SOUNDPOST

Letters, emails, online comments

MYSTERY SOLVED?

I think I’ve identiThed the ‘mystery’ jig in the feature on early stateside bow makers (‘First Class’, November 2019). First, though, I should point out that the headplate installation jig earlier in the article is missing a piece. There should be a pressure plate shaped to the head-face curve between the string and the new head face, otherwise the string’s ‘pull’ only works at the edges of the face and the centre is actually pulled away from the head. Many of the ex-Hill makers fall into that trap: you can see it on the front of the head mortise when the hair is out, but fortunately they also have pins to keep their metal head faces on. It would easily go missing in a workshop clearout, the clearer being unaware of its importance. The mystery holder (or whatever) is surely a low-heat curing box for varnished bows. Many are the finishes employed, but they all come down to spirit varnish/French polish; oil varnish; two-pack polyurethane (which goes back to the mid-1950s); or linseed oil. Depending on the weather, all take varying times to dry, and I expect the winter weather in the northern USA will demand some drying assistance; think of it as a predecessor of the violin maker’s ‘sun tube’ cabinet. Hill’s used oil finish and there were some heating pipes in the Hanwell workshops that provided an ideal place for bows to dry o. during their coats of oil.

The hooks that support the bow sticks would inevitably make a mark on any varnish used on the sticks, so my guess is that they were using the sensible oil finish. Only mild heat is needed, but over a few days, and a cover would help both keep the heat in and the inevitable workshop dust out.

ANDREW BELLIS

Dorset, UK

THE GREAT TEN THOUSAND

I was heartened to see the results of the new study, reported by The Strad, that calls into question the idea that 10,000 hours of practice will make anyone a great violinist (bit.ly/33ZjN90). While I can’t confirm with any certainty where this notion originally came from, I wonder if it could be related to the idea that 10,000 steps per day will make you fit.

This particular myth dates from 1965, when a Japanese pedometer company marketed their latest product as ‘the 10,000-ometer’ – the only reason being that someone spotted the Japanese character for 10,000 bore some resemblance to a person running. As far as physical health goes, any exercise at all will be beneficial, up to a ceiling of around 7,500 steps; thereafter, little difference has been detected.

As The Strad ’s report correctly states, the ‘10,000-hour’ idea was popularised in 2008 in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, and that he based it on the 1993 paper The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. It neglects to mention, however, that in 2012 the lead researcher criticised Gladwell’s use of the study, saying that ‘10,000 hours was the average of the best group; indeed most of the best musicians had accumulated substantially fewer hours of practice at age 20’ (bit.ly/377pKSY).

CHARLOTTE HANCOCK

St Albans, Canada

DIOLCH YN FAWR IAWN

In the recent article on the New York String Orchestra, reference is made to the fact that the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYOGB) was founded before certain youth orchestras in the US. You might have mentioned that the National Youth Orchestra of Wales was founded in 1945, three years before NYOGB.

CLIVE MORRIS

Neath, UK

SONG OF THE STRAD

I am researching a conscientious objector and came across this entry in an autograph book written during the First World War, probably in 1916 in Dartmoor Prison. It contains this page of music (above). Does any reader recognise the verse (not the music!) and know why it should be associated with The Strad ? If so, please get in touch at geoffking1@outlook.com.

GEOFF KING

Ryedale, UK

ONLINE COMMENT

Readers were both sanguine and sarcastic at the plight of a player who left his Tecchler violin on a London train Mt!y/3.5ygdTR ASHLEY MARIE HELTON-MOORE You have to be one absent-minded professor to set a €250,000 violin down on a public train, then get up and walk away from it. I can’t really feel bad for the guy.

ANNA HARDY Yo-Yo Ma once did this with his cello, so far superior people than those judging have made mistakes. SUZANNE CLAFFEYI ve seen a lot of posts about people losing/leaving their violins. Maybe when a musician is travelling in public they should wear some kind of wrist device attached to their case.

Editorial note

On page 53 of the November issue, Ernst Lohberg is standing on the left and Anders Halvarson on the right - not the other way round.