Tracy Silverman: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2014
- Tracy Silverman has been called the greatest living exponent of the electric violin. But we're not talking just any electric violin. After he graduated from Juilliard in 1980, Silverman designed his own six-string instrument, creating new musical possibilities and inspiring some of today's greatest composers to write for him - including John Adams (The Dharma at Big Sur) and Terry Riley, who says, "Tracy's violin is like an orchestra in and of itself."
Silverman's instrument looks a little like an electric guitar, a mini Stratocaster complete with frets. To achieve his orchestral sound, he works with looping pedals. They record what he plays, then send the music back out so he can add new layers. On the opening piece, "Matisse: La Danse," notice how he starts with a few simple riffs that soon become the setting for a series of improvised countermelodies all flowing at once.
A self-described NPR junkie, Silverman adores the theme music from NPR's various news shows. He couldn't resist cooking up a new piece, a little theme and variations, teasing familiar tunes from All Things Considered and Morning Edition. (He also couldn't resist filming a selfie.)
In Axis and Orbits/Mojo Perpetuo, Silverman's closing number, pizzicato notes set up a foundation for mesmerizing, long-bowed melodies, expanding out into deep space like planets in orbit. With distorted electric guitar sounds and reverb, he finally segues to a more virtuoso section reminiscent of a Paganini Caprice.
Who knew that with a little ingenuity, imagination, six strings and a couple of pedals one could conjure such an enormity of sound from a single instrument? And who knows where Silverman will take his versatile violin next? --TOM HUIZENGA
Set List
Matisse: La Danse
Sonata No. 4, "All Notes Considered"
Axis And Orbits/Mojo Perpetuo
Credits
Producers: Denise DeBelius, Tom Huizenga; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Denise DeBelius, Olivia Merrion; photo by Olivia Merrion/NPR - Hudba
I was the bassist in Tracy's band, "Stradivarius" in 1989. We played CBGB, the Limelight, a bunch of other clubs that have now closed for good and been replaced by banks, usually. Good times. Great songwriter! And wild to have a front guy going nuts on the violin, as badass as any shredder of the time, and there were a lot of those in NYC in the 80s. Tracy, if you're reading, rock on, man, "It's a Cold, Cold World."
Omg dude!! DM me on FB or insta!
Tracy Silverman is one of my heroes!
I saw him live with Jim Brickman back in 2005. Blew me away. I went home telling everyone that this violinist is amazing and it's an electric violin. Amazing talent!
Ahhh yes, rocking it up with Jimmy B! Thx, Michael!
What do you mean, "a little ingenuity"? That's an extraordinary, mind-boggling amount of ingenuity! A "little", my foot. And as ingenious as it is, it also takes tremendous skill to play this music. There's no need for understatement; Silverman's talent and skill are nearly impossible to overstate.
Thank you so much, Claude!
I've never heard of tracy silverman...after listening to 1 minute, I'm a huge fan...
ditto!
Thanks!
@@tracysilverman it took you long enough,!!! haha!! It's weird, I played violin as a child, but switched to guitar, but always dreamed about making an electric violin guitar hybrid, which is kinda what you did...basically just a fretted guitar that you could play with a bow is what I wanted......but I guess that's why we have jimmy page...!!...great stuff, man!!...p.s. I love how you snuck the bach "double violin concerto" into the npr theme...did you study suzuki violin by any chance?
@@stepitupandgo67 Haha Yeah, I suddenly realized I had never looked at any of the comments on this since it came out! And no, I'm so old I was pre-Suzuki.
I to like NPR Tiny Desk. It gives us all a chance to see the musicians who have picked up the ball and are carrying it down the field to the next stop on this musical journey.
Thanks, Andy. I am hoping to set the table for young string players to take a different approach to their instruments.
This had me grinning from ear to ear the whole time. Simply Amazing!!!!!
Thank you so much! Glad you liked it!
I love this man and his beautiful music. It gives me shivers.
I've waited so long for this! you did a really great job Tracy!
Thanks, Mani! Really appreciate that!
truly wonderful when the mastery of the technology allows the real musicality and musicianship to come to the fore..outstanding!
Thank you, Frank!
I want to do a roadtrip in Ireland with this man's music now.
Excellent idea!
This man is a genius on the violin flawless technique!!!! If only he studied the guitar imagine what would have happend!!! Much love and respect from cape town south africa😎👊✌❤
Many thanks!
If ONLY all those guitarist studied violin! I CAN'T imagine! Thankfully Tracy did it on FIDDLE!
I can't wait to check out one of his performances next week. It's really cool what he does
Thanks, Sarah!
wow, love the way he uses the looping
Thx!
I picked up some firewood from Tracy at his home last weekend. He’s such a cool guy and a very talented fella.
Haha, hope it burned well!
Loving the Bach Double quote
Haha, good ear!
Oh yeah!! Powerful start with some of your daily exercises hehehe...Maravilloso mi gran amigo, fue una sorpresa encontrarme con este vídeo en internet...genial!
Gracias!
Love his sound!!
Thanks so much! That's a Mesa Boogie preamp responsible for some of it.
That NPR cover was so sick
Wow, amazing!
Thank you, Caitlin!
Amazingly awesome!
Thanks so much!
Great Stuff!
BRAVO
Thx, John!
Makes me want to play electric violin.
Yay!!! Do it!
lovin the second song
Thx!
Love it, Tracy...
Jim!! Thanks, brother!
FANTASTIC, Tracy! I've followed you a little bit over the years. We were on the same dorm floor at the Herman Crown Center in Chicago oodles of years ago. (I was the flutist down the hall.) I think you worked on the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major the entire year in one of the common areas on that floor. Didn't you play it with the CSO? Anyway... Greetings from Batavia, IL.
This is magic.
Thanks so much, Ethan!
Amazing!
Thx!
Whoah....
very good
Thx!
That's really impressive
Thx!
❤❤❤
wow!!! very nice..... l8r fredy
🤩
Pretty sick
Thx!
wow, awesome tribute to NPR
is the bridge supposed lean back that far?
it looks a bit precarious.
How does he get those notes to morph from clean into controllable, distorted feedback? It reminds of an Ebow on guitar, but obviously he's using a real bow, so the electronic element must be somewhere else, unless it's a really well manipulated harmonic that comes from the fingers.
It is in the fingers, it's a violin technique called artificial distortion. It involves continuous bow speed, while gently lessening the pressure of the left hand so it slowly unveils the higher harmonics of the pitch. A similar effect can be achieved by slowly moving the bow towards the bridge. It's a great expressive tool in the blues/rock idioms.
I mean, it's also possible he's turning on and off effects pedals...
jw_bird, you are exactly right--you lighten the left hand finger on the string and bear down with the bow and it creates a multiphonic, which is an upper partial of the overtone series. It will hop around between the octave and the fifth, generally, and sounds a lot like guitar feedback, especially with distortion added. But it's not done with a pedal at all. There are pitch shifting pedals, whammy pedals, etc, where you could manipulate the pitch to be an octave higher, but it would sound very different. The semi-controllable part of the multiphonic actually makes it sound more like guitar feedback, which is similarly semi-controllable.
@@tracysilverman Thanks for the definitive answer! I have a fractured left arm right now, but will try it as soon as I can play!
Where's his cable or wireless system? It almost looks like the is just playing, unplugged, to the tracks in his loop pedal.
It's probably underneath; he has a handmade violin
@@PhoenixOfFireflies Yes, exactly! There's a cavity in the back where the wireless transmitter pack goes and the receiver on the pedalboard.
Having a difficult time logging in to the strum bowing academy, can You help Me out Tracy??? Had to Switch Phones and now going through this issue.
Anyone know what pedals he uses? The delay sounds like it must be a Eventide or Strymon digital delay.
Good ear! That is indeed an Eventide Time Factor. Boomerang for the looper.
I took a photo of your boomerang/soft step pedal setup when you played with The Glacier Symphony in Montana. Wanting to build a similar setup - might you be able to give me a brief rundown?
@@lukamusika Hi Luka, sorry i'm getting to this so late. I actually haven't used that set-up for years now. I'm using a Kemper Profiler now. But with that rig, I was using Abelton Live on my laptop as my sound source and the soft step to control it. It was a little stressful live, so I went back to hardware.
You should score the next Wes Anderson film Tracy.
Thx! Wouldn't that be wonderful! I wish!
@@tracysilverman took you six years to respond 🤣
@@munkipunk Haha just in time for Wes Anderson!
@@tracysilverman You seem like such a nice guy with a happy heart. I don't know how you haven't been on my radar until now, but I agree with the person who said this is magic. It is! I could listen to your first tune over and over, and have been! Thanks for sharing your joy.
@@ellensackett Thank you so much, Ellen! 🙏
revolution
Are the strings tuned: C G D A E B ?
It's violin tuning plus 2 lower fifths. So, from bottom up, F C G D A E.
What is this instrument?
He created it.
I did design it. It was built by the great luthier Danny Ferrington. It's a 6-string electric violin.
next
crisis
Witchcraft
Thx!