Bill Fitzpatrick's Videos
Channel: Bill Fitzpatrick's Videos
Date: 2023-06-18

So, let me be clear.

I was really a bad violinist when I was young. I never practiced.

I just played the violin a bit in the backseat of the car on my way to my Saturday Cremona String Ensemble rehearsals with Robert Holmes, who was my first teacher.

I mean, around that time I had trouble playing even a simple Handel sonata. And by the time I turned 17, well, let's just say that playing Beethoven's F Major, Bromance, was a major endeavor.

I finally saw a bit of light when I was 18 at a summer camp in Binghamton, New York. After the camp, I stuck around and started talking with some of the other students that had attended.

It was at that point that I started to realize more clearly what I needed to do if I wanted to move forward as a violinist.

When I got back home while studying with Stephen Clapp at the Blair School, it was then that I started to really practice.

And practice I did. I mean, I practiced hours every day and finally was able to get accepted to the Aspen Music Festival.

A year later, I entered Juilliard, where I was a student of Dorothy Delay. But after two years, even though I was second chair in the first violin section in what was then Juilliard's best orchestra, I realized that I wasn't nearly as good as the others seated around me.

So feeling the need to be as good as the violinist who sat in that chair should be, I decided to leave Juilliard and join the Blair String Quartet. It was there in Nashville, my hometown, that I began to understand just how I needed to organize my practicing to be able to move forward to get closer to my violinistic goals.

So what did I do? Well, every day I got up at six o 'clock, cleaned up and had my granola. Then at six thirty, I started practicing.

I started with Yost and I practiced that from six thirty to eight. And then Schradieck, which I practiced from eight until nine fifteen. At nine fifteen, I went to my quartet rehearsal, which started at nine thirty.

My quartet rehearsal lasted from nine thirty to twelve thirty. And I then had my lunch break for an hour.

After my lunch break, I practiced till my first student arrived, which was around four o 'clock.

I taught till six or so and then had dinner till eight o 'clock.

At eight o 'clock, I would practice again till ten o'clock. In this effort to raise my level, I figured out that it required an amazing amount of understanding, persistence and willingness to learn.

I learned not to be discouraged by setbacks, but instead, see them in a positive light and then move on to discovering new perspectives, which would help me to understand what I needed to do.

As Ms Delay once said to me, “if it's a problem, there's a solution”.

So because of my new schedule, though I admit it was a bit draconian, I was able to take a giant step forward. Oh yes, every other week I would fly to New York to have a lesson with Ms. Delay, who when I told her I was leaving Juilliard, wasn't particularly pleased. But she was very pleased when I told her that I was coming back every other week for lessons.

After all of this, my life continued and took me down many paths. For example, first violinist and founder of the New York String Quartet, professor of violin at the Conservatoire de Levallois, which is near Paris. Professor of violin and chamber music at the University of California, Irvine, assistant conductor of the Nashville Symphony, leader and founder of L 'Ensemble des Deux Monde, which was based in Paris. And most recently, the Temianka Professor of Violin at Chapman University in Orange, California.

These experiences combined with my fascination with creating videos has provided me with a platform to express my thoughts on violin study and performance, provided me with new possibilities that I can use to explore understanding it, building a connection with the world. 

So if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this channel. When you do, don't forget to click on the notification bell so you can choose how to be notified when a new video is published.

Again, take care and I hope that the videos found on my channel were helpful to you on your journey, your journey as a violinist.