Lindsey Stirling

March 2, 2012 1:16 PM

Lindsey Stirling dances while she plays the violin : Shadows

more: On the Floor Take Three
Spontaneous Me
Electric Daisy Violin

covers / medleys:Zelda Medley
Lord of the Rings Medley
Party Rock Anthem

less dancing, more rapping (by Eppic): By No Means

posted by garlic (33 comments total)

My snark is broken.

That first video was pretty darn cool. Not a big fan of the type of dancing she does, but it was still well choreographed and fun.

I kept waiting for her shadow to strip. I don't know why.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:35 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

My snark is broken.
I kept waiting for her shadow to strip. I don't know why.

I think your snark is in perfect working order. Carry on.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 1:49 PM on March 2, 2012 [5 favorites]

I can't quite explain why, but I absolutely hate this.
posted by Lotto at 2:00 PM on March 2, 2012 [7 favorites]

Also in the genre of string players interacting with their shadows
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 2:01 PM on March 2, 2012

Are there any examples of what her violin playing sounds like while she is dancing?

There are cool things you can do with moving a violin while you play (doppler spins, for example), but all I hear is hyper-produced compressed and equalized dance music studio perfectionism (probably edited from many many takes) over pantomimed playing in videos.
posted by idiopath at 2:05 PM on March 2, 2012

Also, as a viola player I can say it is damned hard if not impossible to get that kind of tone control without using the chin rest (though she wouldn't be as cute with her neck crimped down and chin pressed on the violin of course).
posted by idiopath at 2:08 PM on March 2, 2012

I can't quite explain why, but I absolutely hate this.

Two words: Andrea Rieu.
posted by fleetmouse at 2:15 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Somebody linked me to her "dubstep" the other day. I was very disappointed and felt a little cheated when the wubwubwub wasn't created by the violin itself.
posted by kmz at 2:16 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

If were as snarky as cjorgensen, I would say that's because you're a viola player.

But I'm not, so, yeah. At least one of her videos had some very noticeable moments where her "bow-syncing" is just completely wrong.
posted by Foosnark at 2:17 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Here's an example of her playing live while dancing (and another). I think it probably is sent through a bunch of effects, but it's still dead impressive for the amount of movement she's putting in. The oonce-oonce-oonce musical style isn't my thing, personally, but it's always nice to see someone getting that much control and enjoyment out of both their music and their own bodies.
posted by ZsigE at 2:21 PM on March 2, 2012

I had stumbled onto Crystallize a while ago and thought "no, it's NOT dubstep, but that just makes it better, right?" The ice castle location was (oh dear) quite cool. Then the Shadows video impressed me (but the out-of-sync shadow trope dates back to Fred Astaire, I believe) and I seriously considered posting about her myself. The one thing that discouraged me was the Party Rock Anthem video, but that's because it was more somebody-else's-singing and less violin AND it was the 137th cover of that I've been subjected to.

Of course, if you watched "America's Got Talent" (which I haven't), you'd already know her as a 2010 finalist. She also competed in America's Junior Miss in 2005 and won the talent competition. I thoroughly support any efforts of hers to make violins "cool".
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:32 PM on March 2, 2012

Somebody linked me to her "dubstep" the other day. I was very disappointed and felt a little cheated when the wubwubwub wasn't created by the violin itself.

I was waiting for the violin to drop.
posted by Kabanos at 2:32 PM on March 2, 2012

I am not just a viola player, I am a very poor viola player. Due to the sheer unpopularity and difficulty of the instrument, and the copious number of jokes at our expense, I think one of the benefits of the instrument is that the violist who can't laugh at herself has already switched over to something easier like the 'cello or violin, or just committed a quiet suicide.

But it really doesn't look like that live video had live sound. Is her wireless transmitter that small? Can the sound guy really equalize and mix the live sound with the canned track that well? Can she really play when moving like that with no sonic evidence that she is in fact moving while playing?

I could be wrong and maybe that really was live, but if I were her and I was actually doing that live, I would at least let a tiny bit of wabi-sabi come through so the audience would actually know it was live.

Kabanos: "I was waiting for the violin to drop."

Yeah, like I said, she should really be using her chinrest if she is actually playing the thing :) Someone showed me that video the other day - it felt like the whole thing was pushing more manipulative musical buttons than a choir of concertinas.
posted by idiopath at 2:42 PM on March 2, 2012 [4 favorites]

kmz: “Somebody linked me to her ‘dubstep’ the other day.”

This is like "Riverdance" for Skrillex fans.
posted by koeselitz at 3:58 PM on March 2, 2012 [5 favorites]

Well, on a totally non-artistic aside, she looks hella cute.

Just sayin'...
posted by Samizdata at 4:02 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Just don't.
posted by koeselitz at 4:02 PM on March 2, 2012

A little late, methinks?
posted by Samizdata at 4:05 PM on March 2, 2012

It's never too late to apologize.
posted by koeselitz at 4:05 PM on March 2, 2012

Le sigh. Can I avoid the apology if I claim temporary insanity due to long term singlehood?
posted by Samizdata at 4:07 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's not really about the apology; it's just tedious seeing the constant sexualization of anything and everything women do.
posted by koeselitz at 4:20 PM on March 2, 2012

Yeah, it's too bad she wasn't playing in a burqa so we could properly enjoy the music without the distractions of an attractive woman prancing around! She should also be playing a respectable musical device rather than the devil's instrument!
posted by cjorgensen at 5:00 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

I will say for the record that I find people who obviously enjoy what they're doing, and share that enjoyment openly and with energy and enthusiasm, to be attractive, generally independently of physical attributes. This is not, so far as I am aware, a sexualization of anyone or anything, merely an acknowledgment of the effect that a projection of unfeigned enjoyment has on perception of a person.

The balance to this, of course, is that it's possible to take the "look how spunky and peppy I am" thing too far, which I think is the thing that kinda bothers me about some of her videos.

(and if we're going to talk violinist crushes, well, let's just say that I could quite happily just listen to Hilary Hahn play and talk about music pretty much forever)
posted by ubernostrum at 6:17 PM on March 2, 2012

Not as dancy as Lindsey, but still pretty damn cute, Camille and Kennerly, the identical Harp Twins, play Zelda: Skyward Sword (Ballad of the Goddess) Harp Duet.
posted by Ardiril at 6:17 PM on March 2, 2012

idiopath, can you find me any examples of this doppler spin? I'd be really curious to hear it, but the obvious Google queries aren't turning anything up for me.
posted by d. z. wang at 8:56 PM on March 2, 2012

"doppler spin?" - Try any soundboard bootleg of The Who while Daltrey is twirling his mike.
posted by Ardiril at 9:02 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

or, Steve Reich's Pendulum Music.
posted by Ardiril at 9:11 PM on March 2, 2012

"It's not really about the apology; it's just tedious seeing the constant sexualization of anything and everything women do."

Aw, come on. She's cute. Hella cute, in fact.

Sincerely, A Female
posted by HopperFan at 9:29 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

And 'cute' is not necessarily a sexualization thing. Otherwise a lot of MeFites would be doing creepy things to kitties. And sloths in pajamas.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:47 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I was probably being overly snippy because I spent far too long yesterday arguing with a friend of mine about whether Hooters is sexist. Sorry about that, all (and particularly Samizdata.) I will take my trigger finger in for maintenance.
posted by koeselitz at 9:49 PM on March 2, 2012

Mod note: Generally we'd like to avoid the typical *but what does s/he LOOK like* (and the worse *I do/don't want to sex them up*) thing here. If your comment is just basically rating someone's looks... eh. We don't really need to know everything you think.
posted by taz (staff) at 9:58 PM on March 2, 2012

Yeah, Ardril that is close to what I meant - when you spin an instrument around the audience hears a raised pitch when you spin toward, and a lowered pitch as you turn away again. This is what Leslie speakers are doing (at a higher speed of course). You can hear a similar effect when a ambulance goes by with sirens on (higher pitch as it approaches, lower as it recedes). This physical phenomenon is known as the Doppler effect. You aren't going to hear it if the violin is being amplified from the bridge (her live stuff is either amplified from the bridge and transmitted wireless or she is just pantomiming it)- there needs to be relative movement between the sound source and the transducer picking up the sound for it to work, and it doesn't work via FM (and with AM typical wavelengths are so short already you would need to spin very very fast to hear any effect)..
posted by idiopath at 10:34 PM on March 2, 2012

Hey, thanks idiopath! I saw a show (Mavis Staples maybe?) where they had Leslie speakers and I couldn't figure out what the point was.
posted by garlic at 2:14 PM on March 5, 2012

I kinda dig her playing, and as a long-term violinist, I'm also always happy to see a cool electric violin. Her happiness and energy are really winning, also. But it's driving me crazy how wrong her left hand position is--the wrist is not supposed to be bent so that the hand is flat against the neck. Like ever. It's a recipe for repetitive stress injury, and you can't shift positions well. She's doing it in the live video too, except when she plays up on the neck. I imagine it makes the dancing part easier, but damn, girl, that is seriously bad for you. Check out how Emilie Autumn (kind of an acquired taste, but I think the best pop/electric violinist on a technical level) maintains proper wrist position here. Now I will go back to my geek cave.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 11:45 AM on March 8, 2012