maestramusica

I noticed the seller takes only Bank Transfers of funds, AND there looks to be no recourse if the fiddle isn't up to buyer's reasonable expectations. (Sales final, no returns) Rather like a spy movie I recently saw. The I'm guessing that IF it turns out NOT to be as good as the seller makes out, he has only to point to his low starting bid of L25 to "show" he didn't scam deliberately.

I'm still looking around out there for more info. Has anyone heard of LiuXi, Violin maker, in the Shanghai area? Anyone played on one of his instruments? I see many listed on ebay, in various countries. But thats the only placed I have found any info on him- attached to listings for his violins. Any more info out there folks?

Years ago, I had my violin with me at a large music camp in the southwest. I had a case that for that time, (mid 80s) was considered decent, although it was NOT a full suspension case. I had it strapped to a collapsible luggage trolley, to wheel it over the asphalt-paved 1/2 - 3/4 mile distance from dorm room to rehearsal area. About the 2nd or 3rd day there, I opened the case to find the bridge was flat. Trying to put the bridge up and re-tune, I broke the bridge through the middle. (THATS when I realized the sound post was down too). Thats when I gave up trying on my own, and had to borrow a second instrument from another player. Repairs were not too cheap, but thats also when I had the first informal appraisal of it since my dad had bought it in 1974 for me. It had only gone up in value something like 6x in the time I had had it. Now, it has doubled THAT amount, which I found out after another, MUCH more painful injury to my "baby" about 3 years ago. This time, I got a full suspension case, with humidity gauge. SHAR catalogs used to feature a real-life story of a violinist from a major chamber group who accidentally left the cased fiddle on the roof of the car, after loading other stuff. It fell off the roof, several blocks later, at highway speed, and the player claimed the fiddle was completely unharmed, due to the case it was in. Now I've lost 2 purses that way, (one permanently), but a great violin? SCARY!!! BTW, I've traveled twice with my fiddle since 9-11, and had NO trouble with taking it on any of the flights involved. the Lima Peru folks, however, DID confiscate my VERY round-tipped, very dull kindergarten scissors (for cutting fingering tapes for beginning students) after Denver and Miami had no problems. Go figure! HOWEVER- in the light of United's recent announcement regarding smaller luggage allowances, I will NOT plan to fly with them again. Since I am rarely encouraged to practice violin on a flight (NEVER), and almost never have been able to sleep on any airplane, I need more to entertain myself on the long ones than what I can fit in a Bobelock case. Books, Laptop, stitchery, deck of cards? Keep your fiddles safe out there! :-)

As I quickly flipped through the answers here, I did not see this one: SERGIU LUCA- He was one of the pioneers in using authentic instruments (e.g. Baroque violin and bow) for recording, which gives it a very different feel from the earlier artists. His S. & P. set came out on Vinyl in the late 70's, which I have, but they've been put on CD now too. I was researching them recently. Being a Baroque lover, his was the one I loved the most! http://www.altnet.com/album/20...ied_Violin/index.aspx I had the opportunity to play in a workshop orchestra accompanying him in about 1974. And then, heard him again in '78. He was good friends with my teacher. I loved what he did with BAch!

It is wonderful that you are there to learn from them. In the interests of those who come behind you, PLEASE record and archive the music you learn, and propagate it! Perhaps your daughters will help you transcribe the tunes into standard notation or abcs, and make them available on the internet for others who would like to learn from your heritage! Recording the Old-timers as they play is a "primary source", speaking in research terms. I do NOT think less of the aural traditions of learning, but I recognize that in today's world, we are less oriented to that learning style, and may have to adapt in order to carry the traditional tunes to another generation. Today's children think of aural listening more as "background sound" than as something to listen to intently, or to learn from. So, preserving it in more than one format is the best approach. It would be great of you to take part in preserving both the Aural tradition of your musical heritage, and make it available to those of us who will not have those old-timers to hear, by putting it into a format that more can have access to. Keep on learning the tunes- what ever way make sense for you! Norma

It is wonderful that you are there to learn from them. In the interests of those who come behind you, PLEASE record and archive the music you learn, and propagate it! Perhaps your daughters will help you transcribe the tunes into standard notation or abcs, and make them available on the internet for others who would like to learn from your heritage! Recording the Old-timers as they play is a "primary source", speaking in research terms. I do NOT think less of the aural traditions of learning, but I recognize that in today's world, we are less oriented to that learning style, and may have to adapt in order to carry the traditional tunes to another generation. Today's children think of aural listening more as "background sound" than as something to listen to intently, or to learn from. So, preserving it in more than one format is the best approach. It would be great of you to take part in preserving both the Aural tradition of your musical heritage, and make it available to those of us who will not have those old-timers to hear, by putting it into a format that more can have access to. Keep on learning the tunes- what ever way make sense for you! Norma

Yeah, I remember just cringing when watching Michael Landon saw away on his fiddle. The fingernail thing is kind of when the middle-school, H.S. girls have to make the decision on how serious they are about playing the violin. I have a student I have to remind every week to trim or file her nails down. And she wonders why she's having trouble playing in tune?

Maestramusica left out those two sites because she's not familiar with them. ;-) However, I DO use Barfly to print files that are online only in abc format. The Tablature thing is kind of how we start the very beginners on violin. When it comes to violin/ fiddle, it seems pretty awkward for longer pieces of music, AND you still have to read rhythmic notation. I think it should be really, only a very beginning step in the learning process. HOWEVER- it occurs to me that there's a lot of tablature notation online for mandolin, which is tuned and fingered exactly the same as violin. Try this link: http://www.mandolincafe.com/cg...b.cgi?searchterm=sctt And then, for more, Google "mandolin tablature" and follow a few of the links. go for it!

I'm curious- and intrigued about the new 5 string fiddles. I'm a violinist, but I also currently teach a violist, and and am thinking it would be a good strategy to have a 5 string so I could get down to the C string notes too. I have heard/ read that both 5 string violins and violas exist, and I'm guessing that which you choose would be dependent on which finger stretch you're accustomed to. Is this correct? I agree about David's playing- Love it!

Any other thoughts? I, by the way, am pretty much in agreement with the consensus here. If she continues to plan for this, I think I will suggest that she find a knowledgable violinist friend or relative to go with her to the shops, and test the violins for her. One of the down sides here is that very shortly after they return, if not before, I plan to leave the country for a 2 year stint, so I"m looking for another teacher to hand her off to. Any Denver teachers out there? Thanks for input- even more would be appreciated. Has anyone seen/heard from Glen from York, PA - who was on the forums a lot about 2004-2005? I recall he wrote he was going to China on a business trip and hoped to schedule a tour of one or two of the Violin-maker shops while there. Maybe he would have some observations to make. thanks, Norma

Well, Jeanine Garrafolo "plays" a violin in "The Truth About Cats and Dogs", but I could easily see it was faked. fingers going the wrong direction on the Prelude to the Bach Partita in E, etc. Of course, that is an argument for learning the violin- that way you can play the ROLE of a violinist and not gross out the actual string players in your audience. "Music from the Heart" would not have been such a good movie for ME, had it not been clear that Meryl Streep actually knew what she was doing with that violin (as opposed to Garrofalo). I wasn't sure about Crowe, either.

Being a classically trained violinist who has focused almost entirely on Celtic playing for the last 4 years, I've been in on this discussion a lot. For resources, there are a lot of websites where you can download and print absolute MASSES of tunes in the ABC format. However, I smirk a tiny bit remembering how I learned a large number to tunes in a short time by listening and playing what I could in open sessions, noting the names of the tunes, and then studying them with the black dots at home during the week. The trad session players marveled at how I picked up tunes so quickly, but I just told them I used the best of both worlds. http://www.traditionalmusic.co...-folk-music/index.htm http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/abc/abc1.html http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/i...RTuneBk/tunebook.html Here are some sites to get you started- also: www.thesession.org I have had pretty much the same experience as Fritz. Real "violin" technique is not that highly regarded in fiddle sessions. Too bad! I had the thrill of watching Alasdair Fraser perform a couple of years ago, and HE plays with every bit as much classical technique as I do. AND he gets to have fun doing it!

If I remember, I was, in the 70's, told that most of the professional orchestras in the U.S. AND in Europe did not employ women as players. I very specifically remember being told by a male Orchestra director, that when a young man would really apply himself to playing a stringed instrument, he would be a much better player than any woman, because of his greater physical strength and stamina. With chauvanistic attitudes like that dominating the Classical music world at the time, are you surprised? Yes, there were a few highly regarded women who appeared as soloists with major orchestras, but with so few orchestras employing women in the strings sections until the 70's, girls were not often encouraged to play past the High school years. And THEN there was that whole "women should be raising the family at home" thing, that most of us (myself included) bought into until well after WWII. It's all part of the history of our culture.

It's been a long time since I hung out on the forums, so I'm definitely out of the loop on current opinions regarding Chinese-made violins. I have a student, 11 years old, who is almost ready to transition from the school-owned 3/4 size violin she's now on, to a decent violin. She's from China, and she and her mom will go back there this summer to visit her dad. She will be near Shanghai. Her mother wants to buy a full-size violin there, but I've told her to wait till I hear from ya'll on whether it's worth her while or not. The student is at about level 3 of the ASTA levels, just found her vibrato, getting very comfy with 3rd position, and working well on 2nd as well. I foresee her continuing on the violin at least through college, but I don't know whether she plans (at this point) on majoring in Violin, or playing in any way professionally. Music is not her only area of expertise- she is a fantastic student in every way, and sings in the Colorado Childrens' Chorale as well as Math and Chess clubs participation. In my opinion, any student who plays as well as she does for her age (she only started about 3 years ago) merits a violin that will really sing for her. SOOOooo- what do you all know currently about any good violin-making shops in China, preferably near Shanghai? Any good specific makers, whose prices are not HUGE yet? Or should I just take her to Vons here in Denver and find a good fiddle for her here? Thanks for any insights. Norma

I mentioned this thread to a friend with a modern hybrid Hardingfele, and he told me he uses guitar strings (hi E's?) for the sympathetic strings, AND reminded me that there are lots of different tuning options for those strings. The guitar strings are strong enough not to pop easily. Also, since he got his Hardingfele custom made direct from the maker about 2 years ago, I would think this was the advise of the maker. About the pegs themselves, I can't hazard a guess. There is also a website specifically dedicated to Hardingfele information- the American Association or something- Google it- I know I found it about a year ago. In fact, here it is- ">http://www.hfaa.org/ ">http://www.hardingfele.com/ Googling "Hardingfele" gives lots of sites with potential info.