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Hey everyone!
Having just started teaching myself to play the violin, I am still looking forward to learning how to play many of my favorite songs. I was just wondering if anyone else was heavily influenced by the type of music that they wanted to play in deciding to learn the violin.
I personally am a huge fan of film and television musical scores, and luckily many of them already have a rather large string component or can easily be reproduced using strings. In addition to those, I am a big fan of videogame soundtracks and cannot wait to try to play many of the soundtracks from some of my favorite games.
For example, I'd like to master the Godfather Theme, any song from the How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack, the score to the BBC series Sherlock, anything Doctor Who related, the Game of Thrones intro music, and of course anything from the Bioshock Soundtrack.
I am striving to mimic these songs in any way possible and someday would love to have a compilation video containing all of theme. I know it's a ways away, but it's something that I am truly looking forward to. What about you guys?
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Well I think there is one song that haunted me for years, like since 1997-98 maybe? I was closing my eyes and "Volcano Suite" from Amber Asylum was reaching to me so deeply. The strings are just awesome in that song, sometimes rocking you in a dream, sometimes drawing strong emotions and you find your face muscles reacting to it. Anyway, it's my special song that made me want to hold a violin in my hands! But back then I was too chicken to dive in and learn lol.
It's a 10 min song but worth every min, so changing and constrasting, I relate a lot to it.
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
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Hey Noir,
I listened to Frozen in amber and I really liked it.
Probably have to sleep with the light on for a few nights.
and my therapist says those feelings I have should go away in a week or two. LOL
No matter where you go, there you are!
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Haha ok well then I won't make you listen to my usual other bands or you'll start hearing THEM under your bed!
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
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For me, it was Eternal Friendship, composed by Phil Cunningham and performed by Natalie MacMaster on her "Blueprint" CD. My husband and I first heard it at the Thursday night jam session at O'Hurley's General Store in Shepherdstown, West Virginia last December.
It was because of that song that my husband bought me my violin for Valentine's Day.
I have the sheet music and am learning to play it. Maybe I'll post a video of myself playing it one of these days when I master it. For now, here's a video that I shot that night at O'Hurley's last December. The video quality isn't great but you can hear the music reasonably well.
I also love the theme to Schindler's List. Even if you didn't know the premise of the movie, you'd still feel the emotion through the music. My eyes well up every time I hear it. I would love to be able to play it someday, though unlikely.
This is a good video for violin students because it has a constant, steady view of the violinist and text commentary at the bottom.
Beyond that, I enjoy Irish and Blue Grass fiddle music.
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
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Oh man, I forgot one very important one. This song, in all of its renditions, pretty much drives me to tears.
It is the Elder Scrolls core theme that first showed up in Morrowind. I believe it's called "The Call of Adventure," but they've had at least some element in all of the Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind.
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I'm a gamer too I2ain, there are so many beautiful songs in computer games and mmorpg's. Like most of the Castlevania Symphony of the Night and my favorite: Gothic II (omg awesome piano).
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
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For me it was "Flight of the bumble bee" and the Devil went down to Georgia.
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This is one version that brought me to the violin, made me stay up late at night learning every note, listening over and over and over, made me fall in love with her, made me want to protect her from rain, wind and weather, heat & cold, dogs and kids, made me hide her like a special treasure when danger was near... and made me obsessed with touching her strings and rubbing her wood with expensive polish. Cradling her in my arms and held so carefully as not to damage her... yes....
Yes, this is the one that DID IT for me. 
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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For me it was Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor Opus 64. When I was a teenager the local library had it on vinyl recorded by Jasha Heifetz. I checked it out a lot! Later I got a recording of it played by Yehudi Menuhin. Much later I got Itzhak Perlman. I may have had a recording by Isaac Stern at some point. I just love that concerto. No two recordings sound alike.
I've learned so much from my mistakes that I've decided to make some more.
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For me, it would have to be Jay Ungar's Ashokan Farewell. I heard it when I was younger, watching a Civil War series on TV. I knew at that point if I ever picked up violin, I would want to play that song.
Years later, I started following movie soundtracks (old brass player following John Williams! LOL). I came across the soundtrack from National Treasure and fell in love with the string work in the main theme. After the sequel came out, Trevor Rabin made some nice changes to "Ben's Theme" and added a more, old sounding, violin solo which just brought everything together! Including me being hooked on playing violin all over again!
I would love to see FM do something with either "Ben's Theme" or "Page 47" by Trevor Rabin! I absolutely love the violin work!!
Ashokan Farewell by Jay Ungar:
list=PL65FF44FED835DDAE&index=2&feature=plpp_video
Page 47 by Trevor Rabin:
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” ~Benjamin Franklin
Ashokan Farewell and the Civil War TV series left their imprint on me. The series was replayed last spring on a PBS channel in observance of the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. I still have the cassette of the music from it and I just might get it out and take a listen.
cdennyb, I could not open up your link. Probably the way my computer is set up, I don't know. 
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For me it's Irish/Celtic and scary music in general that made me start playing violin.
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Hey I2ain! It's nice to see another film score fan. I think the best performance I have ever seen was John Williams conducting the New York Philharmonic playing a selection of his work.
Anyway, the piece that really got me onto the fiddle was "Hills of Glenorchy." Here's one of the best versions I've found.
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Myguitarnow, it's not scary music it's Swan Lake from Tchaikovsky lol. 
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
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