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Believe or not, I find my new violin that I recently brought back from China (a nice handmade performance-level violin) is too loud under my left ear. I’m using an ear plug to practice everything including the scales. Am I the odd one here? Greetings,
no, I think that can happen. I have found violins that are painful to the ear. The loudest violin `with quality` I have ever played was a fantastic Andreas Guarneri. However, that didn`t hurt at all so I wonder if the jarring has soemthign to do with some kind of deepr level quality as well? The only thing I can think of is the rather obvious idea of changing to a differnet brand of string.
Cheers,
Buri Thanks Buri. That's good to know, as the thought of always playing with an ear plug is not very attractive. I've got an appointment with my luthier tomorrow to have it tuned and see what he'll suggest. I'll try different strings for sure. The violin is new so a lot can happen to the sound later when it opens up, I hope. Opens up?
It might get louder.....;) Thank you, Buri. I'm so sick of hearing people play nothing but fortissimo with exactly the same tone color all the time (here and elsewhere and everywhere else in my generation.)

Yixi, what strings are you using? Evah Pirazzis used to have that nasty blaring quality on my old violin.

I know Buri! I was hesitating when I putting the word down, but then I meant to say the violin will have more matured/balanced/harmonious sound to my ear but carries afar, something like a good canary’s song: not too loud nearby but you can hear blocks away. I’m sure this is the ideal situation but ‘opening up’ may be the wrong word for it?
Mara, I’m using Dominant G-A and Pirastro gold plated E. I’ve got a set of Infeld Red, and a couple of different brands (Wondertone Solo, Pirastro Jargar) of E strings to try out once I got the violin checked up by my luthier tomorrow. The loudness of this violin doesn’t seem to bother me in certain rooms (ones with more furniture for instance), but in my practice room, which has low ceiling and a lot of wood around, the sound resonant very sharply into my left ear. My teacher tried it when I was at her place and said it was a loud violin, but she didn’t find it too loud as I do. But then, she married to a gorgeous trumpet player, me to a quiet scholar;) Buri, I really need some of your string therapy after spending the weekend in a pit, playing in front of two trombones. That acoustical environment had the effect of shell shock to the soul. As a result, I (--ashamed to admit) damaged a nerve in my left pinkie from overplaying; I can't seem to keep from overplaying in those situations. For trombonists, there's only loud and louder. All forte, all weekend long.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject. I'm especially glad to confirm that different violins have different shiny spots. Sometimes I'm working with students and their violins, and we make some very interesting discoveries about the personalities of individual instruments, as far as resonance is concerned.

When teaching, do you ever play your students' instruments?

yixi, the other angle is to consider the effect of soundpost position in relation to the bridge. also, the thickness (mass if you will) of the bridge may also play a role in filtering out or in certain frequencies. may be a more qualified luthier can tell you more.

we had a loud violin at one time (to the point that my kid asked for a mute because it literally gave my kid headaches. when we switched to a bridge that is thicker, the piercing higher frequency sound is diminished and the violin tone become deeper but in a pleasant way.

overall, i think it is easier to modulate a loud violin than to try to coax a wimpy one to open up. have fun!

Yixi,

Yes, I have had "screaming" violins before. Ick. I think you're smart to wear the earplug for the time being. A soundpost adjustment should help the problem- just go to the luthier and have them move the post until the sound is full but not piercing. Buri and others correct me if I'm wrong, but in my experience a screaming violin is usually also an unbalanced one that is crying out to be adjusted...

Thanks guys! Just got back from my luthier and here is the report: the violin is quite well made, powerful and has a lot of potential, but the set up needs quite a bit of tweaking: it’ll need a new bridge to replace the forged Aubert Luxe, a different sound post (the current one is a bit too short), the finger board and neck need to be thinned as well.

Buri, sorry getting this blog off the track. Back to your original point, my teacher told me to play the trumpet if I wan to play loud. Cute eh? ;)

Greetings,
Howard, the screaming violin may not have been touched enough as a baby.
This was hte secret of Stradivarius.
Cheers,
Buri Buri, I know that YOU may think it's ok to go around touching violins on the f holes, but the rest of us think it's... weird.

What I meant by unbalanced was that prob. the e string was very loud, but the g and d thin.

Cheers, I'm out of here... the comedy is over.

:) not till the fat lady sings. or, in this case, the granny :)