Linzi Stoppard Gets Ready To Close The Gap Between Classical & Rock Audiences

Sat 12th Dec, 2009

Linzi Stoppard will be described by many as edgy. Edgy? She plays electric violin

Each live set sees musical influences from The Rolling Stones through to Cafe del Mar. Stoppard who is now part of the band FUSE, has been playing the classical violin since she was four years old when she attended the Suzuki Violin School. She followed the traditional classical music route and also mastered the clarinet and piano. In her mid teenage years, however, she rebelled against her classical training and the hours of practice it demanded, forming a band at school and her first move into popular music. I picked up my first electric when I was 17 and I never put it down. It was unbelievable the amount of different soundsyou can control the electric violin so much more than a classical violin, she said.

The angles and the spacing between the strings are different on an electric violin versus a classical guitar. The fingering is more sensitive and the electric violin feels different under the bow. There is more resistance and the electric violin doesnt resonate as well as the acoustic violin does. The bridge of the electric violin is hollow. However, while the electric violin feels different, the technique when playing it is essentially the same as playing a classical violin, Stoppard said.

In 2006, Stoppard teamed up with another electrical violinist, Ben Lee, to form the band FUSE. They both believe it is possible to narrow the gap between classical and pop audiences. Stoppard told In Tune that learning the classical violin was very important and it helped put down the foundation for what she is doing today.

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