My odd couples...

These guys are my most often used instruments in my work as a musician specialising in Baroque/Classical music in the Early Music area. They are my voices and are little pieces of wood that I have (and will continue...) to have such an intimate performance relationship with... With them in my hands, I feel right at home on stage... I know how they respond, and I take care of them as much as they enable me to speak in my preferred manner!

Although I have other instruments that I use for different situations and different genres of music... these two really are the ones that see the most usage day in and day out!

However, I have come to realise that the instrument and the bow that I generally pair with the violin/viola are really quite odd couples... Pairing a violin and a bow is something that is often overlooked... but the bow is the breath of the instrument, and it really is as much a generator of the sound as the resonant chamber that is the violin. Some bows respond quickly and are incredibly agile, others have a deeper more resonant sound... some have a harsh under the ear sound, others may have better projection. Plus, they all sound different depending on the instrument that you are drawing the bow upon... So, the choice of a bow with an instrument is really something that is quite important for finding that personal preferred sound!

This is my newly acquired English violin, hailing from around 1775... it has nearly 250 years of history behind it. It is a beautiful resonant violin with a silky, silvery upper register with a solid bass and middle register. Like many of the instruments that I end up playing... it really was a moment of a love at first touch.... it is a hard thing to describe, but when you start playing an instrument, there is much that you speaks to you as it being the correct one or not... if it really complements your personal style of playing, not being completely compliant, but also challenging you at the same time... of course, there are other instruments that will be impossible to play or that only serve to enhance your own strengths at the cost of complementing and rounding out your "natural" style.

The bow that it is paired with is an Australian bow from made around the turn of the 21st century... it is a light and agile bow, something that fits my personal style. At times I would wish for a more dense wood, one that would have a darker sound... but in the end, I prefer the speed and quickness of speaking... a rapier rather than a broadsword!

So, a nearly 2 and half century old violin from the old world (England) paired with a young upstart bow from the prison colony (Australia)... it's like having a gruff old and wise mentor trying to tame the crazy and carefree youth.. or a energetic youngling trying to inject some life back into a old and time-weary artifact!

The other pairing is also another contrast of the old and new. The viola is a lovely Australian recreation of a Stradivari style instrument complete with the decorations in between the doubled purflings. It is an instrument made in Australia and completed in 2000... it was an instrument that I managed to snap up just before heading out to Europe... I was looking for a Baroque viola at the time, and there was this particular instrument that had just been listed by the luthier for sale! There was some interest from another player, but in the end the luthier decided to choose me... and in the nearly two decades that we have played together around the world, I've only grown to love this viola more and more! The green decorations make it instantly recognisable, and sometimes I meet people who know of the viola before they actually meet me!

Paired with this viola is a late-Classical style bow (when I do Classical era works, I have a Baroque bow for earlier works), an anonymous German bow from around 1800. Again, another odd pairing of the old world with the new world, with over 200 years and a planet's worth of distance separating the origins of the partners!

The bow was a lucky find... I wasn't looking for a Classical era Viola bow as I already had one that I was quite happy with. However, at a particular project, another musician was passing this around and seeing if anyone was interested in it... I played a few concerts with it, and I have to say... I was hooked, it was fast and had a great sound when paired with my viola! The fact that it was an old bow as well was a huge bonus, I would have jumped at it if it was new... however, bows don't tend to survive as well as violins due to the demands on the elasticity and strength of the wood... so, to find a bow that was in great playing state that was also old was just too good!

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So, those are my daily odd couples... both pairings involve partners that have been seperated in time and location by a couple of centuries and nearly an entire planet's circumference in distance! However, it is quite curious that they all play so well together.... in my mind, I do see them as the old man and the bright young girl, it is quite hilarious and a joy to see and feel them in play and conversation, I feel really quite honoured that they have crossed my path and I'm the one that gets to bring them together for our performances!