The Violin Mastery Fraud

Received something in my mailbox over the weekend that gave me pause for thought. Not much pause, really, but I thought you might like to have a look since it sums up the cynic’s view of my courses – Its quite obvious, by the way, that the fellow doesn’t own one.

Here is what he had to say;

‘Your so called “Products” are not true.
The practise is in the violinists’ hands.

There is no such thing as magic;it takes hours of practise.

One cannot play Paganini in just a couple of weeks.
It takes years.

I’ve had masterclasses with Alexander Markov,who says the same thing,”Practise,Practise”
No one plays Paganini Caprices better than him.

If 10 children start violin and five practise,what would the result be?

That’s why there are a few soloists,the ones who study.
None of them used your ”products.”

– D.V

Yes, there you have it, just as it came to me. Funny thing is, I don’t remember saying or writing that merely owning one of my ‘products’ magically transforms you into a Paganini virtuoso.

In fact, the whole idea behind the courses is Practice. Intelligent practice; relaxed practice; creative practice; practice that sets you free of tension and unconscious habits that inhibit the expression of your full potential.

And what I have been very honest about is this. I do not claim to be Heifetz or Milstein. I do, however, make the claim that one can play at a very high level on two to three hours of practice a day. And I support that claim by performing everything I do without recourse to editing, so you can see exactly what is possible by following my example.

Further, I have written previously that I have a nerve disorder in my left hand known as ‘focal dystonia’. That I can even play a scale is a testament to the practice methods I advocate, never mind performing Paganini Caprices live.

In any case, you can go to my website and listen to a lot of repertoire and judge for yourself its merit. And know as you do so that I play, on average 1.5 to 3 hours a day. I think any violinist of real experience would agree that the results speak for themselves.

All right, good to get that off my chest, now let’s talk seriously.

Yesterday I wrapped up the second of two masterclass/seminars held on the magnificent Biltmore estate here in Asheville, NC. To a person everyone that attended was thrilled with the results, and I will share the feelings of one attendee with you tomorrow so you can see just how transformative these experiences can be.

I will also be putting out the dates for the next seminar. So get your calendars for 2008 now. You’ll be wanting to mark off a few days of special importance in them very soon.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. One last thing, if ten children start the violin and only five practice, then it’s pretty obvious that the world will be blessed with 5 budding violinists. And when you meet them make sure you have a copy of ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery” to share with them.