Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 21 minutes ago
Van Wailin Halen! Variations on “Ain’t Takin Bout Love”
While I was studying viola at the best schools and teachers at Juilliard, I was a rabid fan of Classical and Rock music. First the Beatles, then of course, being drawn to the power of the electric guitar. Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Johnny Winter etc…loved the bluesy feel and sound of distortion. Also, bumping into a very small percentage of electric violinists like Sugarcane Harris, Jerry Goodman and of course Jean Luc Ponty. But the guitar players were so innovative and original that that approach to music with an instrument fascinated me! And the performances of these great guitar heroes changed music in the 60’s and 70’s.
Then, all of a sudden a guitar player arrives out of nowhere, and blows everyone’s minds. Eddie Van Halen. That first album with the instrumental “Eruption” changed everything for me. “Mark, why don’t you just play the guitar to get that sound” NO, I loved the bow too much to switch to a pick! I knew I could figure out a way to sound rock on a violin/viola. And listening to Eruption was the turning point and the beginning of a short moment in rock music that every song featured a guitar solo! And then, add virtuosity. In Eruption, we string players heard Eddie reference the cliche violin melody of a “Kreutzer” exercise for violin, written in the 1900’s! Hey, thats our violin music, Eddie!
Remember, for the last 400 years violin music was very virtuosic, and technically demanding. All the great composers from Vivaldi to Tchaikovsky, showcased the primer technical virtuosity in music peaking with the great Paganini! But to hear Eddie blaze through heavy rock with distortion and feedback, that was my turning point for the rest of my life.
So, I run back to my Juilliard viola teacher, pleading with this famous viola teacher who personally selected me to teach on a full scholarship, to teach me how to play like Eddie Van Halen! WHAT!! that is not music Mark, you must stop immediately listening to that horrible and poisoned rock music! Blasphemy!!
He almost threw me out the window….As my mother wiped the tears from her eyes, as I returned home proclaiming: I want to rock! Playing my viola! She never forgave me…”What are you going to do with your life?!” I want to be a rock musician! I want to redefine the string world by embracing all musical styles. I wanted to innovate the actual instrument, that has not changed in 400 years! So, alongside me changing the way I play by adding distortion and efx, AND change the physical structure of the violin…..Hello Viper!
Van Wailin Halen! Variations on “Ain’t Takin Bout Love”
While I was studying viola at the best schools and teachers at Juilliard, I was a rabid fan of Classical and Rock music. First the Beatles, then of course, being drawn to the power of the electric guitar. Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Johnny Winter etc…loved the bluesy feel and sound of distortion. Also, bumping into a very small percentage of electric violinists like Sugarcane Harris, Jerry Goodman and of course Jean Luc Ponty. But the guitar players were so innovative and original that that approach to music with an instrument fascinated me! And the performances of these great guitar heroes changed music in the 60’s and 70’s.
Then, all of a sudden a guitar player arrives out of nowhere, and blows everyone’s minds. Eddie Van Halen. That first album with the instrumental “Eruption” changed everything for me. “Mark, why don’t you just play the guitar to get that sound” NO, I loved the bow too much to switch to a pick! I knew I could figure out a way to sound rock on a violin/viola. And listening to Eruption was the turning point and the beginning of a short moment in rock music that every song featured a guitar solo! And then, add virtuosity. In Eruption, we string players heard Eddie reference the cliche violin melody of a “Kreutzer” exercise for violin, written in the 1900’s! Hey, thats our violin music, Eddie!
Remember, for the last 400 years violin music was very virtuosic, and technically demanding. All the great composers from Vivaldi to Tchaikovsky, showcased the primer technical virtuosity in music peaking with the great Paganini! But to hear Eddie blaze through heavy rock with distortion and feedback, that was my turning point for the rest of my life.
So, I run back to my Juilliard viola teacher, pleading with this famous viola teacher who personally selected me to teach on a full scholarship, to teach me how to play like Eddie Van Halen! WHAT!! that is not music Mark, you must stop immediately listening to that horrible and poisoned rock music! Blasphemy!!
He almost threw me out the window….As my mother wiped the tears from her eyes, as I returned home proclaiming: I want to rock! Playing my viola! She never forgave me…”What are you going to do with your life?!” I want to be a rock musician! I want to redefine the string world by embracing all musical styles. I wanted to innovate the actual instrument, that has not changed in 400 years! So, alongside me changing the way I play by adding distortion and efx, AND change the physical structure of the violin…..Hello Viper!
