Eva Campbell, a BYU student and violinist, has continually exemplified the power of discipline and trust in God to accomplish anything she sets her mind to.
Campbell is a freshman at BYU. She likes to read, cook and ski. She played golf in middle school, ran track in high school and is currently a member of BYU’s University Orchestra. She does all this and more, with just one hand.
Campbell was born in Brazil, but her family currently lives in New Canaan, Connecticut. She started playing violin when she was six years old.
“It was like the first thing that I really wanted to do that required two hands. So, my parents didn't want to say no right away,” Campbell said. “They were never like, ‘No, you can't do something." They’re like, ‘You can do anything.’ And if I was like, ‘I can't do this,’ they would say, ‘Why?’ They wouldn’t accept ‘I have one hand’ as an answer.”
Campbell shared that her parents decided to get her a prosthetic arm to allow her to play the violin.
“I don’t wear my prosthetic all the time,” she said. “It’s called 'activity specific.' I’ll wear it for violin, when I golf, (and) I’m going to get one for skiing as well.”
Campbell said she was able to receive help with violin from teachers and conductors along the way.
“Obviously it was my first time learning the violin; it was just a trial-and-error basis. No one knew what they were doing, but everyone just had patience, and we all just worked together,” she said. “They knew what an ideal violinist would look like, and so they just tried to allow me to replicate that as much as I could.”
Her high school conductor helped restructure her violin to make it left-handed. While typical violins are held with the left hand and bowed with the right, a left-handed violin is held with the right, and the bow is held with the left hand.
“He went into the violin and flipped everything around for me. He made me a new bridge, so that it would be better, because the E string is supposed to be a certain way,” Campbell said.
The violin that Campbell currently uses is internally switched as well, she said.
According to Rhiannon Nachbaur, owner of Fiddleheads Violin Studio, “The inner workings of a violin — like the bass bar sound post and the way in which the plates are carved — are what support the various frequencies and give a violin the best tone.”
Nachbaur further explained on her website that when a left-handed violin has the inner workings switched, it is easier to play and will produce a better sound than if one had a right-handed violin with just the strings switched.
A left-handed violin makes it possible for Campbell to hold the bow with her prosthetic left arm and play the notes with her right. While the learning process took time, Campbell said she was willing to practice.
Her brother, Bryce Campbell, shared that he admired his sister’s discipline.
“She's very disciplined, very determined to have success,” he said. “There's never been anything she couldn’t do.”
Eva Campbell said she loves music, and that music and playing the violin help her feel connected to her grandmother.
“My grandma passed away, too, and she was really into music. She was an excellent pianist, but no one else on that side of the family really plays music, and she always loved that I played the violin,” she said. “I think I just kept that going just so someone in the family is still involved in music. Because that was a huge part of her.”
Eva Campbell said she was recently asked to speak about adversity and trials at a stake conference, and was suggested to speak about having one arm.
“I was talking to my parents about it, and was like, ‘That's crazy, because I have never seen this as a trial,’” she said. “For me, that's just life.”
Eva Campbell said she has never been insecure about her arm. Her brother Bryce Campbell also said it never impacted the way he saw her.
“It's never something I really ever thought of; I only really remember if someone says it or someone asks me about it,” he said.
Eva Campbell said her perspective about it was a little different than others.
“I really think that once you have weaknesses, God gives you things and strengths that will allow you to overcome it. I was born with this physical difficulty, but I was also born with a family that is financially stable and with good parents,” she said. “People can have two hands, but their struggle is their home life. We all have resources that will help us get through whatever we’re going through.”
Bryce Campbell expressed his admiration for his sister, saying she is "very faithful" and has a "strong testimony."
“Look for the good in everything,” Eva Cambell said. “When you put God first, everything else falls into place.”