Violin
- Violin
At Austin Cunningham’s 2025 Christmas show, he decided to try hiring two classically trained musicians to join his Country show: Rachel Joy Ellis on Cello and Dr. Eugen Kim on Violin. I didn’t get a picture of the classical musicians, but, a memory from the concert:
They accompanied Austin beautifully and a few moments from Dr. Kim struck me so hard that I started searching for used violins that night. After a bit of research, I learned that the safer route is renting and the next day on Christmas Eve I managed to pick one up from Caraway Strings. I jumped to it and held a Twinkle Twinkle recital the next day for my family.
Samples
Since then I’ve been working with a violin teacher and am making steady progress! I’ll try to keep adding songs as I learn them to the samples below, in general I’m not aiming for perfection with these videos but want to be able to see a steady progression:
This is the “Mississippi Stop-Stop” variation of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, learning the basics! - 01/04/2026
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mississippi Stop-Stop variation
This is a part of “Jack’s Lament” from The Nightmare Before Christmas, one of my favorite childhood movies. - 01/28/2026
'Jack's Lament' on violin
This is “Nearer My God to Thee” popularized by Titanic - it came up when I searched “easy beginner violin songs” and I like the sound! - 01/28/2026
'Nearer My God to Thee' on violin
This is “Down to the River to Pray” popularized by O Brother, Where Art Though, a favorite movie of my family. This song is beautiful in its own right, and is special to me because my dad loved it. I’ve also learned a little of its history as well: thought to have first been transcribed in Slave Songs of the United States and there’s some speculation that it may have been coded for escape. At any rate, I wanted to do it justice but had a little bit of an off day - after 89 takes, this is what I got. - 03/18/2026
'Nearer My God to Thee' on violin