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
        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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    Dec
         No posts to display.


Posts


Believing Teachers?
02 May 2021

I tend to believe people—to take them at their word. Traditionally, this has helped me. Sometimes, though, it has led to unintended, or even humorous consequences. When I was probably in the second grade, I had just played a difficult passage for my violin teacher, and it wasn't very good. She appeared to consider something, before saying in a thoughtful tone, "Let's back up for a minute." Confused, I started walking backwards. To my embarassment, this brought peals of laughter from both my teacher and my mom. My teacher had to explain that she had used a figure of speech and hadn't expected me to take her literally! But at least this story is proof that I was listening . . .

What we say as teachers definitely has an impact—usually for good. Thank goodness.

My high school orchestra teacher once asked our orchestra class, after a difficult sight reading session, who in that room could play all of their three-octave scales and arpeggios in tune in any key signature. Thinking back, I'm not sure all of us could honestly admit to being successful at that challenge, but as that was something I had worked on and achieved recently, I trepidly half-raised my hand. (I think I wondered if he was going to have me demonstrate to the rest of the class.) I'll never forget what he said next, as it has given me inspiration and hope many times since: "Then you can play any piece of music ever written." He went on to explain how scales/arpeggios are the building blocks of compositions, but I had tuned out, focusing on that one sentence. It gave me confidence and courage. Maybe I could be a successful professional musician someday.

I had just moved to Provo, UT from Rochester, MN. In Minnesota, the Suzuki Violin Method wasn't as widespread as it was in Utah. Nevertheless, we found a teacher in Rochester who was willing to teach me my final Suzuki book. She must have been in her late seventies or early eighties at the time, whereas I was just 13 (a very impressionable age in my life). She had a lot of spunk. Her apartment always smelled strongly of potpourri, which I found eclectic and slightly fascinating. But I knew she cared about me, as she always threw all her knowledge and energy and passion into every lesson, willing to laugh with me and challenge me and drill me and correct me. There was one thing she corrected me on in every lesson, it seemed. I was in the habit of saying, "I can't," when things got hard enough. The techniques she was throwing at me seemed far too difficult to achieve. But she never let me get away with that. She'd become very stern and insist that I NEVER say, "I can't!" I took that lesson to heart, and it's served me well in the years since. I pass that expectation on to my violin students . . .

Then, there was the time the associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony heard me perform at a music function (also at age 13) and gave me a huge compliment, saying it was probably the best version of Praeludium and Allegro he had ever heard. I never forgot that. Suffice it to say, more than twenty years later, after I had moved back to that area, gotten married, and earned a master's degree in music, I tracked him down and asked if I could take a lesson from him, even though he had retired from teaching at that point.

I'm so glad I had teachers who cared enough to truly teach meaningful lessons and say things that made an impact. The wisdom I gleaned from their decades of experience was truly invaluable. I believe it's a good idea, as I mentioned in a previous post, to try to learn something from every teacher, even the ones you don't think are all that wonderful or helpful. Doing so might possibly change your life. But just figure out when to take their advice with a grain of salt and when to take them literally!

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