Choosing an Instrument or Bow

 

Most of the players who come into our shop admit to a degree of confusion when it comes to choosing an instrument or bow. This confusion is not really surprising. Beginners have no point of comparison and are often afraid to trust their own judgment. More experienced players can be hampered by being too close to the instrument; they know what they think it should do, but are invariably bringing techniques and expectations developed using different and often inferior equipment. Many players have instruments and bows that were either inherited or chosen for them, and it is possible to play an instrument for 20 years and never have the experience of choosing for yourself. Over the last 20 years we have watched a lot of people choosing violins and bows and this is an attempt to summarize our experience. These are observations and suggestions rather than a list of do's and don'ts, and almost all have been gleaned from the remarks of players and teachers themselves.

 

When most people try a selection of violins what we usually hear is their musical

personality rather than the sound of the instrument. It is not surprising that instruments of widely differing ages and nationalities can all sound much the same when it is the player we are listening to, rather than the instrument. The musical personality of the player is of course very important; people spend years working hard at becoming the player they are, but it really only becomes important when performing and it can often get in the way of hearing what the equipment wants to do.

 

Anyone who can say after 30 minutes that they can't tell the difference between 10 violins or bows is listening to themselves, not the equipment.

 

Testing an instrument or bow is not like practising or performing. Rather it is a bit like test driving a car: you are revving the engine and driving around in circles, exploring the possibilities of the vehicle rather than going on a journey. Probably, the best way to test instruments is to accentuate the differences between them. Often the "less is more" principle applies. If the violin is properly set up you should be able to take it for granted that it will play the music, so don't play the music. What the player needs to do is find out how the instrument will play the music. Reduced to a ridiculous extreme all the instrument has to do is play loud, soft, fast and slow. If it will do that on a couple of scales of the player's choice then it should be able to handle the piece of unaccompanied Bach or the Irish jig you wish to play on it when you get it home. In any violin shop you only have a limited amount of time and you should be making a shortlist of possibilities rather than airing your repertoire. One of the least helpful things a player can do is to put a piece of music up on a stand, because then the concentration is on the notes 2 feet away instead of the instrument they are playing. Sadly, few training systems encourage playing away from the notes. If you do need to play a piece, then do not work on your latest one; play something you know very well, and do not play too long or feel you must get to the end of it. When you move to another instrument, play the same piece. Listen in, not to the notes, but to the sound. Sometimes parents or teachers, if present, can be overly critical of posture or intonation, but this is not a lesson and it is important to make the choosing process less stressful ? even fun! ? as well as educational.

 

What the player is learning, or rather realising here, is something other than technique. Anyone who has played for even a few years has put a lot of hours into the instrument and our job is to help players make a decision by showing them that they already know far more than they think they know. It is a constant source of delight how many players of all ages come into the shop saying they can't tell one instrument from another, and within an hour or so are making very subtle distinctions between different qualities of sound. If we can reduce the "what can I make it do?" question to loud, soft, fast and slow, then how are we going to approach the other question "what does it want to do?" This aspect of instrument playing seems to be almost entirely ignored by the western classical and folk traditions; the former in particular seeming to concentrate on dominating the instrument and projecting as big a sound as possible.

 

To hear the sound of the instrument all the player has to do is to rest the bow on the string and then draw it over the string, using just enough weight from the bowing arm to focus the sound. "Float" the sound out and doodle a little, just playing a few notes and listening to the quality of the sound. You are just focusing the sound, not projecting it. Feel how hard you have to work to keep the sound present without either forcing it or letting it get away. Pick up the next violin and do the same. (If you are testing violins use the same bow, and if you are testing bows use the same violin, so that of the three variables, player, bow and violin, only one will change.) Two things should become apparent. One is that the volume and quality of sound will be different from one to the other, and the other is that you will have to work the bow differently to make the sound happen, depending on which violin you are trying. Do you like the sound you are producing. Shifting the emphasis, how hard did you have to work the bow to create the sound? If you have to work harder on one than another to produce the sound, is the extra effort worth it in terms of quality of sound produced? Liking the sound of your instrument is important. If you want a rich, warm sound then a hard, edgy violin will not give you that, and vice versa. By listening to the sound like this you are hearing what the equipment wants to do. Is the sound full or thin, warm, dry, edgy, muffled, focused, muddy ? or any other subjective description/adjective/word you choose to use. In our experience most people buy the instrument or bow they like the sound of when they are doing the least. That way when you play the instrument you are working together.