LEE ENGLAND JR.

Classically trained hip-hop violinist and self-proclaimed “maestro,” Lee England Jr. is changing the way music fans think about the violin. Only 25, England has already worked with talents like Stevie Wonder, P. Diddy, MIMS, and Keri Hilson. On April 14, 2009, Lee made his national television debut when he performed live with MIMS on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

The whole pursuit of hip-hop had never been in my mind. I didn’t make tracks, I wasn’t doing anything like that. I was singing, but I was never confident in my singing. So it was never like I was going to pursue music without the violin. The whole ‘hip-hop over here, violin over here’ was never a question because I was never pursuing hip-hop by itself.

I did a lot of gigs. People always want me to come in and play, and I improvised like nobody’s business. That’s just second nature. I don’t even understand it. (laughs) I was doing a lot of church things, improvising with the band. But then I would do things on my own where I would have an iPod set up with a bunch of instrumentals, and I played more R&B, more soulful things, moreso than I did hip-hop. Because to me, hip-hop can be very contained. It’s very repetitive. So with mimicking singers and things like that, that was where I realized “this is actually going to become something.”

There have been [hip-hop] violinists before. But at the same time there have been very few. People come up to me: “Have you heard of this, this, this?” And I’m like “yup, yup, yup.” There are certain violinists that people always ask me “Have you heard of…?” But there’s not the new person. There’s no one—

Who is there?

There’s Miri Ben-Ari. She was kind of the first. Nuttin’ But Stringz. There’s a group called Black Violins. And then there’s me. The up-and-comer. And I’m trying to do something totally different—the infusion of classical and hip-hop, blues and jazz, whatever I can do. Just make it fit.

Was there ever any resistance from either crowd? From the hip-hop crowd or from your classically trained violin teachers?

There was never that much tension because I’m pretty private about what I do. I’ll make hints at things, but for the most part they weren’t people that had enough influence on me to even feel anything they said that was criticism in a negative way. As far as the hip-hop community and the violin, they definitely embrace it. It’s just like any other instrument except it’s new. No one else is doing it the way that I’m doing it. So people see it, and they’re kind of amazed and shocked. And that’s great.

People see me come on stage with just a violin: “What is he about to do?” One of my shows I put together started with classical music. I’m ripping up some classical and people are like (makes angry face) “Man…” But then I get into the songs that they know, and they let it all go. I’ll go in, and I might be warming up and I have my violin out on stage. And you get the funniest looks with people like “Man, what can he really do with that?” And then afterwards when I come off stage, they’re like “Man, I didn’t know. I just didn’t know.”

The musicians I’m always drawn to are the guys who play down at the L, down in the subway stations. Just set their gear up, set their speakers up—I don’t know what their day-to-day is like, but when they’re down there, you just get the feeling that they’re doing exactly what they want to be doing.

It’s funny: people want to give you money. I had my case closed and way away, because I wasn’t looking to get paid. I was just practicing. It was a nice tunnel, the acoustics were great (laughs). I’m just in my element and not really paying attention to you all. You get to enjoy it, but I’m not really thinking about you. People hear and put money in the case, and I’m like “Nah.” But they’re like “We don’t care what you say.”

People are walking by and I’m playing classical, and they’re amazed. They’ve got their kids watching. And that’s definitely how I feel, even if I’m on stage and there’s a million people: it’s just me and the instrument.

It must be interesting—there’s going to be certain conceptions of what a black guy your age in that hat and jeans is going to be playing. And then you hear the beautiful music. And on the flip side, if you’re in a hip-hop show, they’re only going to notice the violin. And you get to bridge that.

Man…when I was in college, I realized how many times I was able to shatter that barrier, shatter stereotypes. Because people see me, and then they come and hear me play and they’re like “Whoa, I never knew.” It’s a wonderful feeling, but it’s not there beforehand, because they’re judging me going “This can’t be.” When I’m done playing, it’s like an epiphany.

They’re looking at the pieces, and they can’t figure out how it’s supposed to fit together.

That’s unfortunate.

And yet, every time you step up, you’ve got that opportunity to fundamentally change the way that someone is looking at another person.

Yeah. (thinking) That’s pretty deep.

We are at Flashpoint Academy in downtown Chicago. Lee is preparing for a recording session with all of the day’s work being filmed. I first met him the previous night, and he was just as silent and reserved then as he was before we sat down. In fact, while an entire crew of people are setting up sound and checking the lights and the lenses, and while his own production team—comprised entirely of family—are doing their own sound checks and testing the studio keyboard, Lee seems to occupy his own secluded, bubbled space. He is playing his violin banjo style, his head down as he plucks the strings, and I notice he is not looking away from the surrounding bustle but is simply unaffected by it. One gets the sense that when his hands are on a musical instrument, when he is blessed with time to play, all other activity gets reduced to zero.

Fortunately, once you’ve got his attention, the bubble is gone. During our interview, he is enthusiastic, focused, and cheerful, eager to share his love of music with anyone willing to listen. He tells me about his college days, his switch from music to business to music business to performance and then finally to music education.

“I realized that you don’t have to have a performance degree to perform. If I get good enough, people are going to want me to do it with no degree. Give me a music education degree so I can have a job when I get out of here.” Indeed, since graduating from Southern Illinois in 2007, he has simultaneously continued his own music career while teaching elementary school music.

When I was student teaching I was actually doing strings. And that’s my heart. I could talk about strings and teach strings in my sleep. And so the kids were very receptive to that.

I actually ended up bringing all my equipment there. I was recording at the school. I turned the orchestra room into the studio. So when they leave and come back the next day, I’m like, “This is what I’m working on.” And I press play, and it’s got strings and pianos and cellos and all that stuff. And they’re like: “Man! You can do that??!!” And I’m like, “Yeah!”

So when I say, “This is what you should practice. This is how you should practice,” it has so much more weight than if I was to never show them that, if I were to never play for them, if they never knew that I was, outside of school, trying to do something more with the instrument. Kind of paving the way.

What do you think your students get most from you other than the technical expertise?

Just a role model. Someone young, someone passionate, someone fervent about what they’re doing, someone determined. It gives them hope. There was a girl when I was student teaching who played violin and she also sang. And she was trying to do the country thing down there[1]. And so I would tell her how to practice her scales, practice very technical things. I would teach her ways in which to do that, in which she would enjoy it and wouldn’t think about it and would actually be learning. So from me, they’re able to have weighted words. It’s not just a teacher standing there saying “Blah-blah-blah-blah” because they just read it from the book, just like you. I’ve been through this. Somebody that can give you that first hand experience—what they say is always going to weigh more heavily on you.

It must be a cool feeling, because on the one hand you’re coming at the whole hip-hop violin thing and you’ve got nobody specific to look to for inspiration. But you’ve got this whole classroom full of kids who are now looking at you as that person.

(laughs, and then smiles) Man, I never thought about it like that. (pauses) It’s pretty cool I guess.

Does that get you charged up to know that that next generation has at least one more person to inspire them?

Oh most definitely. I see it as, if they’re going the way I think they’re gonna go, there’s gonna be a lot of new violinists. Lots of people going, “I have to sign my son or daughter up for violin. Where can I get a violin?” You know? Because not only does it grab the attention of the youth, but the parents are like, “I didn’t know. And now that I know, I’m going to try to make sure that my child has this opportunity.” After a while it’s gonna be crazy.

It always takes that one person to sort of show everybody…

I’m amazed to say, when I was little, I used to tell my mom “I’m gonna make violin cool.” I didn’t know how I was going to do it. That’s just what I used to say.

And so now, what is it that you most want to pass on to your students? That you want your audience to feel when you pick up that bow…

Man, just being an instrumentalist—you practice so hard, every day. You’re practicing for perfection. But you take that mentality into your day-to-day, and you’re trying to make everything perfect. You’re trying to be good at everything. You have to have a certain passion to even just pick up an instrument and stick with it though the times when you want to put it down. And so playing an instrument, it gives you personality traits. It makes you better, it makes you patient, you have to be tenacious, you have to be diligent. When you get together with a group, you have to be able to hear and listen, and all these things translate into how you live your life. So the better musician you are, the better person you are. That’s what I’ve seen, what it’s done for me, how it’s shaped my life. That’s what I want to transmit on to my students. It’s what I see as the legacy of playing an instrument, any instrument.

Does your work with students change the way that you go after your own art? Either preparation, or your own love for it?

It really helps me understand what I’m doing. After a while—you know, you get so far out of line, and then you have to go back and start fundamentals all over again, and you’re like “Man, I think I need to go back and practice that again.” Even though I could probably turn it back and get it, it would probably be best if I started to re-understand the fundamentals.

They let me do a recording project with the whole orchestra. And so instead of planning something and having everything written out, I would just go to each section like, “Here, do this. Just keeping doing this. Repeat this.” “And you do this.” And I taught them the parts separately and then put them all together, and they were able to listen to it back. So it makes me change the way I do things.

Does it keep you fresh?

Oh yeah. Definitely. Because they have that youthful ear. The new insight. They’re gonna tell you what’s hot. Tell you what’s nice. If it sucks, if it’s not good, they’ll tell you. My favorite line this girl used to say… “That’s ready, Mr. England. That’s ready.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: For more on Lee England Jr., check out http://www.myspace.com/plainenglissh

---

[1] Mt. Vernon, Illinois