When you think about the violin, what kind of music comes to mind? Probably either classical or really twangy country, right? Well, Lindsey Stirling is here to challenge that sterotypical image of the violin. She sees the instrument as being just as relevant in the electric and pop genres playing on any given radio station today.
At only five years old, Lindsey started clasically training on the violin and immediately grew a passion for the instrument. She continued her training and the typical classical style until she was in college. Due to some personal struggles with anorexia and depression, she almost gave up on playing altogether along with essentially all other hobbies. After seeking some professional help and getting an adorable emotional support Chihuahua, she decided that giving up on her passion would probably only emphasize the pain she was going through. Instead, she started experimenting with her talent on the violin in order to create some music that was more reflective of her emotions. The music that emerged was something unlike anything that was expected from a violin player. It was aggressive and electric, it's even been categorized as EDM since she stated creating it. As her music grew, she started dabbling with an electric violin as well as aucistic, which only added to the uniqueness of her style.
In 2012, the music video for her song "Crystalize" reached the eighth most watched video on YouTube. Her fame only grew from there, she has since performed with huge names in the music industry like the Pentatonix and John Legend. Her music is still relatively unique, there's not really anyone else out there currently doing what she does on the violin. She has pretty much single-handedly reimagined the instrument.
I go back and forth when trying to categorize her as either big-c or middle-c creative, I think there are valid reasonings for both. Big-c seems fitting because she is pretty famous now and she essentially created her own genre of music with the violin. On the other side of that, middle-c could also be fitting since she technically bridged two styles of music together in order to form her own. I guess it really just depends on how you want to look at it.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about her, I love her and she has been a big inspiration in my own personal life. I highly suggest giving some of her music a listen, it's a really cool sound and I've yet to meet someone that truly disliked it.
Sources:
- https://www.golden1center.com/news/detail/lindsey-stirling-7-fun-facts-about-the-vibrant-violinist#:~:text=Now%2C%20the%20video%20has%20exceeded,a%20year%20from%20her%20videos.
- https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/lindsey-stirling-33186.php
I love Stirling! I came across her work when she collaborated with Pentatonix and was beyond impressed. I also watched her when she was on Dancing with the Stars a couple years back. She always such creative ideas for her dances then and brought a unique flare to the show. Not to mention, she also was the runner-up. As you mentioned, she found a way to take the violin, a perceived classical instrument, and conform it to whatever genre she wanted. Prior to her, I had little interest in classical music, but she made it possible for such music to be expanded. I did not know much about her past, so this post was very insightful. It makes me wonder what type of motivation influenced her. I feel that there was an intrinsic motivation initially. The violin became her way of coping with with her struggles and an outlet for her to focus her energy, which would make her motivation intrinsic. There also is the extrinsic factor being that her parents probably influenced her to take up the violin initially, and that once she became popular it became a matter of bringing awareness to her style of music.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing about this artist. I love when popular music incorporates instruments that we tend to align with classical music, I think it is so unique. It also sounds really cool that this artist has really given the violin a new life and a new meaning in music. I will definitely check her out!
ReplyDeleteI think that it's so interesting that people can find ways to change music and incorporate their own unique take on it. I have stumbled across some of Stirling's work over the past couple of years and every single time I find myself amazed that she's able to create the music she does on the violin. I think that it's so easy to place things in certain constraints, like the violin only being seen as an instrument for classical music, so I'm glad that she was able to break out of those constraints and share her passion with others. I will definitely be following her and her music more closely now!
ReplyDeleteI have been a fan of Lindsey ever since her feature with Pentatonix (also a very creative musical group). I was astonished by her renditions with the violin; I didn't even know violins could make beats the way that she made with hers. It is so amazing to see how people can take a classical music with traditional training and still rebel against the constraints that might come along with this. I also love how she used her depression to motivate her creativity. I think this intrinsic motivator can outweigh any extrinsic motivator, and push people to surpass any boundaries set by themselves, others in their field, and society as a whole. Rather than letting her demons get the best of her, she rebelled against them and created a whole different style of playing the violin. I admire Stirling for this ability, as not many people have this raw talent. Thank you for sharing!
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