Last week I had a visitor to my workshop, a friend from childhood actually. Back in the last century (thats sounds old doesn’t it) we shared the front desk of Pat Mallon’s Mt. Gravatt Area String Orchestra together. After school I went on to pursue a career in Physics (and other things) and Timo went to the Conservatorium of Music to study Violin.
We kinda lost touch….until one day at my sons first violin concert they were playing Wallaby Hop by Timo Jarvela. Now I don’t know too many Jarvela’s and in due course discovered it was the same person, now a prominent area violin teacher on Brisbane’s Northside and composer too and got in contact.
Timo started his musical journey in Mansfield, in his early days having to cycle from Mansfield Primary to another school for his violin lessons, and was one of half a dozen or so violin students at Mansfield State High School, which now has 5 string orchestral groups, and something like 800 people across the entire instrumental music programme.
Timo shared a little of his journey to composing, which started with writing for his own students, requests from other teachers..before he bit the bullet and started publishing with his wife through Laker Music! I quite like his compositions and my kids have enjoyed playing them.
Timo gave me some insights into the process. Its a heady mix of the uniqueness of the Australian music instruction in schools, and finding the right mix with a limited et of notes and rhythms for each level of progression as students develop. I also quite like his approach in “Tricky Fingers”, it develops a students abilities progressively. It achieves this by starting with just the left hand , building ability through reading, fingering and muscular development through left hand pizzicato, then introducing the bow and the fingers down on strings .
The skill acquisition scientist in me thinks this is great, Also it comes with backing tracks online so you can (with the teachers guide) be largely self taught. Checkout out Timo’s compositions here
We also had a good chat about violin brands that come and go, some of the secrecy around luthierin, high street shops, and helping parents support their children without breaking the bank.
Love your work Timo…. I look forward to our next catchup