Jim Henderson wrote:

> Interesting; I was going to say that I had never heard of a school doing 
> that, but we were required to learn recorder, autoharp, and to sing in 
> the choir.

I was *also* in the choir. You know, when we had one...

>> Um, OK. So it's *me* that's naff. :-|
> 
> No, it just takes practice - years of practice - to get good sound out of 
> an instrument (doesn't matter what).  I can make my violin make horrible 
> sounds as well - it has to do with getting the right pressure and speed 
> of the bow across the strings - too much pressure and not enough speed, 
> and it sounds exactly like you described.
> 
> There also is a factor of the instrument itself as well; each instrument 
> has different tonal factors.

Yeah, well... It's an *old*, cheap school violin. So I had assumed it 
was just naff. But like I said, the teacher had no trouble getting the 
most beautiful notes out of it, so it can't have been that busted...



Random snippet: I remember when the school orchestra performed Ode To 
Joy. (Don't ask me who wrote that.) Our teacher was very strict. She 
could tell I was playing the tune rather than reading the music, so she 
moved me from 1st violin to 3rd violin, because there is no way in hell 
you could play that from memory.

Anyway, the piece starts off telling you to play very softly. And then 
after a while it says play a little louder - but just a little. And then 
it's like... forte. [OK, I give the bow a little more elbow.]

Double-forte. [OK. I press down a bit harder and really *work* those 
strings.]

Triple-forte. [Uh... OK, let me bow a bit faster...]

QUADRUPLE-FORTE!! [Dude... what? This thing doesn't *go* any louder!!]

Still, with a couple of cellos and hons going - not to mention the music 
teacher taking the bottom notes of the school piano a lively workout - 
it sounded pretty damn good.

Fact: It's almost impossible to hold a violin comfortably while wearing 
a school blazer with huge shoulder pads... >_<

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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