Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Violin Music Testimony

I was born in Taiwan and my family moved to California when I was 8 years old, and I started learning the violin in school when I was 10. I spend years studying classical music and playing in youth orchestras, but I never truly found my comfort zone in the classical arena. It was years later, in college, after I had quit playing, and never thought I would pick up the violin ever again, did I discover a different type of music that I was born to play and revel in.

My friend David was a talented musician (guitar, piano, bass, etc.) and an anointed worship leader at church. We were hanging out in my dorm room, and he had his guitar and was about to play some songs, when he spot my dusty violin case in the corner of the room. I had not played for over 3 years when he, in that moment, prodded me to take it out and jam with him. I protested, telling him that my skills had probably faded from lack of practice, and that I have never played with guitar or this style of music in my life.

He was stubborn, so I gave it a try. I could still recall the song that he started playing, "Meet with Me," and suddenly I find myself playing surprisingly in harmony to the music, (with no songsheet, just playing by ear). My fingers glided effortlessly on the violin; it seemed like they knew exactly what notes to hit. The Spirit of God was breathing all over our song, and even my friend David was surprised.


Ever since that night in 2001, Samuel musical life has been resurrected. Samuel is now jamming on a 5-string Vector electric violin, with creative improvisations to various contemporary musical styles (rock, pop, smooth jazz, folk, hip-hop, celtic, country, electronica, etc).

In recent years, Samuel had the opportunity to travel and play around the world. From in front of 40,000 in San Francisco (The Call SF), to a group of 20 at an underground church in Guangzhou, China, to remote mountain villages in the Philippines, it has been an exhilarating ride. Samuel states, "Every time I play, I know in my heart, that I am playing for the glory of God."
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