ANDRE Rieu is understandably protective of his 277-year-old Stradivarius violin. His prized instrument has its own bodyguard, who enters the hotel lounge carrying its case as if it held the Crown jewels.

The Dutch Musician, conductor and composer would almost certainly refuse any request to touch it, let alone hold the precious violin.

As someone who has always wanted to have a go at playing the violin but feared producing a noise worse than fingernails running down a chalkboard, I couldn't resist asking Rieu yesterday for a quick lesson.

He hesitated. But to his credit, those fine European manners trumped his natural inclination to refuse.

Rieu carefully opened the case to reveal a small stuffed kanagroo, a present from North Melbourne captain Brent "Boomer" Harvey.

"It goes all over the world with me," he says.

The conductor pulls back a green felt cloth to reveal the Stradivarius, made in 1732, and he gingerly removes the violin and bow.

He showed me how to create a "platform" for the instrument by angling my chin to keep it anchored to my left shoulder.

Then the bow. Thumb underneath, middle fingers on top and I'm still not quite sure what position my pinky was meant to assume.

Finally I am ready to give it a crack and move the bow over the bottom string. No cat strangled, no chalkboard squeaked.

Instead, this piece of musical history held its own and the notes sounded beautiful, effortless.

"Now go and buy your own violin and learn," he said.

Rieu's phenomenal success has given a significant boost to the local music industry with more than one million CDs and DVDs sold in the past 18 months.

And he is well pleased to have inspired hundreds of Australian fans to take up violin lessons.

Whether any of them will ever have the opportunity to play with his Johann Strauss Orchestra depends entirely on their technical abilities, personality and his gut instinct.

"It is intuition and I never mistake it," he said.

"What I want to do is play classical music in a way that it is not dull or stuffy."

And you should be able to play anything. Rieu and his 60 orchestral members have a repertoire of more than 800 pieces, including Waltzing Matilda.

As for his verdict on my violin-playing future, Rieu politely suggested I had talent. But I suspect that was the Stradivarius talking.

Andre Rieu will sign copies of his latest album You'll Never Walk Alone at Westpoint Blacktown tomorrow from 2pm. He will also attend a screening of his Live In Australia concert film at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter on Mother's Day.  

Andre Rieu prepares for his Sydney concert | The Daily Telegraph