[QUOTE]Originally posted by swingkid:
For a long time, I've loved listening to violin concertos while studying. It seems to put me in a state in which learning flows much easier. My favorite violinists are Midori and Sarah Chang. My favorite composers are Mozart and Bach.
I'm a former violinist and my best friend is a concert violinist in a family of professional cellists. Love the sound of the violin, it's the most expressive instrument by far after the human voice. I was at the level where I could play Sibelius, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev 1st, Shostakovitch A Minor concerti and all of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas from memory so i like to think I was pretty good

If you like Sarah Chang and Midori, check out Kyung Wha Chung, Maxim Vengerov, Ginette Neveu (underrated player), and Nathan Milstein. Fantastic fiddling! There were so many others like Zino Francescatti who are forgotten now but who I grew up on. Also listen to Debussy and Ravel's string quartets, they are absolutely beautiful.

I recently started playing violin after learning about how famous people of the past such as Einstein and Thomas Jefferson played when stuck on problems.
Take it from me it does help a lot! Compared to nailing a run in a violin concerto in time and in tune, most 'problems' are rather easy

I actually wanted to start learning violin earlier in life, so these stories of how the violin helped other people in the past really motivated me to go ahead and start taking lessons.
Despite what some teachers would have you believe it is never too late to learn.

The Einstein Factor actually claims that when some people listened to Mozart for a while, their IQ points went up temporarily. Interesting I guess.
I find from experience that the smartest musicians and smartest people in general listen to Bach, not Mozart. Mozart's music is so well laid out it's unreal but for true musical genius you have to go with the master and that's Johann Sebastian Bach. Stunning musical mind! Rivalled only by Webern and maybe Bartok, but much more fun to listen to than either