The Weekend Vote on Violinist.com

V.com weekend vote: What do you use to tune your violin?

Sat, 18 May 2013 05:09:24 GMT

What do you use to tune your fiddle, when you have no orchestral oboist around?

V.com weekend vote: Do you know who the former player/owner of your current fiddle was?

Sat, 11 May 2013 21:13:15 GMT

If violins could speak, what stories they might tell! I wonder -- ardently -- who played my Italian violin before me. I know that it was in a state of great disrepair when my luthier restored it, that it came to him from England, but no more. It did not come with a long paper trail, just a beautiful voice that can't speak any language or tell me about anything but music. It's about 200 years old, and clearly it was played before I had it. But by whom? And where? And what did they play on it? I ponder these questions, having dived deeply this week into the well-documented history of the violin Frank Almond plays, the 1715 Lipinski Strad. That violin went everywhere, played so many things and touched the hands of all kinds of famous people from our history books! Of course, a violin's story doesn't even have to be anything so high-profile as this in order to still be fascinating. I found it very interesting, for example, when I went to a concert at my daughter's high school and discovered that an old velvet fiddle case I'd donated to them was being used to collect donations for the school district. There it was, with my maiden name and childhood address, still on a little metal plate! And I also discovered that one of my former students had lent her violin to another former student that I'd started in a school program -- she was still playing and needed a nice instrument. Glad she got it! It's a small world, full of real stories that are so much wackier than fiction. Do you know who was the former owner of your fiddle?

V.com weekend vote: Have you ever bought a violin you ended up strongly disliking?

Sun, 05 May 2013 04:49:29 GMT

I was so excited, buying my very first violin at the music store. I knew the best one to get, too: the one with the prettiest case. Yes, that's right. I was about 10 years old, and I'd been playing for about one year. It's possible that I was judging the fiddle by the wrong attributes. My ear told me fairly quickly about my mistake, and the case -- not all that great -- was no consolation. Awful fiddle! What sweet relief, when I inherited my grandmother's fiddle, which was so much better. One can fall out of love with a fiddle for a number of reasons: you could have made the mistake of a beginner, as I did. Or, the violin's voice did not develop well over time, as can be the case with a brand new violin. Or your taste matures, and you simply wind up needing a different sound, response, etc. out of your violin. How about you, have you ever bought a violin that you later wound up disliking?

V.com weekend vote: Have you ever had a lesson in which you played barely more than one phrase of music?

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:09:51 GMT

Sometimes it happens: You play three notes and your teacher says, "STOP!" Fix this, fix that, more of this more of that! Okay, okay. You play three more notes, "STOP!" I really felt for the student who submitted a discussion related to this topic this week. I try not to do this, as a teacher. I feel like it's important for a student to play for me, as they have played all week, so that I can tell how they are actually doing things. And, I don't want to create a neurosis in them, whereby a violinist develops a Pavlovian response to playing for people, expecting that they'll be stopped and criticized. But that's me on my moral high horse. Sometimes a student grabs the bow with a claw clutch, slouches their scroll to the floor, plays staccato when it should be legato�."STOP!" I can't bite my tongue that hard! I don't think I've ever done this for a whole lesson, but I'll admit that I do interrupt, some times more than other times! Have you ever had -- or given -- a lesson in which you (or your student) played barely more than one phrase of music?

Weekend vote: How big is your mute collection?

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:01:46 GMT

Recently one of my students needed guidance purchasing her first mute, to use in orchestra because they are playing the Berceuse from the Firebird. At the same time, I'm working on an interview with Rachel Barton Pine about her new Violin Lullabies album, in which she used mutes for several of the pieces. She went on a delightful tangent all about mutes. She has a friend who has the largest collection of stringed-instrument mutes in the world: more than 5,000! I thought I had a lot of mutes, with a half-dozen. In fact, I thought I had a half-dozen, but I only have four -- others have gone to orchestra colleagues in need, etc. At least one got thrown away because it shredded my strings. I'm also not crazy about mutes that rattle around while I'm playing. Here are my four mutes.

The one I use most for orchestra playing is on the upper left, and I tried to find a link to it, but this mute seems to have disappeared from the universe. Anyone who knows where to buy one (all it says on it is "shield") please share the info! The one on the far right is an old-fashioned wooden mute; I remember that conductor Victor Yampolsky insisted we use these particular mutes for a muted section, I believe in a Shostakovich Symphony. The bottom mute is a practice mute. The top-middle mute pictured above is also quite excellent and very convenient for orchestra playing, and it has a very interesting connection -- it was actually invented by Fred Spector, the gentleman with the 5,000 mutes! Spector is retired from the Chicago Symphony, where he played in the first violins for 48 years. He actually invented his own model of mute in 1947 -- made it from aluminum. Then 50 years later he put it into production, made from a rubber compound and manufactured by Super-Sensitive strings in Florida. It is called a Spector mute. Fred Spector's mute collection is a fascinating topic. The man has mutes made from everything -- steel, leather, plastic, wood, tin, metal -- "There isn't a material I can think of that they haven't tried to make a mute with," he says. And his oldest mute? One from the 1690s, possibly owned by the young Mozart, as it was found in a case that contained one of his fractional-sized violins. Holy Ancient Mute, Batman! I found all this information on Rachel's Violin Adventures podcast (an interview in two parts, Episode 11 and Episode 13) -- it's a fascinating interview, I totally recommend it. So how does your mute collection compare?

V.com weekend vote: Has your instrument ever gone missing for more than a day, either because it was lost or stolen?

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:40:00 GMT

About five years ago we talked about forgetting your fiddle somewhere. But have you ever had your instrument go missing for more than a day, either because it was lost or stolen? I imagine this is pretty rare, but extremely distressing. This week one of our Violinist.com members from Sweden, Bertil Ottertun, wrote a blog called Using Technology to Fight Violin Loss and Theft, which advocates the creation of a worldwide registry for valuable instruments that would allow for electronic tracking of instruments. He also suggested that it should be accessible to all, with something like a smart phone app. Such a system would not only be a major deterrent to thieves, but it also would help people who simply lose their instrument due to human blunder: leaving it in a taxi or on the train, leaving it in a restaurant, etc. It seems to me that for a registry and tracking system to be effective, it would need to be something that is not designed for profit, but is designed for public good and available either for free or for a very small fee so that the one registry is widely used by all. That way, every dealer and luthier (maybe even every pawn shop) could easily check their inventory, every player could track his or her own instrument, every police department could easily jump onto the system for investigations, etc. How would it be funded, developed, etc.? That's the big question! I welcome your ideas! Here's our vote, and if you have any ideas about technology and tracking fiddles, please chime in!

V.com weekend vote: Have you ever felt the need to use earplugs to protect your hearing during a performance?

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:01:13 GMT

"I'm going to be deaf after this gig!" I've heard fellow orchestral musicians say it, when they have to sit in front of the drums, or with a trumpet bell in their ear, or right next to the piccolo, or in front of an amplification system for a pops gig. I thought I'd make this the weekend vote, so here is the vote, and I'll discuss the topic at length below. I no longer laugh over the idea that "this gig is making me deaf." Over a lifetime, musicians actually do experience hearing loss because of exposure to loud noise, and protecting one's hearing becomes very important. For me, pops concerts have been the biggest culprit. They are often outdoors, or in large arenas, and they are often amplified. Many, many times, I've emerged from performances of pops concerts feeling almost nauseated by the pain in my ears. It's not just the ringing -- though it is that -- but it can also cause physical pain. Using conventional earplugs can mitigate the damage, for sure. The problem is that you can't hear yourself with any clarity, as they simply block out noise, and what does come through is full of fuzz. One feels like an artist who is painting while blindfolded! Thus, sometimes I would plug just one ear, or I'd give up and take them out, just so I could hear myself play. The result was still the ringing headache. About five years ago I spoke about my concerns to a doctor, and I decided to invest in some physician-made earplugs. There are a number of kinds of earplugs for musicians; the kind that I have are by a company called Etymotic and can be found here. They were developed specifically for musicians in the Chicago Symphony, by a doctor named Mead Killion, who also just so happens to be an amateur violinist! So they serve the orchestral musician quite well. What they do is attenuate the sound, so you hear all the same things, just a lot softer. They must be fitted to your ear specifically, as they fit in there like a hearing aide, but happily enough, the Etymotic site has a dealer locator service to help people find a physician in their area.

My fancy schmancy earplugs :)

My earplugs were put to the test last night, when I played in a very fun, but loud and highly amplified pops concert. Lately I'd already been feeling sensitivity in my ears because of mild allergies (it's high-pollen spring here in Southern California, even if it's still frigid in so many places!). So I felt it was especially important to protect my ears. I wore the earplugs for both the rehearsal and the concert, and I found that I was able to hear myself clearly, if very softly. After the concert, I did not feel the effects of having played in an amplified pops concert -- no headache, very little ringing. The only thing I felt was the slight discomfort of having a foreign object in my ear, but that goes away right after taking them out. So that's my earplug story. What are your experiences with loud concerts and protecting your ears? Does anyone have other experiences, strategies or products to recommend? It is important that we all protect our hearing!

V.com weekend vote: What is the likeliest thing to draw you to a live concert performance?

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:23:00 GMT

When I attend a concert, it's because�.how would you answer? Do you attend in order to hear a particular ensemble or hear a particular guest artist? Do you attend because certain repertoire will be played? Do you attend simply to experience something new? You may have a combination of reasons to go to a concert, but what would be the single likeliest draw for you? For me, it's usually the guest artist. Even when I went to see the entire Mahler symphony cycle in LA, it was because Dudamel was conducting the LA Phil -- the draw was Dudamel, because I knew I would hear Mahler a certain way. The Mahler was a secondary draw! Of course, I have on occasion chosen a concert, simply because of the repertoire. How about you? Do you go to hear a specific artist? Do you go to hear repertoire? Or, do you simply never go to live concerts? Let us know:

V.com weekend vote: From what century is your fiddle?

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:23:26 GMT

I find that an audience enjoys hearing about my fiddle, as much as I enjoy telling them about it. It's about 200 years old, so I like speculating that maybe the piece I'm about to play (if it's an old classic) is something that was played on the fiddle before I was even born! People seemed equally curious about my 20th c. violin as well; as it was made in Montana, had some amber in the varnish, etc. I actually knew much more about it, because the maker was living. From what century is your primary fiddle? (Remember, if it was made in 1950, it's a 20th-century violin, if it was made in 1789, it's an 18th century violin, etc.)

V.com weekend vote: Do you REALLY know who made your fiddle?

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 21:45:37 GMT

Do you REALLY know who made your violin? I started thinking about this because violin collector and maker Bill Townsend told me that the T.V. show Treasure Detectives is airing an episode about the authenticity of violins and other art objects this Tuesday. They use some scientific methods to try to determine if something is the real deal, or a high-end forgery. One can argue that none of us really knows who made our instruments, unless one was sitting in the room with the luthier. But using reasonable logic -- as in, what your dealer told you when you bought the fiddle and what you've learned about it since -- do you believe you know the maker of your violin? And do you think it would it stand up to scientific scrutiny? For example, I have a Gagliano brothers violin, and that's pretty well documented. But I don't know which brother made it! I knew who made my 20th-century violin; but I've no idea what the deal is with my German factory-made fake Strad. How about you? Are you pretty sure who made your violin, or are there doubts? If you have more than one violin, answer the vote for your main instrument, and please tell us about your experiences in finding out the truth behind who made your violin.