Yourself?

Violin

Well I've been reminded to blog so I will :D Haven't read the last entry, so I'll just start afresh for this post.

I've been learning the violin. It's quite strange to learn at 22 I think, but I've always wanted to play it ever since I played the synth patch on the Korg in Sec 2. Haha actually can't help but think that I've been preparing my whole life to start on violin now. Bow technique is similar to percussion, I've played bows on vibraphones before. Stopping is similar to guitar playing and singing, and the control of volume and tone is something I do while singing or playing the synths. The only difference is that no electronics stand between me and the sound on the violin. Just physics, and the manipulation of air.

The violin will be my second "real", "acoustic" instrument. Okay. Stringed instrument. The recorder and harmonica won't be counted. Neither will the drums.

I went bow shopping on my own a week back, haha told my mum I was going with a very professional friend, but actually it was just myself. Didn't want to waste someone else's time since I'm a very picky instrument shopper, even tho I'm not really even a beginner at the violin. Picking out a bow was really interesting. Each bow handles differently, and produces a different sound. Like a different personality. The most expensive ones really played a lot easier than the cheaper ones. I can see why someone might need a better one just so that he can stop thinking about the bow, and start thinking about the music.

I found a really good bow at the shop, for the price, it was reasonably worse than the 2k one i tried (Which was excellent). And I guess that's just fair. If you ask me what criteria i used to evaluate a bow, I couldn't tell you specifically. It's just the feeling of rightness. That what I'm holding is a proper bow. Still, I didn't know what other properties in a bow I might like, so I chose a slighty more jittery model, in case i needed those properties later in my studies. I laid out two "similar" models, and asked the shopkeeper to play both so I could listen to the sound. He helped me verify that the bow I liked was indeed superior to the others. Actually to me, it was so good that I just wanted to run out of the shop with it.

Violin wise, I got Joyce's beginner violin, which she has been playing in for about 6 years. I think if someone could stand hearing it for 6 years it must be pretty good, and I can stand hearing it too. There are some kinks in the sound that I'm trying to work out, but it probably costs lots of money, but I'm not in good financial shape right now. Basically there is a dip in the response of the violin in the C note on the A string. It's like the G string problem on the guitar i had. the G string was wayy louder than the other two strings around, except in the violin, the C note is much softer. I don't know why it only bothers me tho. It seems like everyone else around me can't hear it, probably cos the violin is freaking loud. Which is a good thing. More headroom to work out kinks. That's why i can't really use cheaper instruments. All the variations in sound quality across the register will drive me crazy! I like to think about the music, and not worry about whatever instrument i'm playing, and all its inconsistencies.

I guess that's just how I live my life. Some people choose instruments that they will get to know, and tolerate their inconsistencies. For these people, an instrument is something they work with, and develop a relationship with, and become inseparable with time. They would get to know the instrument, and through understanding and mastery of that particular flawed instrument, they will make great, wonderful music. I prefer to see instruments as a tool, not a relationship. My relationship is with music, and with the audience. The more balanced, the more neutral my instrument is, the better I like it, since it's like a pane of colourless glass, through which i can interact with the world of music directly. Hands, ears, violin, all merging into one machine with which i manipulate sound directly with my mind. And the sound moves the audience. I can sleep at night, knowing the sound comes completely from within me, and not distributed between two beings, one animate, one inanimate.

Playing music is an irrational activity for me. I have so much to learn to become the doctor I want to be. Music seems almost a trivial waste of time. Yet in the music, I hear the pulse of history, of ages past and present. I hear the emotions of man, and their cries, and their triumphant shouts. What more is man than emotion?

What more is man than emotion?

posted by Downhere. @ 8:52 am