Talk:Playing the violin
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What do you think about merging the article how to play the violin with this one? J Lorraine 07:15, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
- The very question I was thinking of last night. That article is kind of skimpy, but does note the basic hand position that makes an A major scale on the A & E (or G on the bottom two. I plan to put a chart on this page of some other such patterns, starting with low 2nd finger... five in all.) How does one "merge a page?" I assume there's a way to have the "How to..." article redirect to this one. Just plain Bill 14:49, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
Did it. Brought over the wikibooks link and some words on bow grip. The rest was already covered here. 05:13, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] "How to do it" vs. "How it is done"
This may of course be partly the problem of merging the two articles, but there are two distinct tones of voice in this article. One is primarily descriptive: "violinists do this" "sometimes that is done", etc. The other is proscriptive "a violinist should do this". My first conviction is that it needs to be one or the other; my second (less strong) opinion is that it ought to be descriptive, since this is NOT a how-to manual. 1) There are many many string teaching methods. The encyclopedia should not be one of them. 2) We need to cite sources. Directions are very hard to cite, but descriptions of this or that school of technique, or this or that pedagogy book, or video, or whatnot, are quite easy. 3) IF information that this or that way of playing is 'good' or 'bad' comes from an encyclopedia, it ought to come in a roundabout way -- that is, the reader ought to judge what is best from the neutral description of how things are done and what kind of sound is produced and what kind of physical problems are induced or overcome by such-&-such a way of playing or holding the instrument.
(forgot to sign my name before) J Lorraine 01:20, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
- Both opinions make sense to me: unity of tone, in favor of description rather than prescription. (To proscribe something is to forbid it. Sorry, I probably need to keep my inner vocabulary nerd on a shorter leash.) I think I can find some time soon, maybe even this week, to massage the article into such a shape. If someone else gets there first, that's less work I'll be doing on it. ;-)
- Cites for some things may be tougher to find. For example, the bit about "chopping" and who does a lot of it, came from a workshop presented last December by a young man who was lucky enough to get Darol Anger to help him refine his chopping technique over a couple of years. It really is one of those things that deserves to be done right, or not at all. Best description I can come up with at the moment is a sort of hand jive using the hair next to the frog. I can go looking for something written and web-accessible, but I wonder if there's any hope of finding much. Just plain Bill 04:01, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
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- Did the deed. Trying to find "should" now only gets hits on "shoulder." There are still some "musts," but I believe they are descriptive, for example "must put finger in right place or else sound out of tune," and "must tune to the piano." Just plain Bill 09:36, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
Thanks Bill. I've been buried in sorting out my taxes recently, so haven't had time to do more than make suggestions instead of edit the work myself. J Lorraine 11:09, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Various pitch standards
While I'm at it, I intend to include brief mention of groups tuning their A to something other than 440. That doesn't need to burden the Violin article, but I think it's appropriate to mention it here. For the skeptics, here's some light and entertaining reading:
1. Wikipedia article on Pitch
2. Interesting graph of historical pitches
3. "...some instruments are now manufactured to play at 442 Hz. since it has become so common in orchestral work."
4. Piano tuners might not like going above 440.
5. In fact, they hate it.
6. Guitarist sees modern electronic keyboards at 441 or 442.
7. Some saxes and clarinets made with 442 in mind.
8. Chief Steinway tech meets prima donna oboist. Berlin Phil at 446 under von Karajan.
9. Midori's agent requests 442.
10. Pipe major sees bands trying to tune to 440 or 442.
11. Vocabulary: does "concert pitch" mean "non-transposing" or is it to do with freq of A?
12. Find "anarchist xenophobes" on this page. ;-)
Just plain Bill 19:34, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] that Heifetz quote
I've now cast that as more of a myth, since I haven't been able to find an authoritative source for the quote itself. Enough different versions of it can be found by searching for "Heifetz" +"intonation" +"quicker" or some variation, and sifting through the results. Wherever I have seen this notion, it has always been attributed to him. Does anybody know? __ Just plain Bill 16:12, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Article title
When attempting to find this article I looked under "Violin technique", perhaps because I'm a conservatory snob (...in voice, but still). Should that be the title of this article, or a redirect here? Opinions? Mak (talk) 18:51, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
- Yes, good idea. At least a redirect. --Quadalpha 03:08, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] North American dial tone has a 440 Hz component
It's not a "buzz," but a two-note chord, if you actually listen to it, and the frequency accuracy of it is good enough for rock and roll. I've used it a number of times when another reference was not available. I've seen others do the same. May have saved me from breaking a string a time or two. I read the dial tone article as well, and the statement that
"An experienced guitar player will be able to tune to the dial tone of a phone. The dial tone is a combination of the musical notes 'A' and 'F'."
has stood without challenge for over a year now. By itself, that doesn't prove a thing, of course, but searching around for info on the frequency accuracy of telephone signalling tone gemerators points mostly in the neighborhood of 0.1% which amounts to less than half a Hz, a lot less than the spread between some Baroque tunings and some other modern Euro-style ones. __Just plain Bill 03:50, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
