Handbook Of Violin Playing - Online tutorial

A Tutorial For Classical Style Violin, full online instruction.

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	i6	FIRST PART.
	Care of the strings. That the strings may be kept fresh, it is advisable to wrap them in oil paper and then preserve them in a close, air-tight tin box. In this way they may be preserv­ed in fit condition for a year or more. The bow. This received its name from its ancient form, which has undergone many alterations before the present form was arrived at.
	thicknesses. If all the strings are too thick, the instrument will speak with difficulty in delicate passages, demanding a heavier pressure of the bow; if too thin, loss of power will be the result, though with a corresponding gain in sweetness and clearness, and if one string be much out of proportion to the others, the first finger when placed properly on that string and the adjacent one will not yield a perfect fifth, besides the inequality in power. The following diagram shows a set of strings of medium thickness,
			together with the distances apart near the bridge on a full sized violin, as suitable for ordinary hands. For fingers that taper much towards the tips, or for those that are very broad, the distances may be made a little narrower or wider accordingly. First strings of silk, known as "Acribelles" are in great de­mand by players with perspiring hands, as they are less affected by moisture than gut, but the tone is not so good. They
	possess certain advantages in durability, and standing well in tune, but are more difficult to tune, as a very slight movement of the peg will send them up half a tone. When frayed, they should be removed, the quality of tone they then yield being very bad, affecting the other strings. If gut strings of good quality are bought, and the strings carefully looked at before playing, breakages at awkward moments will seldom occur, as the strands generally give warning before breaking by showing symptoms of unravelling, especially at the knot end, or under the bow, — when they should at once be replaced. Tr.