nigel
May 20, 2008 12:00am
We're used to rockers coming clean about their use of drugs. Now star violinist Nigel Kennedy has hit out at substance abuse in the highbrow world of classical music.
He said that orchestra musicians often took drugs to head off stage fright.
"There are drugs that enable people who are nearly dead to perform," the Brit said.
"They don't lead to mistakes, but not much else happens."
Kennedy said he was not averse to the odd joint himself, but only after a concert.
"Performing under the influence of alcohol or dope would be cheating the audience," he said.
i'm thinking about this right now because tomorrow i record with my friend, just two bars or so and some chromatics for effect. i'm a bit rusty since i've been focusing 100% on guitar for the past few months and trying to erase all knowledge of violin from my head. i do cello vibrato, i like playing with my strings out of tune, my positioning sucks, I like making odd noises. I think that's why I like Patrick Wolf so much, we have a very similar style, you can tell we've had lessons and we just don't care.
the piece i'm doing tomorrow was described to me as klzemer style accompanying a reggae song. i've been playing along to a lot of my Andalusian music, lili boniche, idir, and also 40's klezmer influenced jazz songs.
What's crazy is that even out of practice, I sound 100% better/different now that I'm not taking anti-depressants. And also, the more nervous I am, the more pent up I am the better I sound. When I took anti-depressants I had no feeling when I played. The drug thing never worked for me.
nigel kennedy is my favorite.
A lot of violinists don't care for him because he isn't one of those Vanessa Mae McVirtuosos. Even though he's been famous since I was a little kid he's never had the same respect as Joshua Bell, simply because he's creative. And creativity is not a part of the classical arena.
i also love miri ben-ari. this interview sums up everything i've ever felt classical violin in under 2 minutes.
We're used to rockers coming clean about their use of drugs. Now star violinist Nigel Kennedy has hit out at substance abuse in the highbrow world of classical music.
He said that orchestra musicians often took drugs to head off stage fright.
"There are drugs that enable people who are nearly dead to perform," the Brit said.
"They don't lead to mistakes, but not much else happens."
Kennedy said he was not averse to the odd joint himself, but only after a concert.
"Performing under the influence of alcohol or dope would be cheating the audience," he said.
i'm thinking about this right now because tomorrow i record with my friend, just two bars or so and some chromatics for effect. i'm a bit rusty since i've been focusing 100% on guitar for the past few months and trying to erase all knowledge of violin from my head. i do cello vibrato, i like playing with my strings out of tune, my positioning sucks, I like making odd noises. I think that's why I like Patrick Wolf so much, we have a very similar style, you can tell we've had lessons and we just don't care.
the piece i'm doing tomorrow was described to me as klzemer style accompanying a reggae song. i've been playing along to a lot of my Andalusian music, lili boniche, idir, and also 40's klezmer influenced jazz songs.
What's crazy is that even out of practice, I sound 100% better/different now that I'm not taking anti-depressants. And also, the more nervous I am, the more pent up I am the better I sound. When I took anti-depressants I had no feeling when I played. The drug thing never worked for me.
nigel kennedy is my favorite.
Click to viewA lot of violinists don't care for him because he isn't one of those Vanessa Mae McVirtuosos. Even though he's been famous since I was a little kid he's never had the same respect as Joshua Bell, simply because he's creative. And creativity is not a part of the classical arena.
i also love miri ben-ari. this interview sums up everything i've ever felt classical violin in under 2 minutes.