Stowe really playing the violin?

My brother learned how to play the concertina when he was 5 years old and by 10 he started winning talent contests in Wisconsin. I watched him pick up any instrument, find the chords or read a book on how the instrument worked, and then play them like he practiced all of his life on that instrument, including the accordian, violin, piano, organ, guitar, banjo, saxaphone, trumpet, etc... I was pretty jealous of him because I tried for years to learn to play a guitar, and he picked mine up and played it better than me in just 3 days! Needless to say I quit trying to play a guitar, because I realized I never would be any good.

I feel my brother is wasting his life driving truck when he should be a concert pianist or some kind of a musician somewhere. He said playing is just a hobby to him and he hates playing in front of crowds, even when he was getting standing ovations!

I believe that someone who can play an instrument very good, comes from the heart, not by years of training and someone who has THAT talent can play any instrument. The triva of Madeleine Stowe states she was a concert pianist until her instructor died when she was 18, so yes, she could have learned the violin pretty quick.

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I am having a hard time finding verification, but I believe Char Malloy-Baum from the band "Big Hat" played the violin parts.

"I kept it in a cage,
watched it weeping but I made it stay"
www.watcheditweeping.com

I play the violin and find this so hard to believe that I actually do not believe it. :)
Most violinists learn to play the instrument at a very young age (I started at the age of 6). I may be mistaken about this, but I believe the dexterity and looseness of wrist joints necessary to properly hold the bow and play the instrument so it doesn't sound like fingernails on a chalk board are very difficult to acquire at a more advanced age. Mind, I'm not saying it is impossible, just noting that it strikes me as rather difficult and involving a lot of practice. Even well trained violinists have to practice a lot to stay in shape. A certain basic knowledge will become ingrained, like riding a bicycle, but to play well requires really more than just cursory acquaintance with the instrument.
So to me it just doesn't sound credible that an actor/actress decided to 'quickly learn how to play the violin' for a single movie.

She may have learned to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or something but I cannot believe under any circumstances that she truly was the one playing any of the music in this film or that she truly played the violin in any real way. In fact, I came on here specifically to comment on how poorly the violin scenes were done as the syncing and finger placement and bow movements were all terrible.

I would imagine she "learned" enough to not look like an utter buffoon while pretending to play but it sure didn't look like much more than that.


"It's Minnie Pearl's murder weapon."