Hi Sofia , welcome to VENTS ! How have you been ? Great ! I ’ ve been enjoying the summer , going to camps , hanging out with my friends , and practicing violin !
When did your initial love for music started ? I ’ ve loved violin since I could remember . I was about two years old when my parents took me to an all female Mariachi band and I just started jumping up and down . I pointed to the woman playing the violin , and said , “ I wanna do that ! I wanna play that , mama !” And that really started everything .
From all the instruments out there , what draw you into the Violin ? I think it ’ s because I also love to sing . The violin is the instrument that mostly mimics the human voice . Also I love to be challenged and violin is one of the hardest instruments . ( Sorry pianists !) In violin , you either get the note in tune , or you don ’ t . Then there ’ s the bow and it needs to be parallel , full bow hair , a good bow hold , ect . It ’ s a lot to remember . But I love it ! There have definitely been times where I have been frustrated at the violin and wanted to quit it . When I was around five , I quit ! The “ quit ” lasted half a day . After I heard it , that I really quit , I begged my mom for another chance . I have never quit since . There have been times I wanted to , but I never did . I ’ m so happy and grateful that I didn ’ t .
How was the transition from Mariachi to Classical music ? I actually never played Mariachi . That was the first music I heard the violin play , but I never really did play it . I did however play fiddle music , which is just violin , but played a little more sloppily . I used to play Scottish music and Irish , but mostly play Classical music now .
Speaking of classical music , let ' s talk about " Bach Double " - how did you come up with the idea for this song / compilation ? My dad was working with drones , and he wanted to do some test shots to try it out . Me and Dr . Can volunteered to do a video , and since I was working on Back Double at the time , we thought it was a perfect song to do because it was for two violins ! The first shot we did was the mountain top . We thought it was perfect , because it was flat on top , just like a little stage ! It was breathtakingly gorgeous up there . You could see for miles and we were up pretty high . Me and Dr . Can climbed up there in sneakers and then put on our performance shoes . My little heels were ruined after the shoot because I kept stomping down on the platform for dramatic effect and because I was having fun . The fabric on the shoes peeled off because of the amount of pressure I put on them . The second shoot was the sand dunes and that was so much fun ! We played around a lot in that one . I remember that there were guys on big motorcycles , shirtless , and very few with helmets . I also remember ( I have no idea why or how I remember this ) this little bug on the sand crawling around . It was a beetle or something , and was leaving the cutest little footprints in the sand . I think you can actually see the tiny beetle footprints in the sand in the video . The third shoot was the beach . That one was a freezing one . We woke up at 5:00 am to catch the sunrise and the beach was not very pleasant at 6:00 am . We drove for an hour , making little videos and Dubsmashes . The first shoot at the beach was awful . I was a little diva , not wanting to go into the water because it was cold . I wouldn ’ t take off my jacket , sunglasses , or kitty ears ( which I wear a lot ). So we went back another day , and believe me , I went right into the water that time . No jacket , no shoes , nothing . After the beach shoot , we went straight to Starbucks to get a warm drink .
Bach has a great number of wonderful music pieces - did you handpick them based on your favorite songs or how was the selection process ? It was really the only song I knew that had two violins , and so it worked perfectly .
How did Mr . Canbolat come on board ? Was he part of the whole process from the very beginning ? He actually is my second violin teacher . My first , Mrs . Salisbury , was / is amazing at teaching violin . I was with her since the very beginning . I have been with Dr . Volcan Can for about 3 years now . When Dr . Can first came from Turkey to America to become a violin teacher , we heard about him from a friend . We were so happy with Mrs . Salisbury that we had no reason to leave . But just to see what this was all about , we went for anaudition . Me and my sister both got in ! The pressure of picking between both of them was so hard . I was up half the night crying about who to decide . Finally , I picked Dr . Can because the Colburn School has so many other kids and I ’ m homeschooled . But I love both my violin teachers . Dr . Can is amazing . He ’ s like a big brother to me . But I also respect him and listen !
Different to other performance videos , for this one you actually had your father direct a pretty cool video - how did this all come together ? Did he propose the idea to you or have you been discussing doing something like this for a while ? Propose . It was kind of a slow gradual thing . We ’ ve been working on the video for two years . I had no idea when we first started that it was going to be a music video . It was kind of just test shots . But as we continued , we decided it was going to be something more .
How was the whole film experience ? Absolutely amazing . The places we went were just beautiful . We started shooting it when I was ten , and since I have been getting better violins , and I ’ m getting better at playing the violin , we had to re-record the music again and again . I ’ ve gotten to know Can a lot better then before . I ’ m so grateful for this whole experience .
You get to shoot on different amazing locations - what was your favorite one ? That is the hardest question of all of these . All of them were special in their own way . But if I had to decide , it would have to be the mountain . The view was amazing , me and Can talked and talked , we had snacks , took pictures , and I had so much fun dancing on the top of the mountain with Can and our violins . When we went to the top of the mountain , it was so hard to get up there , because of the rocks . But we later realized , after climbing up the mountain , that there was a much easier way to get up there .
I understand you are working on a follow up to your first debut album BabyStar - how ' s that coming along ? I haven ’ t been working on it as much as violin because I ’ ve been so busy . It ’ s going well . I have a little home recording studio and I get up at 6:00 am to do some recording in quiet . I used to make my albums only voice , but I definitely want some violin in there too .
Would this be a cover album or can we expect some original material ? There are barely covers in there if none . I love doing my own work . I write my own songs and back up . The violin will be songs that I didn ’ t write , for sure , because I don ’ t write violin music . But the songs I sing will usually be songs that I wrote .
Any plans of exploring other less Classical and more modern sounds on this record ? Absolutely . There will be beats for the songs I write and sing . Maybe some beats for even some violin stuff . Sometimes I use the violin for a background stuff or I ’ ll make up a melody with it .
Any tentative release date or title in mind ? It might be called Alive . It might be called As I See It . I don ’ t know right now . Maybe this year or the next , it depends on how much I work on it .
What else is happening next in Sofia Miranda ' s world ? I ’ m going to make a few more videos for my YouTube channel . Maybe some more music videos of me solo with the violin or singing . I ’ m hoping to maybe do a video underwater . Who knows ? I sure don ’ t . I just go where the music takes me . I never planned to study with with Dr . Can . I never planned to make a music video , and I sure never imagined that I would be writing replies to a magazine called VENTS for an interview ! My violin has taken me everywhere , and I ’ m so so grateful for that .