How "You" is Your Violin?

October 29, 2012 at 10:30 PM

I know a lot of people who play instruments. Some are very casual about it - for example, an organist uncle who is very blase about his exceptional playing, and seems to play solely when he feels like it - and others (a melodramatic cousin, let's say) insist that they "are" their instrument.

A lot of people (like violinist Charlie Siem) have said that they can't really imagine their very identity without their instrument. Others love it and enjoy it, but the relationship ends there.

I know a cellist; at one point, I thought he would murder his younger sister, because she somehow managed to access his cello and dotted it with Dora the Explorer stickers (the horror!).

The furthest I've ever gone in personalising my violin is tying a Lipton's Yellow Tea tea bag around the area where the scroll dips and the beg box begins, just before the begs (really, the only place you could tie something.)

It isn't necessary, and some people have told me it looks ridiculous. Others have said it's strange. To be honest, I don't see the harm. I smile whenever I see it dangling, and it smells lovely, so in my opinion it's a win-win.

Someone asked my why I had my tea bag on there (and small onyx stone from York, to act as a kind of weight on the string) anyway. It's pretty simple. It's personal to me. Maybe it's redundant, and it doesn't make me play better; although really, I feel I do play more smoothly, just knowing it's there.

Stickers? Never. I must draw the line there.

From Shyloh-Symone Bailey
Posted on October 30, 2012 at 10:59 PM

I feel strongly about my violin! : D

From Anne-Marie Proulx
Posted on October 31, 2012 at 3:43 AM

My violin is my boyfriend : )

Well, for now... but even when I'll meet someone, he (the men BF) will have to share that 1st spot... Just as I would do if it was the reverse.

Just musicians can understand this, I'm sure!

I mean, there is everything one wants in the music when it goes well. What could one ask more? Have to put it up there with love...

From Anne-Marie Proulx
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 12:39 PM

Of course, I'm not crazy. I would try to save a human before a violin in a burning house...

But if both are safe, why not love both!

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