Senior Thesis
Final Draft
Bachelor of Arts in Music
Webster University
Phillip Rayford
November 28, 2010
The Unique Violinist
Table of Contents
Introduction: The World of Regina Carter
Page 1-5: …………………………………………………Beginning
Page 6-8: …………………………………………………Suzuki
Page 8-9: …………………………………………………Music Study
Page 9-10: ………………………………………………..Cass Technical High School
Page 10-12: ……………………………………………….Switching to another career
Page 12-13: ………………………………………………No more classical?
Page 13-15: ………………………………………………College
Page 15- 17: ………………………………………………New Hope
Page 17: …………………………………………………..Post college
Page 17-18: ……………………………………………….Germany Year One
Page 18: …………………………………………………..Germany Year Two
Page 18-19: ……………………………………………….Return to Detroit
Page 19-20: ……………………………………………….Moving on
Page 20-22: ……………………………………………….Music examples
Page 22-23: ……………………………………………….Improvisation style
Page 23-24: ……………………………………………….Daily Routine
Page 25-26: ……………………………………………….Personal Interview
Page 26: …………………………………………………...Personal Reflection
Page 26-27: ………………………………………………..Conclusion
Bibliography
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The World of Regina Carter
To play the violin well means it must be done in a structured manner. Structured means every note and every aspect of the classical style must be played a certain way with no added personal stylistic embellishments. However, violinist Regina Carter bucked the classical way to play an improvisational jazz style of playing the violin. Even though the violin has a unique part to play in the world of music, Regina Carter decided to use the violin in an unconventional way. When Regina changes from classical music to jazz, she changes the outlook of how the violin is perpetually utilized.
In the early days of the violin, it was considered a high class instrument for certain people. Virtuosic players like Corelli and Tartini were some of the few players that had a great degree of skill on the instrument classically. The majority of listeners included royalty, nobility, and the wealthy.[1] As time passed, people of different backgrounds gained the opportunity to learn how to play the instrument. Some of the community that learned the instrument included students in public schools and parents who wanted private instruction for their children.
However, as music continued to progress to a more popular form, the violin stayed in the structure of the concert hall. Everyone appeared to be happy with the violin staying in the concert hall, because it was an instrument that had limitations for how it could be used. Society believed this was natural because of the background of where the violin came from. This pattern of how the violin was used modified after the year of 1966. The change was brought about from some players who were self taught, and started to use the violin in a more popular style. This
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may have been the beginning of using the violin outside the concert hall, but Regina was able to traverse the violin beyond popular music.
Beginning
Regina Carter is a person that is as unique as her background shows. She is a musician who has endured a lot to get to where she is today. At times she has needed guidance to keep herself focused on her music. As she became older, these early years developed her into a seasoned musician.
Ms. Carter was unique even as a child. She was a very active person when it came to learning new material in music. For example, “my first eight years were basically music on the radio or going to the symphony.”[2] There are not many eight year olds today that would go to a symphony concert for the idea of learning different styles. So, she was gaining a vast musical knowledge at an early age. These early years are important to the development of Ms. Carter’s background and knowledge of the violin.
Ms. Carter was born August 6, 1966.[3] She was part of a loving family that was no stranger to music. “My grandmother played piano, taught my mother piano, and got lessons for my older brothers on piano too.”[4] As a baby she would feel disposed to listening to her older brothers have their lessons. As any child would, she became interested in what the people around her were doing. However, Ms. Carter’s interest in music made her an oddity. For example, “one
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day I walked up and played one of their [her brother’s] pieces and the music teacher said that I had a gift.”[5] This extraordinary child was naturally propelled with a musical gift early in life, and
was fully capable to stand out as a child prodigy. Any child that is capable of playing any type of music by ear at two may be considered a great musician. However, Regina’s mother never genuinely thought of her in this sense in the beginning, but instead her mother always wanted her children to have everything that she was not able to have. Her mother “wanted them to be involved in as many activities as possible to keep them off the streets and out of trouble.”[6] So, Ms. Carter’s mother found healthy activities like music to engage their minds, and by participating often in many activities they would reinforce excellence. Regina’s mother was someone who conveyed a transcendental work ethic for her children in everything they did. She provided them the focal point compelling for her children to stay on task. She “just wanted to provide us with a well-rounded education so we’d have a lot of career moves to pick from when we got older.”[7] Many parents would want their children to be proficient in a particular area, but Ms. Carter’s mother pushed her children to be excellent at everything. This way they would be able to accomplish anything based off the notions of adaptability and work ethic.
Regina’s early years of formal music training were surprisingly on the piano not violin. Regina’s mother started her piano instruction at a place called the Heritage House. The name of the person in charge at the Heritage House was a woman named Mrs. Love.[8] Possibly her mother felt that by her daughter being able to play music by ear at such an early age she could develop
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her skills as a musician on the piano. After all, the piano is the first instrument she ever played. Also, she showed more potential than her older brothers. If she was able to play the same pieces they were able to play at two, her latent artistic possibilities are endless.
Even though Regina is only two and just beginning her music life, these early years are the most important days for building a good foundation. Regina’s early lessons were kept very simple because she was only two. She would learn from a book the basics of playing the piano. However, at this time, Ms. Carter was just not ready for formal instruction yet. Instead of playing the music like she was supposed to, she would come to the lessons with Mrs. Love and “every
week she would tell Mrs. Love to listen to my song I just wrote.”[9] This is very funny, because it foreshadows the creativity Regina had even at the age of two. Mrs. Love said Regina was “stubborn.”[10] Perhaps she was just being a two year old and showcasing her talent. It is not every day that children this young can focus on anything, and when you add something as structured as a music book it makes the child bored to try something of this nature. Also, maybe Regina was simply trying to show Mrs. Love something more impressive than the music she was starting her with. However, this also foreshadows how Ms. Carter’s interest in structured music does not capture her attention as much as music that retains no rules.
Another interesting fact that distinguished Ms. Carter from other children her age is that she actually started writing music before she could write letters:
In Detroit they had this green paper with these lines when you’re first learning how to write your name. It’s not like regular writing paper. I would make that my
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music paper, and I would draw these huge dinosaur eggs on it. That would be my music.[11]
At this young of an age, most children are trying to understand the world around them. Other children might be able to speak. However, Ms. Carter was writing what she thought was music.
Whatever it looked like, she was able to understand it and create music with it. This displays the early perpetual work of Ms. Carter into creative music.
After a while, Mrs. Love felt she was not able to teach Regina. She was still a child, and it would not be fair to expect so much out of her this early in life. So, “she told my
mom she thought I was too young to study, and that she should just let me continue to play at home.”[12] This was probably for the best, because the teacher would have become frustrated with the way Regina did not practice the music she gave her.
For the next couple of years, Regina did what she wanted with the music and played on her piano at home. When Mrs. Love felt it was time for Regina to receive her formal lessons, she converged with her mother. “When I was four, she called my mother about a method called Suzuki.”[13] This teaching method, which was still relatively new in the United States, would be better for Regina because she did not have to learn from a book, but still she could have some form of direction with her lessons. With this method she could learn “how to play by ear.”[14]Also, the Suzuki method was still relatively new in the United States, and a new method of music lessons would benefit Regina.
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Suzuki
Regina entered into the new program of Suzuki music at a good time. There was a music educators conference in 1964, and the teachers were ecstatic with this method.[15] This was what prompted the teachers like Mrs. Love to start Regina with this type of program. Her creativity
could be encouraged without using the traditional style of method books. Also, another positive for Regina with this method was that it was on the violin.[16] This was the introduction of Regina into the world of the violin. There was nothing that was preplanned, any kind of desired instruction from her parents, or to study it from her teacher. It was simply something that was thought to be good for her.
It appears to be strange, because many children that play the violin have people that decide they will be a violinist before they are born. Regina is not someone who followed the traditional aspects of becoming a musician. As stated earlier, her mother simply wanted to have many avenues for her children that would allow them to excel in any field. No one would have ever expected the future that Ms. Carter has maintained on the violin today. Her teacher knew Regina was unique and that she needed something that would continue her progress as a musician.
Regina’s days of Suzuki were something she had never experienced before this time. Besides the fact she was learning the violin now, she was receiving a different style of instruction than that of Mrs. Love. She stated, “I would go to this school about two or three times
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a week-once for theory, and once for a private lesson.”[17] By this time, Regina was four so she could handle more information. Most children at this age are learning the alphabet and she’s learning music theory. This was unique, because she was learning theory in the context of
Suzuki. Also, this was just the start of her instruction. “On Saturdays I’d be there all day. I’d have master class in the morning, where you had to play as much of a piece as you could
remember.”[18] Her early instruction was, at the least, demanding. However, Ms. Carter never mentioned anything about the material being too difficult, to fast for her to learn, or boring. In the early stages of Ms. Carter’s development, she had already started to learn the fundamentals of the violin, theory, and integrating many pieces into her repertoire. This seems like a lot of work for someone who has just started their music study.
By Regina getting a teacher that could teach her a different way, she was able to have a good early background. Also, Ms. Carter did not state who her teacher on the violin was, but rather the fact that Mrs. Love put her in the Suzuki program.
Up until this point, Ms. Carter has continued progressing on the violin, reading music, and learning music theory. However, she has not played with any kind of group such as an orchestra. Regina put eight years of work into the violin collectively, and also had many other avenues besides learning the violin at this time. “I was doing violin, piano, and dance.”[19] She felt she had to make a decision about all of the things going on in her life. Her mother always wanted
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her to be involved in many activities, but “it got to be way too much.”[20] By the time she was twelve, she decided she was going to be concert violinist. This was what her mother had hoped she would want to work towards. However, over the next couple of years she began to believe in other areas of music.
Music Study
Regina was thirsty for music knowledge, and she wanted to learn other styles. Her Suzuki teacher taught her about different classical composers. In this time, music is not digital like it has
become today, and Regina received her music on albums of large vinyl disc called records. She listened to a large range of classical music, and it was “everything from Bach to Beethoven, Mozart to Debussy, maybe five records.”[21] She received these records weekly to broaden her knowledge of orchestral literature. Regina liked hearing the different styles of these classical composers, but she was still interested in playing music that was not written down. For example, “she had been improvising for several years, but when she was practicing she would deviate from her music.”[22] As Regina grew in age, she became more interested in other forms of music. It is not that she did not like classical music, but she would lose her focus. This is where her mother would come in. In many practice sessions at home Regina’s mother would say, “that doesn’t sound like your lesson to me.”[23] Her changes in style seemed more evident the more she was surrounded by other music.
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By the time Regina was twelve, she had studied music on the violin very thoroughly. She went through many of the Suzuki books, and played with an unnamed community music school. The one aspect I found strange with Regina’s instruction on the violin is that there is no explanation of her lessons after her beginnings on the instrument. Besides joining an orchestra, she never goes into detail about the nature of her instruction classically. Most of her memories were going to the Detroit Symphony, studying records, and practicing. Perhaps she felt these
years were just filled with an endless cycle of passing from one book to the next. She continues to work in classical music, but never mentions her private teachers. She always seemed to love
her music, but she never shows any enjoyment from classical music. She made it seem like it was just something to keep busy and please her mother.
Cass Technical High School
Cass Tech was the first music place where Regina could take her music in the direction she wanted. Cass Tech is a very demanding place for students. Regina stated, “it is basically a school of arts and sciences… and you have to have to maintain a B average throughout.”[24] It was at this school that Regina decided she wanted to become a professional violinist, but she was conflicted with the genre she wanted to play in.
While at Cass Tech, Regina was given a record of Jean-Luc Ponty. When she first heard the recording, she was ecstatic at this different style of music. She thought, “Wow, here is someone improvising something that is not written down, and it sounds like it’s so much fun.”[25]
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At this time, fun was the part of music she wanted. Classical music was just to structured for her. It seemed that in classical music, players could only create what a composer decided. However, in this form of music players could create music any way they felt.
Switching to another career
She did not give up on her classical studies because of her parent’s influence, but she slowly started listening to many jazz records for an understanding of the different styles and
articulations. Her introduction to jazz was a mixture of attended performances and records. To Regina, the aspect of creating music without paper was very intriguing. As a classical musician,
she would spend hours practicing the fundamentals of her instrument, learning new pieces, and working on technique. She wanted to play music that was fun, and music as structured as the classical genre continued to discourage her from a profession of classical performance. At one time, she wanted to become a professional classical violinist, but now she feels this cycle of playing everything a certain way was taking away her individuality as a performer. In a way, Regina was reverting to the way she acted with Mrs. Love. She was playing her own music, and ignoring the prepared repertoire her teachers had for her.
During one of the years of attending Cass, Regina’s family moved to a different part of Detroit. This allowed her to see jazz players perform live. “We lived within a mile of Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, and this is where Noel Pointer used to play.”[26] One day Pointer needed a bow and borrowed Regina’s for his multiple performances that day. “He gave me money to have it rehaired, but I never did.”[27] In just this little amount of exposure to jazz, Regina had already
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started to drift away from wanting to study classical music. The notions of fun, individuality, and improvisation were all she wanted from the free expression of jazz. Classical music just simply did not appeal to her anymore.
When it came to the many living influences that pushed Regina towards jazz, it was overwhelming compared to classical music. When Regina and her mother went to the
Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, besides Noel Pointer, she would also see the pianist Ramsey Lewis and guitarist Earl Klugh.[28] The other performers included Tommy Flanagan, Kirk Lightsey,
Eddie Jefferson, and many others. She was also exposed to Latin, Greek, Chaldean, and other ethnicities. Regina felt “there had to be something else she could do with her chosen instrument
beyond staid minuets and gavottes.”[29] By being exposed to so many different musicians and their cultures, she began to open her mind to the different possibilities of using the violin.
The largest early influence for Regina, after hearing jazz for the first time by Jean-Luc Ponty, was the “French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.”[30] Surprisingly, unlike Regina, Grappelli did not study the violin as extensively as she did. For the most part, Grappelli was self taught and played on the streets in Paris until he was twelve. Eventually, Grappelli “studied formally.”[31] He studied theory and had private instruction at the Conservatory of Paris for a couple of years.
What really made Grappelli stand out was his command of the violin. Because of his ability to adjust, Grappelli was able to play any style of music regardless of the genre. At the age
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of fourteen, Regina heard him live and described Grappelli’s playing as an “eye-opener and she realized it was possible to improvise-and even swing-with the violin.”[32] Regina was told by her parents that a violinist could not have a good living unless they were in a symphony. She observed first hand the energy, fun, recognition, and comfortable living jazz could bring a
violinist. Regina described jazz as “that feeling.”[33] She wanted to play music that would replicate this sensation of energy and freedom all the time.
No More Classical?
By this time, Regina is sixteen years old and she is self assured of what she wants to do for a music career. Against her parent’s wishes, she decides she wants to make a career out of jazz music. However, her parents never knew she made this decision until later in life. So, she secretly decided to continue her classical studies on the violin, and she would learn all the fundamentals she could on the violin to propel her to jazz.
Most people would think that if one of their children wants to do something in life that is positive, they would support their children. However, the big mystery of why Regina’s parents were against her pursuing jazz was revealed early in her days of Suzuki. At first, her mother made a joke out of it by saying, “don’t marry another jazz musician, because when you’re kids complain about hunger, the two of you will always say that you never got a gig.”[34] This was the light-hearted answer for her parents not approving. Regina’s parents were worried about how she would have a consistent income to support herself. “When you play in an orchestra or symphony,
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you have social security and a pension.”[35] Because Regina’s mother was a teacher, she did not have to worry about things like consistent income, social security, pension, health care, and various other areas. The middle-class area of Detroit where Regina grew up only believed in two avenues of life to become successful. Those avenues where “classical music and education, and everything else was out.”[36] For the most part, Regina was the only musician who wanted to have
a career as a performer. So, everyone thought she wanted to become a player in a niche of groups like the Detroit Symphony. However, Regina said, “I wasn’t going to wear that black and white
outfit. No.”[37] Regina’s determination has always been present, and she was not going to allow anyone, including her parents, to keep her from accomplishing her goals.
College
Eventually, Regina reached a certain age and graduated from high school. She wanted to engage her musical talents in other areas because she completed the Suzuki program. With the help of her teacher, Cass Tech education, and practicing she was able to get into the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music. Over her two years at this school, she learned many things that were positive and negative with music. She was a member of the school symphony and the jazz band. The conservatory, at this time, was not known for the jazz program, and their primary focus was in classical European music. “It was really difficult, because at that time they hadn’t had any jazz violinist before me that I know of, so they didn’t have a program set up for me.”[38]
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The classical students and faculty did not like how Regina was studying music from the jazz program. They perceived classical music as real music, and they believed jazz was not a consideration of serious music.
For Regina, it was very difficult because she had no one to rely on for help. Her parents were against her studying jazz, half of the school did not like jazz, and there was no structure
for the type of music she wanted to study. Regina spent many days confused, because jazz seemed like a “foreign language.”[39] The only aspect of her playing that helped her was her ear. However, “every time someone tried to help me understand anything about improvising, chords,
and other things I became more confused.”[40] She was very anxious, and she did not allow her setback in understanding jazz deter her from progressing. After all, her mind was set on becoming a successful musician.
It did not help that the students and faculty did not get along as a whole. For example, “I felt a definite split between the classical and jazz departments.”[41] The two departments hated each other and did not work together. The classical people believed their music was real music, and the jazz department did not like being demeaned to a small group of “so called” musicians. Also, Regina states how she really disliked the orchestra. “It was really difficult, and the music just seemed so rigid in the way you had to play.”[42] After only two years of study, Regina felt she had to get away from the people of Boston. “I hated Boston. I still hate Boston. I think it’s such
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an uptight city.”[43] Unfortunately for her, she did not receive the instruction she had hoped to have, but she did gain some understanding in the basics of jazz like chords and improvisation.
New Hope
Regina’s two year experience at the New England Conservatory energized her drive further into learning jazz. However, she decided to move from the conservatory to gain the knowledge she needed. She transferred from the conservatory to a school back home in Detroit called Oakland University. She felt there was more opportunity for her to grow in jazz here. “I was surrounded by people other than musicians, which I definitely needed for a balance.”[44] The structure of the conservatory only allowed musicians to associate with each other, but her new school gave more of a real life approach of students with different backgrounds.
She started learning jazz by playing in a big band, playing charts, and learning from alumni. “Many of the musicians that graduated from Oakland still played in the band, and many people from the scene in Detroit would come up.”[45] She did not have a routine that was like her classical days of scales, etudes, and solo work. Instead, Regina’s largest asset to her early jazz development was consistent playing. The more she played the easier it became for her understanding of where she was going. For example, “by reading alto charts, it helped me with
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the phrasing and the breathing.”[46] Violinists do breath, but they do not breath in the same since as a wind player. So, Regina learned to phrase her music by breathing with each note she played.
Rather than a structured music program, Regina had an emphasis on developing creativity and phrasing. To gain more knowledge with her school study, she would play in the city to gain more experience. A well known trumpet player, Marcus Belgrave, taught her many things. Regina states, “all day long we would read through tunes, and Marcus would teach us about soloing, how to make the band follow you, about dynamics, and about comping behind a soloist.”[47]
Comping refers to a player accompanying another player based on the specific chord progressions they are improvising. By Regina continually playing in a group, she gained more experience than practicing privately. She had a lot more opportunity to play the way she wanted at Oakland than at the conservatory. Her days would consist of studying some jazz, listening to records, and then performing the rest of the day.
Near the end of Regina’s study at Oakland, she was told to listen specifically to horn players. Her teacher, Doc Holiday, said “ because you’re new at this you might sound like the other violinist [Stephane Grappelli].”[48] Doc Holiday did not want Regina to become a copy, but
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create her own unique sound. He wanted Regina to focus on breathing and phrasing. Therefore, she decided to focus on the phrasing of famous jazz players like “Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, and Billie Holiday, whose vibrato appealed to her.”[49] By following her teacher’s advice, Regina is able to expand her repertoire and develop her own personal style.
Post College
Upon graduating from college, Regina did not have a solid financial situation as an independent musician, but she was determined to continue pursuing jazz. So, for the time being, she had to search out another avenue that would support her outside of jazz. She returned to the classical world momentarily and found a job with the Detroit Symphony. “This was the string specialist program where string players helped public school students develop.”[50] Regina appeared like she was happy helping the students, but she felt like she was trapped in a cycle. “I just needed to clear my head and get away from everything.”[51] So, after a year of helping out the young violinists, Regina decided to leave the United States for Germany.
Germany Year one
Regina felt the urge to spend time in Munich, Germany. She did not know why she wanted to stay in Germany. Perhaps “it had to do with being a kid seeing The Sound of Music and thinking that was what I wanted to see.”[52] Regardless of the reason, she had to continue
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excelling at jazz to become a successful musician. She met some old friends of her teachers, and they gave her connections with other musicians to help support her. One of her connections got so close to her that she almost got married.
Germany Year two
By her second year in Munich, Regina decided she needed to focus on her jazz heavily. She would practice all day, and “transcribe Charlie Parker solos until she got it.”[53] She felt that Charlie Parker’s works were the introduction of what made jazz. “When you listen to him, you know that you have a whole lot of work to do.”[54] Regina followed her strict routine of practicing for a year, and this enabled her to have a deeper understanding of jazz. By jazz not having a formal practice structure, she created her own practice sessions by using her ear. The advantage of having a good ear made it easier for her to learn jazz from the top players of the past and present. Also, by practicing daily she was able to gain a better direction of how to use the violin.
Return to Detroit
When Regina came back to the United States, her presence as a violinist was very apparent to her audience. An all-women’s band named “Miche Braden and Straight Ahead”[55]
wanted Regina immediately. This group is very famous for performing popular music with vocals, string instruments, and woodwinds. Originally they wanted a horn player, but they heard
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about a homegrown violinist that just returned to town. Also, to create a sound more fitting for the group, Regina played an electric violin rather than her acoustic.
Regina had planned to move to New York by the end of that year, but she ended up staying in Detroit so she could continue to perform with this group. They performed so well together that they received many accolades including, Sony Innovators, opening the Montreaux Switzerland Jazz Festival, and a Grammy nomination.[56] The group achieved so much success that the original leader, Miche Braden, left to work as a soloist in New York. During the last two years of Regina’s playing with the group, she made two albums with Atlantic Records. One of the albums was with the group and the other was her first solo album.
Moving on
In order to achieve more success, Regina felt she needed to move out of Detroit. “The scene was just dryin’ up.” [57] So, Regina decided to move forward by making her own group in New York. At first she was worried how she could make a living in a big city, but eventually she discovered there are many people that love to incorporate the violin with various types of music. She started receiving calls from Oliver Lake, Mark Helias, String Trio of New York, Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, Billy Joel, and many others.[58] Even her old group wanted to involve her in
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their music, but it all became too much. She had to start rejecting some callers because she had so many people who wanted her to play for them. “It was great because then I could stop calling home and asking for money!”[59]
By this point, Regina was starting to become an influential person in the music world. People were listening to a violinist that created an entrepreneurial living by performing virtuosic music outside of the concert hall. Regina was creating a name for herself by playing jazz in an innovative direction. Also, it was unique to see a female, who was not a vocalist, achieve success in the jazz world. She had an edge over other jazz players due to her excellent ear and an acquired ability to read difficult music. Her success only continues to grow from this point. She is continually performing for people, and has made a comfortable living by playing the violin in an unconventional way.
Music examples
In the progress of Regina’s playing, she has studied many styles since the age of four. She starts her violin instruction with the Suzuki method. Here is an example of a piece Regina studied in her early Suzuki years. The name of example 1 is “Minuet 1” by Johann Sebastian Bach.
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Example 1
This example illustrates the style of music Regina did not want to make into a career. She believed this style of music limited players, because the composer created all the ideas for the
player. However, her early violin lessons, from the Baroque era, allowed her to express her improvisation freely.
Example 2 is a style of the type of jazz that Regina practiced diligently during her time in Germany. This piece is transcribed for violin and titled “Laura”. It was written by Charlie Parker.
Example 2
Earlier in the paper, it was mentioned how Charlie Parker’s music was the introduction to what made jazz special. What made his music special was the introduction of a simple melody. A melody can be simple like this example, and through development, it can change into a complex idea. In this adaptation, it shows how the melody can develop for a violinist. The melody develops by creating diversions based off the accompaniment that helps the soloist.
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The next example, is a adaptation from one of Regina’s albums. The title of this work is “For Someone I Love.” This piece was written by the vibraphonist Milt Jackson.
Example 3
In this piece, it shows how there is more room for the player to create new ideas. The melody could be changed the same way Charlie Parker’s accompaniment helped the soloist. The melody of this excerpt came from the opening section of Regina’s solo. She follows some of the style of Charlie Parker by starting off with a slow developed opening, and using those ideas to create many virtuosic melodies.
Improvisational Style
Ms. Carter improvisation makes jazz sound very complex, but the ideas are simple. “With improvisation, it’s your own story, so you can’t be wrong.”[60] A player could create melodies that are simple, or create a large solo that lasts as long as the performer decides. Also, the other
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players in a group can bounce off ideas similar to call and response. Their concepts become endless when players keep passing new thoughts.
Ms. Carter believes in listening to horn players for an understanding of phrasing. For string players, shifting involves changing the sound production for specific notes. Most of the higher ranged notes are achieved by a player shifting, and involves a string player moving their left hand up or down on the fingerboard for a different sound. Also, Regina believes in “staying in one position, because if you shift all the time you miss a lot of stuff.”[61] In classical music, some teachers believe in shifting most of the time when a player performs. Regina believes that shifting a lot can make players miss other ideas.
There are some different technical ideas players can use to create a different sound. For example, if a player were to play a jazz style like swing, Regina believes in “slurring the middle notes”[62] to achieve the feel of swinging. Also, to achieve jazz styles she does not use a lot of
vibrato, because it “sounds too corny.”[63] Most of the technical aspects of how to use a sting instrument transfer from classical, but ideas about wrong notes are not apart of the jazz world.
Daily Routine
Even though Regina does not have a set routine from a teacher, she creates her own practice regimen to help her retain her innovative style. She warms up “ for 15 to 20 minutes on
open strings and scales to get her bow arm going, then works on jazz exercises.”[64] This differs from classic music, because a player may have multiple etudes they would work on for
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warm-ups. At one time she had times of numbness and pain in her bow arm. This does not seem unnatural for violinists because the nature of holding the violin and bow is not natural for the human body. However, through her teacher in New York, she learned “relaxation techniques and how to shift without clamping down on the instrument.”[65]
As a violinist, it is difficult to learn to hold the instrument and play without tension, and any flaws such as nervousness, bad technique, or stiffness show in a players sound. Regardless of the style, a player must be relaxed. Otherwise they could cut their instrumental career short
with health problems. Regina always tells herself to “be loose, be loose.”[66] If a player is not loose, they will not be able to play certain techniques because stiffness will hold them back. For
example, when Regina plays swing she stays loose, because if she does not “ you don’t swing at all and you’re pinching it.”[67]
When Regina completes her exercises, she concentrates on music analysis. She uses these ideas to understand the basic structure of how a piece is composed. Also, she uses the analysis to create new ideas and implement them in her improvisation.
Page 25
Personal Interview
I held a personal phone interview with Ms. Carter. I asked her various questions about her experiences, and we talked about what motivates her on the violin. What follows is a transcript of the interview.
P.R.: Why did you study the violin?
R.C.: Music has always been very important in my family. My grandmother played piano when she graduated from Morris Brown College. She also played in the church, and showed my mother different things with the piano. Also, my older brothers played piano. So, music was always an important part of our family.
My teacher, Jean Rupert, was really into practicing, and I practiced my violin all the time.
P.R.: What made you motivated to step out and learn jazz on the violin; even in college?
R.C.: I always wanted to learn jazz, because it was not like classical music. You have certain rules to play classical music, but in jazz you simply create music on how you feel.
Also, my first university [New England Conservatory] had no clue with how to teach someone like me jazz. I transferred back home [Oakland University], because Detroit was a hotbed for jazz.
I never listened to the people who thought I should stop studying jazz for classical, because I knew I could succeed.
P.R.: What was next for you after college?
R.C.: I moved to Germany after school. It was supposed to be gone a couple of months, but it turned out to be a couple of years. [laughing] At the time, I was teaching in the inner city schools, [East School] but I just needed a break from school. Up to that point, I was in school my whole life, and I needed a change from the academic atmosphere.
When I went to Germany, I practiced some of the old jazz standards and really learned what jazz was about. Before I knew it, time flew by and I decided it was time to return back home.
P.R.: Were you ever worried about making money and really making it without involving classic music? For example, different aspects like health care are hard to get.
R.C.: [Laughing] Well I made it. Health care is bad today, but I have never worried about it. I have it and pay for it, but people like my older brother that works in Wall Street tell me how different parts of life are worse for them. Unless you are an account or mortician you really have to watch it. I have always been smart with my money so I have never worried about it.
I always had a love for my music even though some of my friends stopped playing the violin. Also, some of the friends that I have that play in the symphony always tell me how difficult it is for them to keep with a consistent symphony with all the competition and budget cuts.
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I also enjoy areas outside of jazz like music therapy. Music is really a healing force, and I believe there is enough to go around for everyone in this world.
Personal Reflection
Over the last couple of months, I have really learned what makes Ms. Carter successful. It is not virtuosic skill, talent, or luck. It is her down to earth disposition and perseverance. She never believes in listening to the people who do not think you can accomplish something, but with faith and some hard work. Musicians can be some real nasty people, but I was surprised
how nice she is. I went to her performance at Jazz at the Bistro, and I was able to talk to her in person. I felt special, because she gave me a big hug, words of encouragement, and wrote a nice message on her latest album that I bought. I could not believe this was the same person that played once on a violin that cost more than some superstar athletes’ yearly contracts. This person is a living legend, and yet, acted like an everyday person. It seemed surreal, and for some reason I was not even nervous.
She believes that I can accomplish anything with my music and baseball if I do not allow other people to dictate my path. Also, by watching her play live, I observed how much fun she
had on the stage, and I would like to play like that. She smiles to the audience, and then breaks a few hairs on her bow from her virtuosity. She shows that anyone can accomplish their dreams with work and perseverance.
Conclusion
The process on my thesis was an enjoyable project. I never dreamed that ten years after hearing her play on an album I would be writing a thesis on her. When my dad gave me her album, it was the first time I owned music outside of the classical world. Also, I was able to talk to her and meet her in person. As an African American, it is difficult to find someone like you in
Page 27
the world of the violin. I met my favorite violinist, and she responded back with great admiration in return.
This project has inspired me to keep learning and give back to the community. Regina Carter is legendary violinist and class act. The world needs more people like Ms. Carter. In conclusion, the violin is not about practice but life.
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