Chords for Mark O'Connor - Instrument Interview: Violin (Sleepover Shows)

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_ _ _ _ [B] _ _ [D] My name _ is Mark O'Connor [N] and you are viewing me at my string camp in Boston at the Berklee
College of Music.
We're having an incredible week this week with 250 students from all over the world
and we're hosting 35 faculty members.
So it's an exciting week.
We're about midway through.
If you were walking around the streets in Boston here, you'd probably see a lot of these.
This is my violin and I've been playing this probably about a year and a half.
I've had it for about 10 years.
I used it as my second violin for a long time and it kind of graduated up to a first place spot.
This is a new modern made violin.
It was made in the state of Maine by Jonathan Cooper and it was made in 2002.
I acquired it in 2003 at actually one of my string camps in San Diego, California.
It was just, you know, the varnish was almost, you know, just completely wet almost when
I first saw it and I tried a few things on it and it spoke to me right away.
I asked the maker who was visiting and who's a friend of mine actually, Jonathan Cooper,
who I've actually known for many years, that if this violin was taken, if this was spoken
for, was it made for someone else?
He said no, I just made it.
Wanted to dedicate a violin to Stefan Grappelli, who happens to be one of the greatest violinists
in jazz music and probably music history.
He also happens to be a teacher and mentor of mine.
So I thought how fantastic and then I played a few more notes on it again and it reminded
me of Stefan a little bit.
I played with Stefan Grappelli when I was 17 and 18 years old and played guitar in his
group and then I also played double violin pieces with him on stage, including major
halls like Carnegie Hall and actually right here at the Berklee Music Center.
We performed that year, 1979.
_ So I said, you know, could you hold on that violin for me and don't let anybody else take it?
And I actually acquired it from him that year and then I carried it as the second violin
in my double violin case and I continued to play my old one, which was a Vion made in
1830s from France.
And then about a year and a half ago, I decided to do a special performance with orchestra
right here in Boston at Symphony Hall and perform my brand new improvised violin concerto.
And one of the things I wanted to try to accomplish with that piece of music and that performance
was to perform acoustically, like the beautiful sound that we're just hearing here when I
play it, but also electronically.
So I was able to put a pickup here in the bridge and a jack right here without really
messing too much with the acoustic nature of it.
I thought that this violin would handle the electric part of it better than the old French violin.
So I put the pickup on here, started working on my new concerto, and then when we got to
the time of actually performing and premiering this piece right here in Boston, I was like
really falling in love playing this instrument.
You can imagine I was putting three, four months into exclusively really practicing
this instrument, getting ready for that performance.
And I actually started playing it in concert on my other pieces just so I could get used
to the violin because I wanted to make sure that when I got up on stage in Boston Symphony
Hall that I really knew this instrument well.
It wasn't my second instrument.
It had to become my first instrument psychologically at that point.
But in fact, in reality, it did.
It's a beautiful instrument.
It's a little slightly bit longer than most violins.
It's like just a quarter of an inch longer, but it makes a big difference because of the fingering.
_ Like all violins, it's made of beautiful curly maple on the back and sides, spruce on the top.
_ And it's just a gorgeous, gorgeous instrument.
And the amazing thing about it, especially for young people and students, is that this
doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get.
You could have a world-class violin and not have to break the bank and sell your home
or sell your parents' home to get one.
And that's a great message, that makers are currently creating violins of this caliber
that people like me are on major stages performing on them.
So we don't have to have one of those old chestnuts all the time.
And that's really a great message to take to young people, is that these are still affordable
and they're brand new and they'll grow in value as time goes on.
_ This is handmade, beautiful craftsmanship, the wood is amazing.
And there's an inscription here inside the F-hole where it says, Jonathan Cooper made
this in 2002 and it is dedicated to my teacher, Seth Underpelley.
But then he went back in and it says, made for Mark O'Connor, right in the label.
So that's part of the violin now, that's its history.
And it's already seen 10 years of playing and hopefully a lot more.
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