Utah native Rob Landes began learning to play the violin when he was 3 years old. The son of amateur musicians, his mother a pianist and his father a violist, Landes and his six siblings were each expected to play an instrument. He jokes that his mom said they only had to practice on the days they wanted to eat.
All jokes aside, Landes really didn’t have much of a choice in learning to play the violin, and he remembers crying during music lessons when he became frustrated. But were it not for his parents' encouragement, he says he likely would have quit a long time ago, long before playing the violin became fun.
“I just think it’s so important to have parents that can see the ultimate value in something like learning music and letting their kids go through something hard and not letting them quit when they want to give up," Landes said.
If his mom had let him quit, Landes would not have performed with Disney’s Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, which allowed him to play the violin at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and appear on Disney Channel. He wouldn't have toured central and southern Europe with the BYU Chamber Orchestra or served as concertmaster of the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra during a performance at Carnegie Hall. And he probably wouldn’t have a video with nearly 3 million views on YouTube. But he did and he does, thanks in large part to his mother.
“Most kids don’t like to practice,” Landes said, citing examples of people who have told him that quitting an instrument in their youth is one of their biggest regrets. “I would say that it’s very rare that you get a kid who likes to practice.”
He is also grateful for the woman who taught him to practice efficiently.
When Landes was 11, he began learning from Vesna Gruppman, who had just begun teaching at Brigham Young University. Gruppman was trained in the former Soviet Union, and her teaching style changed the way Landes viewed the violin.
Landes said Gruppman taught him how to practice, showing him step by step how to use every minute of his time effectively.
“She really believed in me,” Landes said. “I could feel her love for me."
With Gruppman as his teacher from ages 11 to 14, Landes practiced three hours a day, six days a week. That’s approximately 936 hours a year over the course of four years, adding up to an estimated 3,744 hours.
During this time, Landes began winning competitions and soloing in orchestras. Landes said this period of his adolescence also made him a firm believer that “success breeds success.”
“For me, when I started playing like that, I thought, 'I actually think I’m OK at this, … and I enjoy it, and it’s something I want to do long term,” Landes said. “… So that was one of the main turning points was having a dedicated, loving teacher who knew exactly how to teach me.”
Landes, who has taught violin lessons since he was 13, has tried to show that same love and encouragement to his students. He has found that teaching the value of disciplined practice and then helping students experience success as soon as possible provides motivation, just as it did for him as a young man.
He has found that sometimes all students need to feel motivated to practice is someone who acknowledges the progress they are making. He likens this to losing weight. Often people don’t notice the weight they are losing because it is lost incrementally. However, someone else can point out this weight loss and help them see how far they have come. Similarly, Landes says a good music teacher can help students recognize their progress.
Landes earned a bachelor’s degree from BYU in music performance and then received a master’s in music performance from Rice University. He also served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint in Fresno, California, where he occasionally shared his musical talents.
“The common thread is it’s just so easy for the Spirit to speak to us through music in ways that the spoken word sometimes cannot,” Landes said. “I think it’s important for us to share our gifts. … If you have been given some kind of talent or gift, you can’t share it if that talent hasn’t been sharpened and honed, but I think it’s important to show the Lord that we acknowledge the gift that we’ve been given, as well as hopefully lift the lives and spirits of others."
Just over a year ago, Landes was performing as a member of the Orchestra at Temple Square when he saw an opportunity in a niche market for a classically trained violinist to cross over and play popular music.
“I love classical music,” Landes said. “But a lot of people are not familiar with it and haven’t grown up with it the way I did. I wanted to bring my training and expertise and love for music to the types of songs that people already know.”
He learned how to use a looper pedal, which allows him to build on the sound of his violin, knowing it would intrigue listeners. The pedal creates the illusion that multiple instruments are being played at once, and it can be used in live performances. Landes believes the key to success on YouTube is doing something unique, and for him, the looper pedal has proved to be the ticket to creating viral content.
“The Piano Guys are good players, and they decided to put a piano on a red-rock cliff and do a cover of a cool song, and that was something that hadn’t been done before,” Landes said. “But they took their skills and the music they already had and said, ‘Let’s do something different by putting it in a beautiful, kind-of-crazy location.’ So I think it’s about taking what is already a part of you and adding something that you think would be interesting to distinguish yourself and set yourself apart.”
He has since employed the help of family and friends in brainstorming ideas for video concepts, and he's seeing success.
Landes’ cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” has 2.6 million views on YouTube, and four of his other videos have each been viewed more than 50,000 times. His manager, Aaron Karr of ARK Studios Media Group, said they learned that “timing is everything,” and while “content is king,” how you promote and advertise it is “queen.” Landes' most recent video is a collaboration with Chris The Pianist and was recorded during a recent trip to Thailand. The cover of Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" features traditional Thai dancers.
Landes said the success he has achieved has strengthened his testimony of God's plan.
“I feel like this is one of the reasons why I’m on Earth, actually, is to share my music with other people, and I’ve just had different confirmations that that is what I’m supposed to do in my life,” Landes said. “So the fact that I’m having success with my music now just ties back into the earlier directions or guidance I got to go into music. It just confirms that I’m doing the right thing, so in that way, it strengthened my testimony that God knows me and has a plan for me and it was his plan for me to do this all along.”
While Landes feels his ability to play the violin is a gift and a talent, he also hopes people recognize that it takes a lot of work to develop any talent.
“A lot of times they may not feel like it comes naturally at the beginning,” Landes said. “But if we put the right kind of work into it, have the right training, we put in the dedication and those long hours and those years into things, I think everyone can create something they’re proud of and that they’re excited about.
“… Find something that maybe you feel like you have some natural inclination for or maybe you just love it. Maybe you’re not good at it but you love it. Work hard at it. Find the best mentor, the best teacher, the best coach you can, and do what it takes to be successful.”
Landes plans to release an EP this summer with five or six original songs and dreams of headlining his own tour.
Email: mjones@deseretdigital.com