thirteenthsteph

Really nice violin... Love the vibrancy of the varnish, looks really tasteful.

Well, exactly, it's already difficult enough. Making it more difficult won't help anyone's sound.

I feel like all this unique personality and distinctive tone and becoming one with the violin talk is such bs. Just play however is comfortable. If you have something unique to express, it will show. If not, no shoulder rest or lack thereof is going to help.

Yeah that is true, but I'm pretty sure he could hold it like that. If you look at 1:31 for a few seconds here, you can see him relaxing his grip momentarily and re-gripping it; the violin snaps into place as it flattens parallel to the ground. Either a pad or the padding of the suit he was wearing, but I'm pretty sure the violin was held there without the constant need of support from the hand. EDIT: hmmm the video is gone

I'm pretty sure these reports are usually exaggerated and other than that, it seems to me that Heifetz also could hold the instrument straight with his head. I'm unsure whether he used a pad, but the way he stands straight and turns his head towards the scroll automatically kind of locks the instrument in place. It also locks it in a way that brings the E string higher (try it, the G string side of the instrument will be pushed down and it will become more parallel to the floor) and so he needed a pretty high elbow to play on the G string too.

It definitely does help keep the instrument up, the thumb merely touches, it does not help support it in any way. It only does so when going up to the higher positions. In my playing at least.

Okay so on the yellow line then.

No none of these. I meant base knuckle of the index finger, not the thumb.

Looking at Pagody, it seems that he too has a pretty total grip of the instrument with his head and his padded shoulder. You can see how he holds it straight up while using no hands. While he plays, his jaw is basically clamping on the chinrest, and even though he says 'look how I can move the instrument back and forth to facilitate playing', he basically moves his whole body like one would when using a shoulder rest. He has a similar set up to Hadelich, in that the violin is secure, technically shoulder-rest-less but not really, and his hand supports the violin minimally or not at all. Otherwise, were the thumb to support the whole instrument in this position, he'd be in pain, not to mention that it would not feel very secure, whereas when the thumb is opposite the fingers and behind the neck if the violin falls it simply falls into the gap between index and thumb. Of course all this might not be to your interest, as you specifically asked about the thumb only and not whether they truly hold the instrument in the hand or not.

You mean vibrating thirds and octaves? Yes that is true, I suppose, but I cannot say my hand is entirely relaxed either. I can imagine that when the fingers are loose in the joint closer to the pad then it should work just the same.

I find when one relaxes and also does not press hard, vibrating without losing contact at the base knuckle is possible and easy. In fact, in my experience, losing that contact ruins the hand frame, intonation and leads to general tension and stiffness. After all that area of the hand has enough flesh to move back and forth enough to vibrate without the need to slide. But I cannot say as to how well it works with different hand/arm anatomies as you say. And I agree about the pad, every time I have tried something like that I always started using my shoulder more in order to secure the instrument which always led to stiffness and pain. I'd rather use a shoulder rest if it fits well in that case. For now I just use a small piece of leather I've cut a whole into to pass the endpin through and locked the other side under the feet of the chinrest, so it's always there and helping with the instrument sliding on my clothes.

I disagree that the thumb must be under the neck to play without a shoulder rest. Hadelich seems to have a pretty complete hold of the instrument between his jaw and his shoulder, where he has a pad inside his shirt. So he can bring his whole hand around the neck and above the strings and play with a thumb under the neck without any contact at the base knuckle of the 1st finger. Milstein is a different case in my opinion, as he held the violin entirely in the hand and it is apparent in the photo that he primarily has contact at the base knuckle and not just the thumb. I've been playing this way for years and holding it with just the thumb is honestly terribly uncomfortable and even painful, the way Menuhin shows. I think Milstein's way is a much more natural way to play, the only time the thumb needs to go under is when you shift in the higher positions or prepare to shift there, in my opinion.

Hello everyone, I'm trying to find reviews of the Alexander viola case by Bogaro and Clemente but I'm getting pretty much no information. It's quite a steep price, but the form factor is really appealing to me. Considering the material and the little space inside, I wondered what would happen if it were to fall and hit, say, the corner of a stair; would the lid bend momentarily and possibly break the bridge and top or would it withstand the hit with no damage to the instrument? Their website provides little information so I sent them an email asking this very question and they responded that the instrument would be safe, and that it is not just a case to take with you on the airplane cabin, but an everyday usage case. But still I would like to ask if anyone here owns or knows someone who owns this case, what do you think?

Yep, I love that piece and this interpretation, Amihai knocks it completely out of the park.