Lessons from my Dell Tech

May 24, 2007 at 12:31 AM

My DVD drive was acting up and not reading my disks and as the tech walked in he saw the music stand and asked who played.

We got into a discussion. His Mom started him on the violin at age three when he expressed an interest from watching her play. At age six his fingers were too fat or so he thought and he switched to a cello. He has since seen Itzack Perlman's hands while talking to him at a Boise concert and he has hands which my Dell tech said were thirty percent larger than his.

The tech told me he has a 1690 cello that is worth more than his house.

Anyway, he looked at my violin and plucked the strings and said, "Your A string is flat; get them to replace it." I had told him I had just put them on the day before (Evahs).

He told me the A string had a halo of sound, not just one solid note when plucked. He said it could mean my sound bar or my post is coming loose or having problems but I should mic (mike) the A string and see if it was a medium.

He told me he takes a micrometer into the shop whenever he buys strings for his cello (one string can cost well over $100) and sometimes has to go through 15 strings to get one string correct. When he played in the Boise orchestra he had to take a full set in with him in case he broke one. They wouldn't let him leave the stage if he broke a string.

So, I will try and get a micrometer and check it out. He is right because I was playing some this morning and kept hearing the A was off but my tuner said it was on, but sometimes the tuner had to hunt around before settling down and giving me a reading.

This same tuner was strange for the first week. I had to tune my violin and then use the fine tuners up and down to seek a solid note when tuning with it. What the tuner called tuned sounded "tinny".

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on May 24, 2007 at 2:27 AM

I've seen Perlman in concert and, using my opera glasses, I could see that his hands and fingers are quite large -- big and beefy looking. Some of my beginning adult male students say, "I can't put my third finger that close to my second finger. My fingers are too large." I tell them about Perlman.

I've also seen Yo Yo Ma's hands through opera glasses. I was surprised at how long and slender his fingers are. I thought larger, stronger fingers would be necessary to play the cello but obviously, Ma does just fine.

From Robert Berentz
Posted on May 24, 2007 at 12:51 PM

Pauline I use Pentax super bright 10x42 DCF WP for my field glasses. Many smaller glasses give an inferior eye angle (don't fill the eye opening - the 42 number is critical as it denotes a full eye opening) and are therefore uncomfortable. I'm so glad to hear your comments. You must have good glasses to see all of that.

Do you have any comments on fingering and bow hold from all the performers you have seen?

We have a German Shepard Coyote cross male that comes by our place before sunup in the winter. You can tell by the physical size! They are stressed then and cover more territory for food. He is so gorgeous you can't even believe it; black, some white and a iridesent yellow.

The other day my lessee planted corn on my bottom ten and as he left the field the pheasants came in. They can smell corn under an inch and a half cover of dirt like you can't believe. Like from a hundred yards away.

I didn't catch that fact until I saw a small young regular female coyote running circles out there in the field kicking up dust and bounding up in the air chasing birds.

Nevada is the home of the Super Coyote that you can't run down with regular dogs. They hunt them with 7/8's Whippet and 1/8 Irish Wolfhound. They are fast and knock them down with a chest bump. Coyotes will attack new born calves and sheep.

From Elizabeth Smith
Posted on May 24, 2007 at 3:07 PM

I also bring giant field glasses to the orchesta-- when I can remember to.

That's an amazing story about your computer technician.

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