January 2010

V.com weekend vote: How old is your violin?

January 30, 2010 22:08

You know the saying, "the older the fiddle, the sweeter the music."

Actually, there are a lot more factors than "oldness" that relate to a fiddle's "sweetness." But today, I'd like to talk about age; specifically, how old is your primary fiddle?

I have three fiddles, made all over the world and across several centuries. My Gagliano, made in Italy, is about 200 years old. My old German fiddle is about 120 years old, and my American, made by David Scroggin, just barely qualifies as a 20th-century fiddle, made in 1999 in Bozeman, Montana.

Does age matter? It's a good question, made confusing by the fact that certain masters happened to make all their fiddles several centuries ago. Let's take Antonio Stradivari, for example,. A Strad, necessarily, is 275 to 330 years old. Are Strads exceptional because they have "aged," or because of their craftsmanship? This is open to debate.

I don't actually know of too many 400-year-old fiddles, but the ones I do know tend to be Amatis – more fine violin makers – with Nicolò likely being teacher to Stradivari. Does this mean that a given violin will sound better at 400 years than it does at 100 years? Or does it just mean that the only violins that were kept over 400 years, instead of being chopped up and used for firewood, were the great ones?

I can give personal testimony to the fact that a century-old fiddle does not necessarily surpass a modern one for sound quality, simply by virtue of its age; my modern American sounds far better than my much-older German violin.

I tend to think that quality of wood and craftsmanship has a bigger role than does age, but age can "mellow" a fiddle. Certainly, a violin gets "played in," and it does matter how this is done, and by whom. Make your violin resonate; it opens up over time. Play it carelessly; it shuts down.

What are your thoughts and experiences regarding violins of various ages? Please tell us how old your primary instrument is, and then share your thoughts in the comments section below.

poll by twiigs.com

27 replies | Archive link

V.com weekend vote: Does your fiddle 'act up' in cold or wet weather?

January 23, 2010 11:53

This week the rain fell in torrents, all week long in southern California, and everything acted up or fell down: mud slid down mountains, fiddles went flat, the phone line went dead, my ankle complained about a long-ago injury...

What happens to your fiddle when the weather gets cold, rainy or changeable? Mine has been through several hundred years, undoubtedly many of those in an environment without any kind of sophisticated humidity or heating systems. Sometimes a peg just lets go, but things don't usually get too crazy.

As for my students, how very out-of-tune their fiddles were this week! I'm guessing this was due to a number of factors, but mainly two: first, having the violin close to a heating vent, where the air changes pretty radically; and second, taking the violin in and out of cold cars, back into warm buildings, etc. I believe that change affects the violin most (and luthiers, feel free to correct or refine this idea!

Many of you are in very cold, wintry environments, and others are actually in a different hemisphere then I am, but please answer the poll, then share with us your stories about the weather and its effect on your violin, viola, cello, etc.

poll by twiigs.com

14 replies | Archive link

V.com weekend vote: How often do you rehair your bow?

January 15, 2010 22:52

Every six months for me.

As a teacher of young students, I always have to educate them on this point; yes, you do need to get your bow rehaired with some frequency and no, once every few years is not so great!

Why does one have to get the bow rehaired? It works something like this: As we know, our bows are strung with horse hair. If you were to put one of those hair follicles under a microscope, it would look fuzzy, like it had a lot of tiny fingers sticking out of it, all pointing in the same direction, like on a pine tree. Those little fingers are what tickles the string like a zillion microscopic pizzicatos, making it resonate and come to life. A proper bow rehair would put half the follicles one way and half the other way, so we have the "fingers" pointing in both directions.

After much playing, these tiny "fingers" get worn down and lose their grab, like a car with bald tires. The more you play, the faster the hair gets worn. When that happens, you need new hair on the bow.

So how often do you rehair your main bow?

poll by twiigs.com

24 replies | Archive link

V.com weekend vote: How do you feel about movement during performance?

January 8, 2010 12:05

Let's face it, some people move a lot when they play, whether it's the leader of a string quartet, a soloist or an orchestra player. Is this okay?

I've seen reviewers skewer performers because they moved too much. On the other hand, a performer who stands stock-still and stoic can convey a kind of indifference. Have you ever seen an orchestra, where everyone seems laid-back? Having economized all their motions, they look a little like they're "mailing it in."

And yet, one of the finest performances I've ever seen was cellist Janos Starker playing the Franck Sonata. He didn't need to "emote" with movement because the music conveyed everything it needed to convey.

So where do you stand on this subject? And please, do not use this space to complain about the performing habits of specific musicians. You can describe something you found annoying, but please, no names unless you are doling out praise.

poll by twiigs.com

36 replies | Archive link

More entries: February 2010 • December 2009