Kim Girolimetto

Violin

How many years have you played with EPO?

Since September 1996. Terrifyingly, I think that makes 30 years.

What is your experience as a musician?

I started taking violin in school at Islington Junior Middle School in Grade 6. At the time, Shari Lundy (EPO Principal Viola) was the Strings teacher, and Sam Cancellara (EPO Principal Trumpet) was the Band teacher!

While I was at Martingrove CI, my close friend Jennifer Buckland and I did lighting for an EPO performance. We watched the show from the lighting booth and made a pact to join the orchestra together when we grew up.

That began to seem unlikely because I stopped playing violin for seven years at University while I earned a B.Sc. and an M.A in Psychology. I returned to Etobicoke after earning my masters, and Jen challenged me to follow through on our pact.

I spent a year taking private lessons for the first time in my life. My teacher taught me how to care for a violin as well. At my first lesson she picked up and examined my instrument, played a few horrible-sounding notes, and told me not to touch it again until I got it repaired. She referred me to the Sound Post, and they’ve been caring for my instruments ever since. She loaned me a cheap student instrument to finish out the lesson, and suddenly I was making much more pleasant sounds. As Matthew always says, “there was hope in the room.” I know musicians are told never to blame their instruments, but that only applies if you actually care for them! After all the repairs and a year of lessons, I felt ready to come out to play with the EPO. Jen and I joined in September 1996. The EPO has felt like home ever since.

What do you do outside of the orchestra?

Right now, I’m a long-term occasional teacher at Mayfield Secondary School in Caledon, for English and French. I’m qualified in English, Drama, French, and Family Studies. I taught at Chinguacousy Secondary School last year, with mostly Drama classes, while we were mostly online. That made for some real challenges in Drama!

Why did you choose the violin?

In a way, I never chose the violin. My mother played violin in high school, and when I started taking Strings, she pointed out that we owned a violin, and couldn’t really afford to

buy any other instrument. If I played violin, I would never have to lug an instrument back and forth to school. I wasn’t sold. I desperately wanted to play cello. It sounded so sweet and mellow. I thought the violin was screechy and way too high. I was perfectly willing to commit to years of carrying one back and forth to school and saving up for an instrument. Unfortunately for me but fortunately for my parents’ finances, Shari Lundy took one look at my hand, and the length of my arms, on the first day of Strings class in Grade 6, and said “you’re playing violin. You’d hurt yourself on anything else.” I still don’t love the sound of the E string, which is half of why I play second violin (skill level is without question the other half!). On the other hand, now that I change my strings more often, I don’t mind it as much.

You play electric violin as well - how cool is that! How did you get interested in it, and what types of music have you been playing?

I had my 50th birthday during the early days of pandemic lockdown, in late March 2020. Since none of the usual celebratory options were really on the table, I bought myself a present for my milestone birthday - a 5-string electric violin.

I first encountered electric orchestral strings in high school, and honestly was not much impressed. In 1997, I had worked as assistant stage manager on a production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texasby Etobicoke Musical Productions. One day I noticed that the sole violinist was using an electric violin. Her instrument was eye-catching, with a swirly blue paint job reminiscent of electric guitars, so that was fun. I also noticed that she had five strings, instead of the usual four. I spoke to her, and she explained that she was playing a hybrid instrument that added the viola's C-string to the normal violin strings, and meant that she could play lower, and could also double the viola part if needed. In fact, for this particular production, the violin and viola parts had been rearranged to be playable by a single player. Of course, I immediately saw the risk of this development as it would decrease the need for professional string players if it caught on. At the same time, I paid special attention to her playing throughout the run of the show, and really enjoyed it. Along with amplification came the option to add pedal effects, like distortion and wah, which helped her instrument to fit in much better with the rock-country feel of the show. It also seemed like a lot of fun. Hearing the instrument playing different genres of music, and after ten years of development in the quality of electronic sound, really opened my eyes to the possibilities.

I was starting to get serious about the prospect of the purchase even before lockdown in 2020 and had been checking out different options. In one store that shall remain nameless, my daughter was shopping for more traditional violin music and supplies, while I browsed the electric violins with increasing interest. The clerk came up to me and I asked a question about one of the violins. He sniffed, and said "oh, those are only good for prog rock and jazz. And maybe musical theatre." He walked away. I thought, "what exactly is wrong with prog rock, jazz and musical theatre?" When it came time to buy, I went elsewhere! I ended up choosing a brand made in England called Bridge, because their electric violins sound great, are well made, and also have about the narrowest fingerboard that is practical, so my risk of injury with that fifth string is lower. Also, I liked their design - electric instruments can look so much more exciting than acoustic ones, and I had decided that if I was going to take the electric plunge, I wanted to go all the way. My new royal purple violin, with a dragon painted on the scroll, along with a pedal board, an amplifier, a mixing board, and all the required cables, arrived just after my 50th birthday, and as instructed by the dismissive salesman, I have been using it to play prog rock, jazz, and musical theatre, and having a great time with it.