The last couple of decades, I have made my living as a musician in the specialisation of Early Music... which means that my instruments are all set up in the older Baroque/Classical style... with the appropriate bows, lack of chin and shoulder rests and gut strings... not to mention the original internal organs as well!
This was possible in Europe due to the higher density of Early Music ensembles and work in general. Although, unlike many of my Early Music colleagues, I never HATED playing modern classical ensembles like symphony orchestras... I just loved playing early music on period instruments much better. However, I did find that I really missed some of the more Romantic repertoire... even if I didn't really miss the old-school traditional ways of playing Classical/Baroque repertoire.
Now that I'm back in Australia, I find that there is quite a bit of Early Music here... but due to the smaller population and the different standing that Western Classical Music has in society, I find that I'm also accepting work as a normal modern player as well. So, that means playing in ensembles and with the symphony orchestra. I'm sort of missing it quite a bit... but after over 20 years of playing completely different sorts of music in a completely different mindset and style, I just a little nervous about going back to it!
So, this week I have my first modern symphony job... it is a pretty easy introduction as it is a bit of a pop backing crossover sort of thing. However, I have been seated right next to the concertmaster... obviously as a sort of "audition" as they took me back in based on my resume alone. I know the lead violinist, she is a gun player! So... I had better put my best playing on show!
However, before I get started on playing... I have to make a few modifications to one of my violins to make sure that it is set up right for a modern symphony orchestra. This particular violin is the on that I generally have strung for pitches at A=430/440/466 Hz... with those higher pitches, I tend to use thinner and lighter gut strings so that the tension isn't quite so high, meaning that they can actually speak fast enough when played. In comparison, my Baroque violin is strung for 415/392 pitches, with much heavier thicker gut string across the whole violin instead of only on the two top ones.
So, first things first... gut strings need to come off... and the steel metal strings need to be put on. These are weird to play on at the moment... they are much less warm and very brilliant in sound under the ear. Plus, the bow hair grips metal quite differently to the way that it grips naked gut.
Plus, I had to reattach a fine tuner (the metal screw thing) on the end of the e string. With a wire steel string, it isn't as useful to just use the pegs at the scroll end of the violin. It just isn't the done thing in a modern symphony orchestra... and I don't want to make myself stick out more than neccessary!
However... one little concession that I will make for my own specialisation is that I will stick with my period style chin rest. This is the sort of thing that people used to use in the early Romantic era... before modern players started straight-jacketing their instruments in the name of progress and the pursuit of brilliance!
So... now, the violin is all ready. I just have to get my mind and fingers ready... I think I am, but I guess that we won't know until the day!
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Good luck with the new job. It's fascinating to learn the sorts of nitty-gritty considerations that go into the arts.
Do the new strings need to be tuned more often? I remember when I put new strings on my guitar, they'd be stretching out of tune for weeks.
Yeah, the initial stretching needs a bit of time to settle and stabilise. Generally for the metal, it is quicker than for gut... but it is also possible to pre-stretch them to reduce that time!
What I tend to do is to overstretch time overnight under more tension than the pitch requires (so, tuning sharp).
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