Fiddlershop's Music is for Everyone Blog Series: Caroline Adomeit, Violinist

Caroline Adomeit's motto is "music without barriers."

Caroline is a rising social media star and violinist with thousands of likes, views, and comments on her Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube videos.

In many of her videos, you can see Caroline tackling some of the violin's most challenging repertoire with a vibrant smile on her face. She's having a ton of fun, and it's infectious. 

Outside of social media, Caroline has established a notable performance and teaching career in Europe. With over 300 concert appearances as a concert soloist, critics hail her style as fresh and innovative. 

And, through her talent, she's living her life's motto. Caroline's goal is to attract new audiences to classical music through a "fun and refreshing presentation," according to her website biography.  She not only plays classical music, but also composes and arranges jazz, tango, musical, and encore pieces as well.

Why is the violin important to you?

Music is my way to express myself and communicate with others. There are no borders and no age differences when it comes to music. It speaks to human beings so deeply and directly.

 It is part of who I am as a musician and human. I fell in love with the sound of the violin when I was a very young child, and have been in love ever since. I can't imagine life without it.

If you weren't a violinist, what's another career you would have chosen?

Well, in a sense, a doctor's profession seems much more valuable than a musician. When my grandmother was dying in a hospice, I felt useless as a violinist; nothing I could play or create would help her.

However, it was the doctor in that hospice who looked after dying patients every day that told me I could help and reach people with my music.  So, I started giving benefit concerts and raised over 80,000 Euros for charity while I was studying at college.

I realized music also touches and moves people, and through it, you can help them.

What are your current music-related dreams and goals?

I would love to produce more CDs and videos. I would like to perform in the USA and South America. I also want to get many of my arrangements available as sheet music online.

How much do you practice?

As a student, I practiced much more -- five or six hours, sometimes longer -- but spread out over the entire day.  As a professional, that is often not possible as I have to work on other things as well. I have found that in a musician's life, there are usually phases of lots of work with concerts, recordings, etc, and then, also periods of less work. It's unpredictable. 

I adapt my practice to my workload. Often, I find it good to squeeze in some practice early in the morning, but sometimes that is not possible, then I try at night. Sometimes, it works best for me to leave it and come back when I have more than one hour of free time.

The nice thing about being a musician is that you never stop developing and adapting. When you travel you cannot practice the way you would when you are at home. I have practiced on trains, in restrooms, etc. The joy and challenge are to adapt what you need to be doing as a violinist within those changing work and travel schedules.

What advice would you give to other aspiring professional violinists?

Believe in yourself! Make sure you know what it means to be a professional violinist in today's world, and be prepared to be very inconvenienced by it.

What do you mean by "prepare to be inconvenienced"? 

Well, speaking purely from my perspective as a European professional violinist:

Prepare to adapt your lifestyle, your schedule and the way you live and where you live to what you will have to do to make and sustain a living as a professional violinist. As I am also teaching students that are training to be professional violinists, I have noticed that they often have an unrealistic view of working in the profession. The "wake up call" usually comes when they have finished their training.

Nowadays, you have to be able to keep working hard. Patience, persistence and a genuine love for what you are doing are vital. 

In reality, we are more like training athletes -- often without the medals -- that have a lifelong commitment to doing championships on a regular basis. 

It may be "inconvenient" in some ways, but it is also gratifying.