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Kevin Keating
- Male
- Holland Patent, NY
- United States
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- Blog Posts (4)
- Discussions (38)
- Events
- Groups (9)
- Photos (18)
- Photo Albums (1)
- Videos
Music
Kevin Keating's Groups
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Electric Violinists~
26 members
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Composer Haven
11 members
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Rock and/or Roll
39 members
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Worship Music
49 members
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Musicians With Injuries
15 members
Kevin Keating's Discussions
Violas Are Harsh On Their Players - It Hurts To Play?
I switched to a more middle positioned chin rest because I just found myself on top of the tailpiece all the time and it was more comfortable for me. I think using it has changed the angle of the vio…
Replied Aug 26
Violas Are Harsh On Their Players - It Hurts To Play?
I play violin and it hurts sometimes, though not much lately. Violists probably have similar pain issues that violinists have though they may be compounded by the fact that violas are larger. A lot o…
Replied Aug 25
Ensembles and starter adult orcrhestras
Ditto. I spend way more time here than FB. I'm pretty new to the fiddle, less than 2 years, but have played guitar almost 30 years and picked up banjo & mandolin along the way. This is a great co…
Replied Aug 24
Where to go next....
I'm glad I read Dave's comment first before responding with my own. Yeah, what Dave said. Don't just give it up because some teacher said you're wasting his time. The greatest and utmost important r…
Tagged: instruments, advice, quiting
Replied Aug 22
Kevin Keating's Page
Latest Activity
Very nice poem. I found this a while back on violinist.com.
MY VIOLIN….doc
I found this letter posted on the home page of the New York State Old Tyme Fiddlers Association (of which I'm a member) Central NY Chapter. No idea who wrote it or when.
I think it's really inspiring to know that your instrument is t…
I switched to a more middle positioned chin rest because I just found myself on top of the tailpiece all the time and it was more comfortable for me. I think using it has changed the angle of the violin in a way that my bow arm doesn't have to reach…
I play violin and it hurts sometimes, though not much lately. Violists probably have similar pain issues that violinists have though they may be compounded by the fact that violas are larger. A lot of things contribute to pain while playing. Does th…
Ditto. I spend way more time here than FB. I'm pretty new to the fiddle, less than 2 years, but have played guitar almost 30 years and picked up banjo & mandolin along the way. This is a great community with lots of folks who love playing & talking…
I'm glad I read Dave's comment first before responding with my own.
Yeah, what Dave said. Don't just give it up because some teacher said you're wasting his time. The greatest and utmost important reason to play or do anything you enjoy and is beca…
Some folks think Lava soap is too abrasive (the pumice particles) for using to lubricate/control peg action. The theory is that it makes the pegs wear through too fast. I don't really know one way or the other, but it seems plausible.
Doug
Wow! That's unbelievable. I read a bio recently about a Jewish violinist named Alma Rose (daughter of Arnold Rose and niece of Gustav Mahler) who led a women's orchestra at Auschwitz after her capture. I keep a picture of her in my case. Imagine bei…
Thanks Doug. I'll work the pegs w/o a reamer first and see how that goes. A local luthier here says he uses Lava hand soap and sidewalk chalk on the pegs. I think I've got the nut/bridge action set pretty decent. I can play it much easier than befor…
For the nut, you shape the string bearing surface with a file, aiming for a height (over the fingerboard) of about 0.8 mm on the G string side and 0.6 mm on the e string side. These values vary somewhat with player preference. The string grooves are…
Profile Information
- My Instrument(s)
- Violin, fiddle, other
- My involvement with string music
- Amateur Musician, Composer/Songwriter
- Music I like to play
- Traditional, Bluegrass/folk, Blues, Classical, Rock, Worship
- Music I like to listen to
- Traditional, World music, Early music, Bluegrass/folk, Blues, Classical, Jazz, Rock, Worship
- I'm looking for people to play music with
- Yes
- Where I like to play
- church ensemble, pop/rock band, trad/folk group
- My involvement with Strings magazine
- Subscribe
- My involvement with allthingsstrings.com
- Regularly visit
- My favorite website for community
- http://allthingsstringscommunity.com
- My favorite website for music and instrument shopping
- http://violinshoppe.com
- My favorite website for music to play
- http://reverbnation.com/kevinkeating
My wife bought me a violin for Christmas '08 and I love it! I'm hooked. Having played guitar for over 25 years as well as banjo and mandolin, I had some idea of how to start. I found having no frets to actually be liberating in a way. My style is more folk fiddle than violin but I listen to classical music a lot as well and would like to develop that kind of precision and finesse. I don't expect to become a great soloist, but I do love playing music and I love the violin.
Kevin Keating's Photos
Kevin Keating's Blog
Letter From A Musician
MY VIOLIN….doc
I found this letter posted on the home page of the New York State Old Tyme Fiddlers Association (of which I'm a member) Central NY Chapter. No idea who wrote it or when.
I think it's really inspiring to know that your instrument is the voice of a tree speaking all that it has heard and knows. It's also
… Continue Posted on August 27, 2010 at 2:00pm —
Night Sonata by Kevin Keating
This is an original composition of mine titled "Night Sonata." Actually, it began as an attempt to learn parts of Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in Dm, one of the concertos he wrote for Anna Maria. After the first few bars I kinda went my own way. I was trying to create a tune that would make the listener feel as if it were night time.
The tune is in Dm, not very long, has couple repeated measures. I wrote the notation using a program I downloaded for free from musescore.com. Using this program i
… Continue Posted on July 17, 2010 at 7:01am —
Traditional music in Williamsburg, VA
My wife & I just returned from our honeymoon in Virginia Beach. Awesome vacation! While there we went to Colonial Williamsburg, VA, a living museum dedicated to Revolutionary and 18th century American history. At the DeWitt Museum we heard Scottish fiddler Jon Turner play several traditional Scottish fiddle tunes. I bought a CD of his and a book of his sheet music in the gift store and got a chance to meet and talk to him backstage. He's a very friendly (and tall) guy with a great sense of h… Continue
Posted on July 16, 2010 at 12:37pm — 2 Comments
"Doyle In the Wild Moor" by Kevin Keating
Doyle In the Wild Moor.doc
This is a story I wrote about a gopher named Doyle who lives under a deck across from a vast wild meadow. He also plays the violin quite well. It's about how he finds the courage to leave the safety of his burrow under the deck and brave the dangers of the wild meadow, or "moor" as he calls
… Continue Posted on April 24, 2010 at 9:00pm —
Comment Wall (6 comments)
- At 7:06am on August 25, 2010,
Dave Light said…
- Good plan, Kevin. Multi-year goals are always fun; mine is to pay off my ex-wife by 2014!
Are these 18th century fiddle tunes supposed to be both pre- and post-Revolutionary War? What resources are you planning on consulting?
- At 7:42am on July 18, 2010,
Dave Light said…
- No, it's more formalized than a matter of preference, but at the moment I can't recall the exact ruling. For instance, with the D minor harmonic scale, you have both a Bb and a C#. What I referred to as an "anticipatory" G# in Bar 19 has as much to do with what has come immediately before the note in question as with what comes after. There is probably a rule at work here, but again I can't pin it down to an explanation of one. Perhaps there is someone out there with more formalized training in standard notation who can help us out here!
- At 9:23am on July 17, 2010,
Dave Light said…
- OK; interesting piece, Kevin. Very ambitious. Well notated, as well, except for the following enharmonic-related suggestions (for ease of reading):
Bars 1, 7, 55 C# (instead of Db)
Bar 19 G# (instead of Ab)
Bar 52 C# (instead of Db)
These suggestions relate to the fact that the Dminor scale has C#. The G# is actually anticipatory of the A in the following measure.
- At 5:30am on July 17, 2010,
Dave Light said…
- To Kevin: firstly, huge congratulations to you and your wife! I'm a great believer in the institution of marriage, not so much for religious as commitment reasons. Secondly, every skill you acquire as a violinist/fiddler, be it the ability to read standard notation (and, even better, to compose using it) or whatever empowers not only yourself but also those with whom you come in contact. Write and publish a tune (even simply online) and it's truly remarkable how many fidllers are aided by that one, selfless act of creativity and sharing. Good on ya!. Keep on fiddling! And I'd love to see some of your compositions!
- At 10:37am on March 29, 2010,
Rory Williams said… - Thanks for the add, my friend!
- At 10:12pm on February 25, 2010,
Richard Bohn said… - Hi Kevin, thanks for adding me as a friend!
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