What makes a violin great. Part 1
What makes a violin great? Is it age, power, playability, or tone? There are a thousand things that make an instrument worthy to be called great. Tone is of primary importance, so what is good tone? This is the question I often hear. My answer is always shortened to a few words, for it is impossible to pass on years of experience. Tone is a combination of vibrations traveling in the air. As the tones are made by an instrument they start as vibration. If a violin is made correctly it has a lively responsive feel in the hand, this is translated into waves of sound in the air. The tone can be described in many ways and each person has a unique experience when they hear an instrument. Some prefer a dark sound (less bright and sharp) others like the traditional tones of a violin and do not like a deeper sounding G string which can have a viola type sound. Age and softening of the wood work together to make a violin more responsive and of warmer tone. It is this warmth and ease of response that often make old violins a treasure. Every violin has small differences from other instruments that make it unique. Uniqueness can be good or bad depending on whether the violin conforms to accepted qualities or has qualities that are undesirable such as wolf tones or dead spots(unresponsive areas). There is also the vocal quality, this is the voice of the instrument and how it sounds like a human voice. A human choral tone is often desirable as it feels more human and capable of conveying emotion and feeling. It is this ability that sets the viol family apart from most instruments. In the hands of a master a violin can bring the most subtle emotion to an entire symphony hall.
Most people generalize tonal expressions such as warm, sharp, soft, hard, stiff, metalic, or in a box. These words convey the feeling you have when you hear the tone to others, they convey a quality as you feel you hear it. Knowing how to describe sound and tone is important to a player as it is its own language, it is a medium that allows conversations to adjust, improve or describe a tone or sound. It is in fact the tone that sets players apart as performers and instruments apart as individuals. In the end the violin only has possibilities and capabilities, it is the player who makes the instrument sing.
Part two of what makes a violin great will talk about construction and wood.
Vincent J Lour Blanc
www.oldworldtradingco.com
Replies (9)
First question. Yes wood gets stiffer with age, but if it is in a continual state of use(vibration) the wood grain softens. Also oxidation acts on the structure of the fibers to break down the molecular bond. If a good sounding violin is put into storage and not played is tends to loose its tone and stiffen up. Old violins sound less tinny and have a warmer fuller sound if they are good.
Next question. Sound over a laptop. I would prefer hearing a violin in person but it is possible to catch the essence of the true tone and make it available. However there are many factors that can limit the quality and it is safer to hear a violin in person before making the final purchase. Just keep the option to return the instrument if you buy from abroad.
"What makes a violin great? "
One thing only really.
The player.
John Cadd wrote:
Can you ever tell if a violin is great by listening to a laptop ? If you can , who makes them.? I want one. Speakers are the way most people hear violins these days.( in terms of numbers of listeners ) I have given up with television speakers. Separate amplifiers and hi- fi get a bit scary then. The shooting sounds a bit too real.( from behind the sofa.) Some experimenters even tried making the speaker cone out of spruce. Violin wood speakers. Close up to a violin you hear the bow on the hair. It sounds more alive , not filtered.
I hope you're joking John. The only real place to know if a violin is great is in a hall. With modern technology, you can make any piece of wood sound great. When you're looking to purchase a great fiddle, you take it to a hall. Most fiddles sound good when played in a room. It's only in a hall where you get the nuances and also see how the instrument really projects.
Even the great artists of the past sounded different on recordings. Unfortunately, a lot of the greats have passed on, but I guarantee you that the experience of hearing them live was very different to what you heard on their recordings.
Great means different things to different people.
Great for a player.
Great for an audience.
Great for a collector.
Great as in historically important.
All different.
"I would prefer hearing a violin in person but it is possible to catch the essence of the true tone and make it available."
Well, not much. You can tell some things from recordings, but nowhere near enough to make a decision.
"What makes a violin great? "
One thing only really.
The player.
That's preposterous. A few years ago, a top soloist came to town to do a recital. He was playing on a new $1500 Chinese violin, and it showed. It sounded strident and obnoxious, and I was offended that I paid $$ to be subject to that. I left with a headache. Prior to the concert, I had no idea what he was playing on, and only found out later. Great players can make a poor fiddle sound reasonable compared to a student, but that's about it.
What makes a violin great? Perhaps a combination of accoustics, aesthetics, and provenance. A great violin is developed over its lifetime.
Starting with an expert luthier with a knack for spotting acoustically superior tonewood; the understanding of how wood flexes, breathes, and ages; knowing the ideal shape of each individual piece; skill in fine finishing; expert setup; and a bit of luck. If all the above is true, you may have an excellent instrument, but is it a great violin?
To propel something from excellence to greatness requires something more. Add the finesse of a truly great violinist, plus an intriguing history and provenance to match.
Preserve all these conditions and you may now have a truly great violin.
Encase it in a climate-controlled enclosure in a museum in a pristine state of preservation, and it may be priceless. :)
Good wood, good maker, age, good player, good maintenance, sound can be a little subjective. for example are you a strad person or a del gesu person. but there are some specifics in quality of sound that make a great instrument.
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December 7, 2010 at 11:36 PM ·
You've mentioned that "Age and softening of the wood work together to make a violin more responsive and of warmer tone.".
Well, it seems that age stiffens the wood.
www.manfio.com