'She's a Pirate!'

"I'm living proof that if you just follow what you're passionate about in life and ignore the negative people who try and bring you down, you can create something really meaningful for yourself and others to enjoy" - Taylor Davis (via DailyDot)

Last year, just before our Christmas Violin Orchestra, I went to a concert of Taylor Davis in London. This was the second time I saw her live.

She is a violinist, arranger, and composer, and has a popular YouTube channel with more than 1 million subscribers, with violin music about video games, films and anime themes.

I wanted to write about her for two reasons:

1. Davis was heavily bullied in middle school, and passed a lonely teenage life. She is an example of how to overcome difficulties through what you are most passionate about - in her case video games and music (with the encouragement of her mom to continue playing violin!).

Even though she is still shy and is nervous to play in front of lots of people, she has succeeded in dealing with her fear of performance on the stage. She shares her music with others, as for her it is the most enjoyable way of communication with the world.

Watch her interesting video of "I Am a Witness Campaign" for more info about fighting bullying.

2. Taylor's most popular video is her cover of 'He's a Pirate', the theme tune from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. The recording now has over 30 million views!

Take a look also at her other performances, like Game of Thrones and Requiem for a Dream. And her new album with original songs, Odyssey, is out now.

Taylor performed Pirates of the Caribbean at the concert, and I filmed a few minutes of her performance:

When I saw her playing He's a Pirate live in the concert, I remembered how much fun it was to play the same piece all together in the Christmas Violin Orchestra.

We'll be playing He's a Pirate again at our Violin Orchestra Play Day in London on 13th May 2017 (starting at 2pm). It's completely free to come along and join in, so sign up here, bring your violin, and come and join us!

I can't wait to see you all in our Orchestra. And it doesn't matter what your experience level is - whether you're a beginner or an advanced player, you are welcome to participate! The most important thing is to have fun, learn better techniques for playing, and meet new people who have the same passion for violin as you.

ViolinSchool's Setareh Mood (r) meets Taylor Davis (l) after her concert in London!

A new series of first-hand stories from people learning the violin. Here's the journey of Setareh Mood (Violin Learner, Yoga Student, and Head of ViolinSchool Support)

Setareh Mood Violin Cubicle thumbnailMy name is Setareh Mood. Since my childhood I've loved to play instrumental music, I've always found it fascinating. Living in different eastern and western countries, made me very interested in every kind of musical genre. I always wanted to work and study music, but rarely had the possibility of accomplishing that.

At the age of 12 I began learning keyboard and that was the first time I got familiarised with music notes. I played it for about two years, but the life of a student was very busy and I just used keyboard to perform some small school concerts.

When I was 18 I left my country (Iran) and went to Italy to continue my studies of Foreign Languages and Literature. After my degree from Milan's university, I taught Persian language and literature to Italians.

When I was 25 I felt that music playing was lacking so badly in my life. I didn't have any instrument
with me in Italy, so I borrowed a violin from my husband's cousin who was studying violin at that time. I played that violin for 1 year, which was enough time to make me fall in love with this beautiful instrument!

So after one year I bought my own violin. And went to some private lessons during two to three years. But a sense of community and setting goals was lacking in my playing and so I wasn't very disciplined and constant in my violin learning.

When I arrived with my husband in London in October 2014, life was very challenging. I tried to play violin when I could but it wasn't very easy without a guide or a community. Then one day last summer I found there was a violin orchestra for any age and level in London, run by ViolinSchool. The idea of being part of a group with my same passion thrilled me a lot. So I participated in the orchestra and I've got much more than what I was expected. I found a family, and my best English friendships came from this orchestra and ViolinSchool members.

I found that ViolinSchool gives us the hope that we can play the violin beautifully and enjoy it even if we have just begun to learn it.

And the eLearning program makes ViolinSchool special because we have access to the violin learning everywhere we go. And we have a dedicated advisory team who are always glad to help everybody with their questions.

At the moment I am studying Yoga to become an advanced yoga teacher, and my dream is to combine one day the unity of yoga to the harmony of music.

At the beginning of this year I began to be a part of the ViolinSchool team and my dream of working and studying for music became true 🙂

As Rumi said: Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames!

setareh-16-9


Are you learning the violin and would like to share your story? Email us at [email protected] - you could be featured here next!

Come and join us on Facebook at our live Q&A session with the great Jazz violinist Christian Howes... we're live right now at https://www.facebook.com/violinschool

...send us your questions via twitter or facebook with the hashtag #christianhoweslondon

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