美国国家公共电台 NPR--Prodigious fiddler Mark O'Connor celebrates 50 years of music with memoir

Prodigious¹ fiddler Mark O'Connor celebrates 50 years of music with memoir³

Transcript⁴

Mark O'Connor's story starts ordinarily enough. He grew up in a suburb of Seattle, where his father scraped by as a construction worker and his mother was a homemaker.

But everything changed when he finally got a fiddle² for his eleventh birthday. He had begged for the instrument for three years, until his parents were finally able to purchase one for $50 from a local musician.

"I had a sense that I could communicate what I was thinking through it, through the music. I sensed the joy and the depth of it," O'Connor tells NPR's Leila Fadel. "Right away, I was attracted to the blues⁵ music on the fiddle, which ends up having an incredible history going back hundreds of years... I was really living this folk music history, even as a young child."

It was the start of a journey against the odds⁶ chronicled in O'Connor's memoir published this month, Crossing Bridges, with its accompanying photo book and CD of childhood recordings⁸.

O'Connor, who already had a couple years of classical and flamenco guitar playing behind him, at first picked up tunes⁹ by ear, "self-taught, self-motivated to learn." He quickly caught the attention of Benny Thomasson, who helped develop the Texas style of fiddling¹⁰ and just happened to have retired¹¹ in another part of Washington state. O'Connor would spend his weekends learning from the Texan master.

Thomasson "taught me creatively and really pushed me to come up with my own improvisations, my own renditions of old tunes," O'Connor recalls. "This is such a fantastic way to express for a child to have a unique voice already without even having to really try and search for it, because he encouraged it. And my mother did, too."

The musician, who has gone on to develop his own method of teaching fiddling based on American folk music, stressed the importance that mentors¹² can play in the life of a child by breaking down barriers.

"It was really the creativity that enabled me to have an enjoyable life in music where I would have been just possibly another child prodigy¹³, kind of washed up by the time they were 16 or 17 and burnt out because it was all about technical issues," he said. "With fiddling, it was half chops and half the the heart and soul of it."

Within the space of a year, O'Connor racked up wins at fiddling contests across the country, made his Nashville debut¹⁴ at the Grand Ole Opry and became the youngest musician to sign a contract with Rounder Records.

As a teen, O'Connor outperformed amateur and professional musicians many times his age – on the fiddle as well as on guitar and mandolin. He was such a serial¹⁵ winner that the National Guitar Flatpicking Championships instituted the "Mark O'Connor Rule," a five-year ban for winners, after he won that contest the second time in a row.

O'Connor eschewed¹⁶ traditional categories, shifting from bluegrass and country to jazz and rock, joining the David Grisman Quintet and The Dregs, as well as touring with renowned¹⁷ French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli. He collaborated¹⁸ with fellow musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and James Taylor.

He also branched out into classical, composing symphonies and concertos²⁰ played by orchestras from Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles and London. O'Connor says his Fiddle Concerto¹⁹ has been performed more than any other violin concerto composed in the last 60 years.

He's also shared the Carnegie Hall stage with leading classical violinists Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell and Midori. An album featuring a recording⁷ of his own "Appalachia Waltz" with cellist²¹ Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer topped the Billboard²² classical music chart in 1996. And the fiddler composed a piece performed by competitors for the 2021 Menuhin International Violin Competition that he dedicated²³ to the late star violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

But O'Connor's remarkable²⁴ journey was filled with challenges: violent outbursts from his alcoholic²⁵ father at home, severe bullying²⁶ at school and jealousy²⁷ on the road. These struggles also prevented him from experiencing stage fright.

"I was predisposed back home to be fearful of most things. It turned out that music allowed me to not be frightened. It was a revelation that my life could change in this way," he writes in the memoir.

"I wanted to write this book about creating an escape for troubled children through the arts, through music," he said in the interview, "because it's a way to get out of your fraught²⁸ household or hard, difficult times at school."

When O'Connor first began collecting prizes, he faced taunts²⁹ from his classmates for playing the fiddle that sometimes turned violent. In one incident, a group of five or six older kids beat him up and left him in a cast on his right leg for two months. A few years later, some of those kids had snuck into the building and sat in the back of the music room as he played.

"I realized how powerful music is. I didn't even have to say a word to them. I could just play my music for them," O'Connor said. "And I often wondered that if more children carried an instrument around, how much safer they could be, because I think that music is a connector in our society."

1 prodigious   

adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的

参考例句：

• This business generates cash in prodigious amounts.这种业务收益丰厚。
• He impressed all who met him with his prodigious memory.他惊人的记忆力让所有见过他的人都印象深刻。

2 fiddle   

n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动

参考例句：

• She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
• Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。

3 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

4 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

5 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

6 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

9 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 fiddling   

微小的

参考例句：

• He was fiddling with his keys while he talked to me. 和我谈话时他不停地摆弄钥匙。
• All you're going to see is a lot of fiddling around. 你今天要看到的只是大量的胡摆乱弄。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

11 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

12 mentors   

n.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Beacham and McNamara, my two mentors, had both warned me. 我的两位忠实朋友，比彻姆和麦克纳马拉都曾经警告过我。 来自辞典例句
• These are the kinds of contacts that could evolve into mentors. 这些人是可能会成为你导师。 来自互联网

13 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

14 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

15 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

16 eschewed   

v.（尤指为道德或实际理由而）习惯性避开，回避( eschew的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I eschewed upbraiding, I curtailed remonstrance. 我避免责备，少作规劝。 来自辞典例句
• Moreover, she has a business plan, an accessory eschewed by cavalier counterparts. 此外，她还有商业计划，这是彬彬有礼的男设计师们回避的一点。 来自互联网

17 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

18 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

19 concerto   

n.协奏曲

参考例句：

• The piano concerto was well rendered.钢琴协奏曲演奏得很好。
• The concert ended with a Mozart violin concerto.音乐会在莫扎特的小提琴协奏曲中结束。

20 concertos   

n. [音]协奏曲

参考例句：

• I once heard Brendel play all the Beethoven concertos. 有一次，我听了布伦德尔演奏贝多芬全部的协奏曲。
• The six finalists then played two piano concertos each. 然后，六名决赛选手每人演奏了两首钢琴协奏曲。

21 cellist   

n.大提琴手

参考例句：

• The cellist's bowing was very sensitive . 那位大提琴手的弓法十分细腻。 来自辞典例句
• World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded The Silk Road Project in 1998. 世界闻名的大提琴家马友友于1998年创建了丝路工程。 来自互联网

22 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

23 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

24 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

25 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

26 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

28 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

29 taunts   

嘲弄的言语，嘲笑，奚落( taunt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He had to endure the racist taunts of the crowd. 他不得不忍受那群人种族歧视的奚落。
• He had to endure the taunts of his successful rival. 他不得不忍受成功了的对手的讥笑。