati, the teacher of Stradivarius, were borrowed from the nearby music museum each night for the performers at the concert. In the words of the museum attendant, “Old instruments have to be played to be preserved.” Then keep in mind that the group itself, The Interpreti Veneziani, has been rehearsing, recording, touring world-wide, and performing 200 plus concerts per year of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for tourists for decades. The subtlest of tempo changes were right in sync, and the purity of sound was like the most delicious dessert you’ve ever tasted, even better than gelato! In the most special moments, it seemed to me as if the lifelike statues and people in the paintings were suddenly awakened and pausing in their activities to lend ears to this heavenly sound.


I will next acknowledge how cool it was to get to hear live Gregorian chant—an experience I had to seek diligently for and have a little bit of luck in finding where it was still offered. We had to climb a steep hill to get to the monastery, which took some time. But it was worth it!

The last music experience was less inspiring to me, but still memorable and instructive. We were at a traditional Italian restaurant, with every detail in place. I could mark off a checklist all the iconic décor you’d expect: the outdoor tables, the lights, the red-and-white-checked tablecloths, the bookshelves of wine, the bottles of olive oil and vinegar, the solemn but friendly greeting from the waiters of "Ciao" or "Buonasera," the handwoven baskets and rows of dried onions and other vegetables hanging in the alcove. With such a setting, in my imagination, I could almost hear mandolins and accordion players. (As kids, we all recall the dinner scene in Disney's Lady and the Tramp, right?) But instead, the music playing at full volume was none other than Elvis. Believe me, I appreciate Elvis just as much as the next person, but in this setting, it didn’t quite seem to fit. In my view, it would be as unexpected as going to Hard Rock Cafe and hearing opera arias. But what can I say? I had heard from an Italian native or two that, similarly to how I am obsessed with pretty much anything Italian, Italians are rather obsessed with America. Apparently this extends past T-shirts and American phrases to popular songs as well; though I was disappointed at the selection at the time, I will say that if this is true, then overall, Italians show good taste in their appreciation of American music!

And finally, I need to publicly record my nerdy moment: hearing an Italian ambulance, figuring out the interval—also the exact notes, adjusting for the Doppler effect—and mentally practicing how to demonstrate the sound on my violin to my students when I got back to “gli Stati Uniti!”



After studying the Italian language at BYU, making Italian recipes, learning of architecture, art, history, geography, and music related to Italy, having popular Italian music on repeat on my phone, and having a job playing Italian music for a summer at a theme park, I’ve been trying to get to Italy ever since 2001. And it finally happened! For me, this was not just one of those many must-see places that everyone says to visit, but truly a destination I will remember for a lifetime. Overall, Italy provided the experience I had anticipated. And musically, it was memorable as well!

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