Can you learn to play the Irish fiddle in a week?
Tel Aviv violinist Daniel Hoffman set out to do just that, in the first installment of a planned TV series on how the violin can help better the world
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Fiddler Daniel Hoffman is a bit of a musical boundary-breaker — just the kind of guy, in fact, to attempt the near-impossible task of learning to play the Irish fiddle in a week.
The Tel Aviv-based violinist is taking on the challenge as part of a campaign to show how the violin can unite people across boundaries, through a planned television series called “Violin Around the World.”
“The idea that music brings the world together is nothing new, and it goes without saying that we all need more of this right now,” said Hoffman. “How can this small wooden box with strings and a bow, perfected in Italy in the 16th century, sound so completely different depending on where and by whom it is played?”
Hoffman launched a first crowdfunding campaign last spring to film the pilot episode of the “Violin Around the World” series.
For the first show, called “Otherwise It’s Just Firewood,” he raised enough money to travel to Ireland for one week of study with master Irish fiddler James Kelly. They then performed together on stage.
https://youtu.be/SAeR94SaUA4
The Ireland episode has been approved by National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) for distribution to the 170 public TV stations in the US.
Hoffman needs $7,500 more to defray post-production and other costs for the first episode, and is hoping a second Kickstarter campaign will cover those. He aims to produce six to ten episodes of the series each year.
The Times of Israel Community.