tigger_1

Also try stringworks. http://www.stringworks.com

The answer is it may or may not continue to sound nasal. When I first tried synthetic strings, I went from Helicores to Pro Artes and found that the Pro Artes always sounded nasal to me. The sound did get better after a few days but I could never shake that nasal sound. Now I use Zyex or Evah's and neither of those sound nasal on my violin. (I don't know if it has more to do with the string or that now I'm used to the synthetic sound vs the steel string sound)

The Southwest Strings Catalog I have lists that you can get a Glasser composite bow in black, blue, gold, green, purple and red.

Does anyone have a method for counting 32nd notes. When counting 16th notes, you count them 1 e & a 2 e & a, but I can't seem to find the equvialent for 32nd notes. I asked a few friends I have who mainly play piano or organ (as soloists) and they said they simply play the 32nd notes as fast as they can. Somehow I don't think this works so well when playing in a group, so any help on counting them would be welcome.

I've been switching between Evah Pirazzi and Zyex strings on my violin for about a year now. I like both of them and can't decide which one I like better, so I go back and forth. Overall, both are great strings and I haven't had any problems with either.

My first violin was this brand. Actually, it is a fairly decent violin as far as student violins go. It was easy to play and actually sounded nice compared to the "cheap" student violins.

quote: Originally posted by Andrew Victor: For those of you with a "scientific bent" this is the form of "quantization" that underlies the original Niels Bohr "quantum theory" of electronic orbitals. The (allowed) quantum states of the (vibrating) orbitals would be analogous to the allowed natural harmonics of a vibrating string. Andy [This message has been edited by Andrew Victor (edited 01-28-2002).][/b] So, to determine the wavefunction of these harmonics, one would have to solve the schrodinger equation for a harmonic oscillator and using a series expansion. However, is the spring constant, truly constant for a synthetic string? or is it close enough?

I bought a Maestro from them in October and I am very pleased with the instrument. I believe you probably can't go wrong with the new line, and if you don't like it, you can always return it.

I asked this question about a year ago and got a very helpful reply. Search under "first time changing strings" or user name tigger_1. It was really a very thorough description of changing strings.

There is a community orchestra in my area which is looking for intermediate level violinists. What skills do you think an intermediate violinist possesses? (ie which positions, bow strokes, etc)

What are the advantages/disadvantages to having a violin with a one piece back vs. a two piece back?

Well, this has certainly been very enlightening to me. Being a college professor I have been asked to write many letters of recommendation over the years (not for music but for medical and graduate schools), and I would have never in my wildest dreams even thought to have a student write their own recommendation. And after reading this I never would. The other thing everyone must realize about letters of recommendation is they are not easy to write. Very few people can write informative and honest letters of recommendation. Some people are downright awful at writing them. This may be the case with your son's Cello teacher. Maybe he doesn't have much experience with it or possibly has never read a "good" letter of recommendation. The letters I wrote early on in my career were truthful, but in all honesty were extremely weak. Over the years I have worked on them and they are getting better, but I am still working on them.

I read a post from a month or two back that listed some suggestions for practicing vibrato (ie using a film canister or a box of matches), but they didn't really explain what exactly you are supposed to do with them. I have been trying to follow the exercises listed in many method books (All for Strings, Essential Elements, and another book which the name escapes me now) and nothing seems to be helping. My teacher can only show me what she does and doesn't seem to know what to tell me to do. Here's what I know. My hand is supposed to be relaxed and move only at the wrist. The finger is supposed to rock back and forth. However, my finger rocks sideways! Any help is appreciated.

I started this year at age 33.

Violinsetc (http://www.violinsetc.com) has a violin sizing chart which tells you how to measure a child and figure out what size violin they need

greta, You said your new violin has Helicore's on it. Do you use fine tuners on all strings or just the e?

Marie, I think I can help you. 1. Go to EDIT in Internet explorer and go to Preferences. 2. Go to "file helpers" under "Recieving Files" 3. Scroll in that file helper window down to "MPEG-1 layer 3" (in the right hand column you will see .mp3) 4. Double click on that and it should open a new window. 5. In the new window, under handling, select "view with plug-in" Now a new section should appear with the plug-in name. Choose "quicktime plug-in" and hit the OK button, the window should close and now hit the OK button in the preferences and that should close. Now you are set up. 6. In order to listen to the mp3 s on that website listed, click on the link you want to listen to and you should get the white screen with the http address listed. NOTICE that the http address in the window is different than the address in your address box of your browser! The browser says something like minstrel.mpu but the white window address says mp3. Change the address in your browser to match the one in the white window wait a little bit for it to download and shortly your quicktime player should launch and show up to allow you to listen to the mp3. I hope you can follow this and it works OK for you, if you have problems let me know.

I use a mac and have since they came out with the first mac classics (20 mb hardrive and 4 mb of ram - boy they've come a long way). I didn't respond to your mac question, because I didn't read the thread you posted it in. Unfortunately, your problem is not a quicktime problem - I have the latest version of quicktime and it does the same thing to me. It's that you don't have a plug-in for your internet browser that reads mp3s. Are you using internet explorer or netscape? What kind of mac are you using and what operating system are you running? I might be able to help you set it up to read mp3s over this discussion board, but no promises.

I know I've seen this topic before, but when I search the archives, I must not be looking under the proper "key" words. My question is, is it common for e strings to go false a long time before the other strings in a set? I realize that they are under a much higher tension than the rest of the strings and thus it makes sense for them to go false first, but in general how many e strings do you change before the other strings (steel, Helicores) go false?

Crystal, I do this all the time. You are right, it is a great feeling to be able to play pieces well that used to give you a problem.

Toasty, I just bought a Glasser Carbon Fiber bow about a month ago and I really like it. For the price, it's a great bow.

I think people are just a little too sensitive on this message board! I haven't read anything in the post that is making fun of anyone or "bashing" their opinion. I have only read other people stating their opinions and I don't think they are being harsh. The problem with written communication is that it can be read with the wrong intonation or intent. "Can't we all just get along?"

The website for their show is: http://www.barrage.org

Here's my favorite quote of inspiration that got me through grad. school: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt

Wow, everyone has really given alot of good advice and information (including some chemistry and physics!). I'm not really in any hurry to start 3rd position, and I know that good bowing is essential to playing the violin. I just think my teacher doesn't know what to do next. I brought in my own book of etudes two weeks ago and she has been assigning some of those for me to work on. Now I'm wondering if I should buy some of the Suzuki method books and see if she thinks I should go through those. I don't want to be too pushy since she is the teacher (and I think she is already a little intimidated by me), but I also want to learn to play the violin correctly and well.