One last thing. Visited the violinmaker from whom I rent my cello. On Saturday. He wasn’t at his shop, having forgotten our appointment, but he came when we called him. He had sold the one cello he wanted to show me, but had a second one. I would really have liked to hear the other one, which he said had a “dominant” sound. I wouldn’t have bought it, probably, not only because I don’t have the money, but also because it had been repaired and was now an old cello with a new neck, which for some reason reduces the value, here at least. But the other cello he showed me had a much nicer sound than my old cello (it is a cheapish German cello, instead of a cheap Chinese-made cello…). And when he put a different set of strings on it, it sounded even better, so now I’m renting that. It makes a big difference.
Pick out a new bow, he said. He gave me four to compare. I sawed away. “What, exactly, are the criteria by which I should be picking out a bow,” I asked him.
He said Springiness. And some bows had a dead spot in the middle someplace when you played a long note. So I played this song I’m supposed to play later this month at the class recital, which has a few long notes, and listened. One bow finally seemed somehow better than the others, although what do I know? He chuckled when I told him which one I’d picked out; it was the most expensive one.
