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
        23 - Violin Teaching Kits
        30 - The Power of Inspiration
    Feb
        06 - Valuable Techniques
        07 - From the Top
        13 - In Honor of Valentine's Day
        20 - Violin Jokes
        28 - Beginning Orchestra Teaching
    Mar
        06 - Singing in Orchestra
        13 - Nurtured by Love
        21 - Helpful Websites
        27 - Unique Case Uses
    Apr
        02 - Favorite Music Quotes
        10 - All About Tone
        17 - Unique Composer Stories
        24 - Teaching Values
    May
        02 - Believing Teachers?
        15 - Violin in Art & Architecture
        23 - A Solo Repertoire List
        29 - Our Quartet
    Jun
        20 - Theft and Other Lessons
        26 - Violin Bridge Tips
    Jul
        07 - Clever Violin Memes
        20 - Horses and Lions
    Aug
        04 - Music During Covid
        16 - Favorite Music
    Sep
        12 - Being There
    Oct
        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
    Jun
        20 - Gratitude for Idaho Shop
    Jul
        19 - Violinist Interviews Books
    Aug
        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
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Posts


Nurtured by Love
13 Mar 2021

In these days of social media, it’s so easy to get caught up in acquaintances’ lives and funny memes and to put off READING GOOD BOOKS. At the end of 2019, I started to reread a book I liked. I told my violin students I would read it along with them, for a book review I wanted to have. I had recently moved to a more rural area and built up a brand new studio. Hardly any of my students had ever had private lessons before, having learned violin in school. Since I’m a Suzuki teacher, I thought it was important that all my new students understand the premises behind the Suzuki Method. So I assigned us all to read Nurtured by Love, a relatively short, anecdotal autobiography of Shinichi Suzuki’s life and philosophies. As I delved into this book again, I immediately fell in love with it. Here are some notable quotes that I hope you enjoy and can relate to:

“‘Professor, will my boy amount to something?’ the mother asked me, just like that."
“No, he will not become ‘something’. He will become a noble person through his violin playing. Isn’t that good enough? You should stop wanting your child to become a professional, a good money earner. A person with a fine and pure heart will find happiness. The only concern for parents should be to bring up their children as noble human beings. That is sufficient. Your son plays the violin very well. We must try to make him splendid in mind and heart also.”

“One day a foreign priest I knew came to my house and said, ‘You should come to church and pray harder to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ ‘No, Father,’ I replied, ‘I am no longer so presumptuous . . . .’ I did not mean, of course, that I did not want to go to heaven. If I simply do my best, I cannot complain even if I am taken to hell. It is an extremely submissive attitude. . . .”

As Suzuki was taught by his father, “Whatever holy place I visit I only express gratitude, saying, ‘Thank you very much.'

“You will one day realize that it is the greatest and best blessing on earth to come in contact with [people] of high humanism...and whatever you can absorb of [their] greatness and beauty of character will determine your worth as a person....Never lose your humility, for pride obscures the power to perceive truth and greatness.”

“Exertion is always beneficial as long as one is aware that it is goal oriented.”

“‘I have no talents’—what sadness and despair are occasioned by this nonsensical belief! For years, people everywhere have succumbed to this false way of thinking, which is really only an excuse for avoiding work.”

“Achievement is the product of energy and patience.”

“Never lend or borrow money. If you have enough to lend, it is better to share it, and share your friends’ hardships too.” (Letter from his father)

“It is not right to offer a pittance in the way of alms and then ask for a great deal for oneself in return.”

“I played with children so that I could learn from them. I wanted always to have the meekness of a child.”

“In order to succeed one must first be a person of fine character.”

“To merely ‘want’ to do something is not enough.”

“[Remember to] ‘play’ with the violin.”

“I just want to make good citizens. If a child hears good music from the day of his birth, and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart.”

“If nations cooperate in raising good children, perhaps there won’t be any war.”

“Talent is not inherited or inborn but has to be learned and developed.”

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