Immanuel Abraham: Violinist, Composer and his Inspiring Personal Journey

My guest today is Immanuel Abraham, a very special musican, who is an inspiring violinist, educator and composer. His phenomenal talent, discipline and creativity is even more inspiring since he didn’t have an opportunity to learn a musical instrument until the age of 14 and 4 years later, he was auditioning for the renowned University of Michigan in violin performance, playing the same Paganini caprice he’d heard Ithak Perlman play on Shalom Sesame as a child. He speaks candidly in this interview about his perseverence in the face of very difficult challenges. More information and links below, including Timestamps!

Like all my episodes, this is also available as a video on my YouTube, and the transcript is linked here as well: ⁠https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/immanuel-abraham⁠

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Immanuel is well-known on social media as The Violin Doctor, which is a Dr. Who reference, but Immanuel actually is Doctor of Musical Arts, awarded from the University of Arizona. When he was a student, in an effort to learn as much as he could that was violin-related, he started The Violin Guild which is an amazingly supportive Facebook group of over 60,000 string players worldwide. Our conversation focused on different aspects of music education, personal development, and you’ll get to hear some clips of Immanuel performing some of his 24 Caprices for solo violin. Below is a link for a discount code the week this is released, and if you’re a violinist I encourage you to buy this amazing volume, which I have been learning and plan to start recording this summer. Immanuel will be releasing his complete recording of all 24 Caprices. https://www.theviolindoctor.com/24 The discount code that will be activated May 12th through May 18th is, theviolindoctor for 25% off of the 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Second Edition. You will also find Immanuel's current projects and social links there as well.

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(02:25) perspectives on starting the violin at age 14, dealing with racism and growing up in the projects

(15:02) hearing Itzhak Perlman and the opportunity for free lessons through the Merit School of Music with Guillaume Combet

(21:32) inspiration for Immanuel’s 24 Caprices for Solo violin

(28:48) clip of Caprice 14

(30:00) clip of Caprice 21 in C Minor, “The Blues”

(31:43) Caprice 23, a fugue (complete)

(35:54) please support this series on Ko-fi!

(36:23) why Immanuel bought a beginner book spent his lunch money on Paganini

(41:12) Andrew Jennings University of Michigan

(47:15) giving students some choice of repertoire, keeping them motivated

(53:08) Sphinx Organization teaching kids in the inner city

(01:04:45) becoming a composer, opening for We The Kings

(01:11:11) transcribing jazz, learning by ear

(01:16:25) violin technique finger independence

(01:22:08) yoga, dealing with stress

(01:26:03) balance of composition, teaching and performing

(01:28:21) discount code for the Caprices theviolindoctor