YouTube is such a funny little world. You can create a fanbase.

If your mom asks you to do the dishes, do not pull out your pirate attitude. But if someone tells you you're not good enough, says your dreams are too lofty, or claims there is no room in showbiz for a dancing violinist - well then, by all means, pull out your eye patch, my friend, and take to the high seas.

I submitted videos and applications to talent agencies and TV shows; I drove to Vegas and visited agents. I was on 'America's Got Talent'; I played for free at venues in attempts to be 'found' and yet all the experts in the entertainment industry told me that what I did was not marketable and that I had to join a group or do more traditional music.

I was told at first that being different was a bad thing. Everywhere I went, it was just, 'You're too different'... And it turned out that being different was the best thing that ever happened to my career. It is why people travel to my shows. It's why people want to hear my story and buy my book.

I was classically trained. But more than just the fact that I play violin, there's a lot of classical elements in the way I write, in the way I hear chords. A lot of times, I think of my songs as a symphony made out of electronics rather than instruments. And I love to do orchestral arrangements of my songs after they're done.

I love to perform not only music, but to make performances extremely visual, and create almost a magical fantasy. It's really an uplifting style of art that combines visuals and music in very dreamlike ways.