Sometimes it is the simple things...

in Music4 years ago

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As a musician, I often figure that when things aren't really working it is more a reflection of my skill and technical ability as a first point of call. If a passage is just not working as smoothly as intended, then it is likely that I'm doing something funny with my fingers, or recognising and preferring an awkward pattern in the passage-work rather than an easier pattern.

So, this week in Austria, I had to play the violin quite a bit during the week. Now, being acoustic instruments, violins (and Classical-type instruments in gneeral) are quite prone to shifts in weather as the wood sifts around and the strings stretch and contract. This is made even worse due to the fact that I'm an Early Music specialist and I use naked gut strings rather than the metal/steel strings that most modern Classical players use. Needless to say, gut is a softer and less rigid material for the strings to be made of and they are even more prone to shifts in temperature and humidity.

Just as a quick aside, the benefits of the naked gut setup is a much warmer sound that is balanced towards a softer darker tone rather than the powerful brilliance of the metal strings. That and the fact that the technology for pulling thin wires was not really a commercial technology during the Baroque era, whilst the concept of making durable gut strings and ropes was a known and widespread technology.

So, in this town in Austria, the week began with a couple of days of heavy rain... which is really not nice for a walk from the train station to the hotel. This was followed by a few days of incredibly hot weather (30-35 degrees...), which made for incredibly warm, humid air. This has the effect of making the strings fray as the fingers move over them... but I didn't have the time to change the strings during the week for varnished strings (gut with a layer of varnish to protect the fibres of the gut) but I did manage to lightly oil the strings. Even still, there was quite a bit of damage to the strings and I don't think that they will last another week!

Another bit of possible damage is where the violin touches my neck and shoulder... the sweat and humidity does eventually damage the lacquer... but this is the purpose of the varnish, to protect the wood... still, it isn't the sort of thing that you want to willingly inflict as damage to an old instrument!

So... back to the point. At the end of the week, I was finding it hard to make the strings speak as fast as I wanted, and that there was fading of the fundamental core of the sound when the violin was playing. So, the initial reaction is just to use a bit more weight for the contact between the bow hairs and the strings... but that also creates heaviness in the motion of the bow... and the way that the music comes out.

I was starting to think that the problem might have been the damage to the strings... but that tends to manifest itself in uncontrollable squawks and squeaks... and I was desperately hoping that the violin wasn't cracking open or having a seam get unglued! That sort of damage requires the services of a luthier... which can be a touch expensive depending on the amount and location of the damage!

In the end... it was really quite a simple thing that I really should have thought of earlier. The horse hair of a bow doesn't naturally grip the surface of the string to make it start vibrating. It requires the assistance a sticky resin (rosin) to aid the grip between the two surfaces. It is very similar to the stuff that gymnasts put on their hands before doing the bars and things like that.

So, you apply the resin from a cake that you pull the bow hairs over (in the photo, it is the little oblong block just under the bow)... that leaves a dust powder of the resin on the hairs which assists in the grip between the hairs and the string. However, with the humidity in the air... the dust eventually turns into a paste that is more like the block that it was born from... with pretty much little to no gripping ability... and this glass-like paste was coating the hairs, making it have very little traction with the string... thus causing the feeling of lack of contact, poor fundamental sound and the feeling of lack of a quick response.

So... a quick clean off of the useless surface of the strings.. and a rewiping of the resin dust had the violin and bow dancing like true partners again! Making for a very very happy violinist!


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