rutherford

My 15 year old has become increasingly unhappy with his violin and as he will be heading to music 'academy' next year it seems time for him to upgrade. Several times, we have visited shops and he has played violins in his price range - around 3000 pounds - but he hasn't liked much (anything). One of the teachers at his music school recommended that he look at Bulgarian makers (teacher is Bulgarian). He played around on the internet, listening to some clips and while he said it was really hard to tell much, he liked the general sound of a Dimitrov strad copy. Does anyone know anything about this maker or have other recommendations. Thanks, Ruth.

But Bonnie, don't you say in the first email that the violin came from eBay? That's why people are skeptical. The value estimate by the violin shop also seems to indicate an insurance valuation for a workshop violin rather than the price of a handmade Italian violin. Drac shouldn't be mean to you. The violin may well sound great and may well be old. I've seen plenty of old German or Czech violins with Italian labels so it doesn't have to be Chinese (although good Chinese violins often sound a heck of a lot better than old German or French violins). The violin could also be authentically Italian but a lots of things are pointing in other directions and that is what Drac is reacting too. I'm glad you like your 3/4 violin. I'm also a small violinist but play a no-name 7/8ther. Someday I hope to commission a smallish full size violin!

Hello, My husband and son will be visiting Brisbane for 3 weeks and would rather not haul a full-size violin from Norway to Australia. Could anyone recommend someplace that might be willing to rent a better quality violin to someone visiting for a month? Thanks, Rutherford

I'm feeling grumpy so this may sound more testier than it is meant to be but... practise what and for what reason? Obviously, one practises a tremendous amount prior to ..doing something.. performing in front of people, trying out for something etc.. Then one practises an amount for ones own satisfaction and improvement - a friend who is a concertmaster in a small scandinavian orchestra does not practise 3-4 hours a day when not working on something. Obviously, if one wants to practise for 4 hours a day, one should. But a child, even an older one, should not (just my opinion) be encouraged to practise 4 hours a day on a regular basis for the sake of a theoritical career in a non-existent profession. Just in a bad mood after a long day at my non-existent profession.

One is tempted to say that one never practises - only performs to a very small audience

It did present problems that the person carving the lion had never seen a lion.

Any museums, shops trings related things to see in Budapest? (yes, Dean, I won this time

I would love to say what I think of his products ...but they are very difficult to order..

for my kind of music, helicores sound great. They tear up my fingertips a little..

Wow.. this is one hard to find movie. None of the obvious suspects have it, there does not appear to be a single copy in Norway (at least not at a public institution), Indiana University does not own a copy, Amazon UK lists only the unavailable soundtrack. The French distributor listed in the write up doesn't seem to still have it (but I don't speak French and can't poke around too effectively). The nationale bibliotheque (forgive my French) seems to have 2 copies but one is not kept in Belgium. .. On the other hand, Bertha Thomas wrote a novel in 1880 called The Violin Player and Leslie Thrain penned something deemed an irregular poem titled The Violin Player in 1889. Both are in the British Library. Let me know if someone finds an actually circulated film copy.

The orchestra Visions are my favorite strings (having tried Dominants, Tonicas, Obligatos, helicores) on my main fiddle. I play mostly folk music. They do wear out sort of 'overnight' at around 4 months but have a sound with more 'bite' than most but without a shrill steel quality. I am interested in how humidity affects string life. I feel like strings for less time in our new place - very high humidity near salt water - but don't really know if that is true.

Fra Volda!

God Jul!

Hmm.....people are more honest in the 'top draw EU' countries or in the US or in the UK (thought the UK was a EU country but never mind)? I suspect that it might take more than a few months to learn some things..

Another scroll to look at.. http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/dist...teina/1.4123933Text">Text

Another Bach unaccompanied vote... takes the top of your head off ..lovely

Mommag, I don't even go to lesson very much anymore. I really feel that he is old enough to know if he wants to continue advancing (every now and then I check with the teacher to make sure that everything is OK). My odd situation is geographic. I like in a small town on a narrow fjord on the west coast of Norway. If I put the kid on a bus for 2 hours, he would reach the largest town in the region - it has 45,000 people...

I tend to believe he will get it. Or not. I'm in an odd situation and while I like and trust his teacher, I could not change teachers even if I did not. I have taught fiddling myself in the past but with this kid I just back off and let things develop.

I've been following this discussion with a bit of anxiety because your description of your son (down to the age) fits my son so well I was worried that his teacher would think it was me posting... His teacher has assigned him the task of playing an open A, long bows, attempting to disguise when he switches from up to down. She turns her back and tries to tell when he has changed direction. He's gotten good at controlling the bow doing this. This control does not transfer when he plays difficult pieces though because he is working so hard on other issues that he goes back to the stiff hold thing. Some days are better than others.

Does anyone have a recording of moto perpetuo to recommend? I keep getting the Britten Variations on when I try to look it up. Thanks,

When my kids were young we (and all the other parents we knew) used a shop/luthier who did 100% trade-ins. It generally works like this: 1. Kid buys first violin for 300 USD 1/4 size 2. Kid trades that in for 300 USD 1/2 size 3. Kids trades for 300 USD 3/4 size 4. Kid (and parents) so happy with the shop, trade 300 USD 3/4 size in and pay 2700USD more for a good full-size outfit. Shops that charged 100 restocking fees or whatnot through the fractional sizes missed out on the larger sale at the end of the growing process.

A nice violin store to visiT? I might be looking for a bow - nothing too fancy. Any place kind to browsers? Thanks

Titanium Visions get my vote for a bright string with quality sound.

About 2 months it is! After around two months, his A string begins fraying and leaving little metal fragments in his finger. Just the A string. He does play a fair amount - about 20 hours a week- but I don't think it truly explains it. He has a brother who wears out one boot heal in about two months. Just the left one.

With the caveat that synthetics can wear quickly. My 10 year old goes through an A string every 2 months or so. Visions work well on his full size violin and last a bit longer. They are worth a try on a smaller, heavily built, instrument.