Steve_W

I don't know about Weber's case covers but I have a Mooradian cover on my Weber and a Cushy on my Bobelock shaped case, and I prefer the Mooradian over the Cushy. They both provide decent protection and insulation but the Mooradian uses a heavier fabric (I think Cordura, vs. nylon backpack material for the Cushy) which makes it less floppy and easier to deal with and I think the construction is better overall. My Mooradian is the version with backpack straps, which are padded and very comfortable.

In my experience, the tendency to generate whistling increases if I have too little rosin on my bow, so it might be worth trying a softer rosin. I don't think I'd go as soft as a cello rosin, though; maybe something like Hill Dark?

May I ask if anyone has any suggestions for tuning to a piano? I usually take the 440A and tune to that but with at least one piano we used, that A was the poorest-tuned note on the keyboard (the whole piano was in such bad shape that we ended up finding an electronic keyboard to use). I now tune to the A then play a short passage with the piano, tweak the tuning and repeat as necessary; but if there's a better way I'd like to hear it!

This is great news! I've used one of his cases (I think it's a deluxe version of the 653) for many years and it has been very reliable. Although I don't really need another case right now, I'm very tempted to buy another just for the eventuality--maybe upgrade the cheap Bobelock that I have my 2nd fiddle in. (I'm also curious to find out if the 600-S "shipping" case fits airline carry-on restrictions...). My Weber is the "standard" layout but has a padded blanket that attaches to the case with velcro; that and the satin violin bag it came with have saved my violin from scratches a couple times when I forgot to secure the spinner!

quote: Originally posted by: Cassi actually, taking another look at that tune, couldn't you really just play the whole thing in second position and make the fingering easier and avoid open strings all together? just wondering (i know this is getting way OT! sorry!) Cassandra Lynn You COULD but you wouldn't, if you wanted it to sound authentically Scottish! A feature of the music is to use open strings (as drones, or alone) when possible to give it a brighter sound. I never knew I had a whistling problem until I moved from classical playing to Scottish fiddling! The change from the C to the open E in the 2nd (full) bar is an example of the whistle test. BTW, those 16th-dotted 8th pairs are typically played unslurred where possible, with a sharp downbow stroke on the 16th, making the note shorter than notated, and a longer upbow for the dotted 8th. This technique is called a "Scotch Snap" in case anyone cares... -Steve

The Kaplan Solutions is a decent string; I think I prefer the Pirastro No. 1 which seems to sound a bit mellower on my fiddle. I think the Kaplan might be a good choice with Evah's; another possibility would be the Pirastro Wondertone Soloist, which isn't a wound string but is whistle-resistant and has a nice bright tone that might match the Evah's well. (Pirastro sent me one for trial along with a No. 1. I was using Obligatos at that time and found the Wondertone to be too bright for them but I've recently switched that fiddle over to Enfeld Blues so might try the Wondertone E again). -Steve

Well actually, highland pipes play in a key approximating B flat. However they can play in other related keys; they just can't play all the notes in the scale! It's probably better to think of folk modes rather than classical key signatures when talking about bagpipes.

Music for Scottish pipe bands typically doesn't indicate the key signature, as you found out! I've run into that same thing; it could drive a fiddler crazy!

The Nature Magazine article is online here: Wood Used by Stradivari and Guarneri -Steve

quote: Originally posted by: Bob A I readily confess that I have no business responding to this post, but it occurs to me that there are differences in temperament between a piano's tuning, (an exercise in compromise, at best), and a more euphonic scale as rendered by a violin; depending on the key and where on the scale one might be playing, a note that sounds true on a violin may not in fact be what the piano is sounding. As a dance fiddler who plays frequently with pianists, I would say that although there are temperament differences, in practice this isn't a big issue, and the adjustment to equal temperament is pretty much automatic. (YMMV--compared to classical soloists, my playing level is fairly basic!) My problems have typically been with out-of-tune pianos (and/or not tuning carefully enough to the piano, as Lorene found). After some challenging sessions trying to keep in tune with some of the pianos we've been provided at dances, I'm becoming a big fan of electronic keyboards! -Steve [bTW, I'm currently rereading Stuart Isacoff's "Temperament: how music became a battleground for the great minds of western civilization". It's an extremely interesting look at how equal temperament became the standard, and the various things people tried to avoid it--such as constructing a keyboard with 27 keys to the octave... It's a little mind-blowing to realize that there was a time where an equally-tempered scale was heard as terrible-sounding, and thought to be against the laws of nature!]

Yuen, if you're agreeing with my post then I must have misunderstood the part of YOUR post that I was objecting to! Sorry -Steve

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I've always understood that an accidental only applies to the measure it's introduced in, and no "cancellation" is required unless there's a following note later in the measure that shouldn't be played as an accidental. Once you pass a barline, I believe the accidental is no longer in effect (except in the case of a note tied across a barline...).

I've been using Sibelius for a month or so and am pretty happy with it; it's not cheap though! (Similar pricing to Finale, I think.) Finale and Sibelius are the two major players and tend to leapfrog each other with features. Sibelius also has a demo download on their website, which has all the features but doesn't allow you to save files. I've had no experience with Finale, but one thing I really like about Sibelius is their level of technical support; their engineers have been very responsive and their tech forums are great. Their manual is well-written, and there's an online version available to users that makes the print version almost unnecessary. -Steve

If you're really modulating into a new key, I believe the proper thing to do would be to insert the new key signature at the point it modulates. Accidentals should be for "temporary" changes only. -Steve

"...the secret Hill archives"!?! Seriously? I want to hear more about this!

How do you get them back out!?

I'm with Cassi; on MY Schweitzer copy Corelli Crystals are the best I've found for toning down the harshness (previously I'd tried Dominants, Infeld Reds and Tonicas). Relatively cheap too! As others have pointed out, every fiddle's different though. -Steve

Mozart was who he was due in large part to his father, who pushed him hard and promoted him heavily. Thinking about similar modern situations with "stage parents" I wonder if he'd be some sort of eccentric pop music performer who started young and burned out mid-life (Michael Jackson comes to mind).

This is probably not an issue with your violin, but about a year ago I had an opportunity to play a very good old Dutch violin (a professional symphony player's instrument) that sounded exceedingly quiet under the ear but had a lot of projection! Until then, I didn't know that was possible. I agree with EarlyRetiree that it would be worth having someone else play your current violin, along with any others you're considering, so you can hear them.

But does anyone make a 3/4 silent electric? -Steve

I am under the impression that traditionally the decision to make an octagonal or round bow was made based on the characteristics of the wood used; i.e., a bowmaker aims for a certain response and will keep the bow an octagon or round it off depending on how it flexes. If that's the case, one would expect the bows from an archetier to have similar playing characteristics (assuming s/he is aiming for consistency) regardless of the shape... or am I off base here?

The problem is that any mute that does a really effective job of quieting the violin enough so that people in adjoining rooms don't object will also remove all the nuances of the sound. Practice mutes are fine for left-hand practice but I find that I always need a few minutes to recalibrate my bowing once I remove the mute; I tend to be really heavy-handed for a while. I would suggest finding ways that Olivia can practice without the mute for at least a portion of her practice time.

No particular disk is catching my fancy right now so I'm letting my iPod shuffle through its approx. 3000 tracks... Just finished running through my Cape Breton playlist which is now up to around 400 tracks and took a couple weeks of commuting to get through! -Steve

I agree that iTunes is powerful, but as I said, there's no place to store detailed info on a classical recording, for example soloist, conductor and orchestra, unless you fudge it into the title of the recording or something. CDDB is another matter; there's a total lack of consistency on how composers' names are formatted. I like iTunes a lot, but it just isn't ideal for classical recordings.

quote: Originally posted by: falstaff ReaderWare ReaderWareAW Versions for both Mac and Windows. This looks like a useful program, but seems like it would be more useful if it could read info directly from CDs, instead of relying on barcodes or manual input (but maybe I missed that feature...). I've been happy with iTunes but have noticed that its cataloging system isn't optimized for classical music; it works much better with other genres. [There's more information I want to keep for a classical recording than other genres, e.g. I might want composer, orchestra, conductor and soloist on a recording. That seems to be more data fields than iTunes can handle, and would certainly require extra manual data entry in any case.]