More Stradivarius Smack downs.

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More violin posts. There isn’t one technique that separates the great violin makers. But Professor Francis Schwarze received some good press with his. He uses special fungus to manipulate wood. His techniques help the wood resemble growth that occurred during the a colder period in 16th and 17th centuries.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933969,00.html

The Violin Maker

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“The Violin Maker” by John Marchese explains how master craftsman Sam Zygmuntowicz competes with Stradivarius. Brooklyn based Zygmuntowicz strikes out against the notion that there is one great secret to these violins, but hundreds of small details that bring out their charm. In short, he can fool audiences on when a stradivarius and his own creations are used. But, world class players are able to differentiate between various violins. These players have personal preferences and can differentiate most violins. Its hard to say if his are better, but the value of his violins are growing faster.

NPR has a nice bit of some the methods Sam Zymunotowicz has used. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96708334

Developing A Full Sound Vocabulary

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Peter Paul Prince once wrote an article for the Journal of the Violin Society of America in which he listed some essential words that could be employed to describe the sound of a fiddle. Here they are: hard, mellow, even, nasal, open, ringing, muted, full, hollow.

Nornam Pickering, an acoustics expert compiled his own list of words for sound and it was much longer. “Rough, hollow, thin, pure, flutey, metallic, resonant, dry, somber, clear, even, uneven, brilliant, wolfy, elegant, lively, raw, sonorous, muted, dark, light, plumy, tubby, harsh, pinched, aggressive, silky, silvery, golden, nobel, constricted, smooth, mellow, bright, dull, piercing, shrill, nasal, fuzzy, scratchy, rich, full, weak, powerful, sweet.”

Those quotations come from “The Violin Maker” by John Marchese. It documents the work of luthier Sam Zygmuntowicz currently living in Brooklyn.

Words provide an amazing tool for understanding the things around us. How do you describe sound?