We have striven to have a household full of music and the opportunity to play music since our boys were young. We didn’t push them to start music lessons…but hoped they would. When my oldest son finally decided he wanted to learn the violin, he had already missed the opportunity to start at school. However they were kind enough to lend us one for the school holidays. We only agreed to the loan if my son agreed to have a daily lesson from me for the 2 weeks, at the end of the holidays we took it back and he played them a little something and they were offered to take him as a late entry to the programme. I went out and bought him a facebook violin (it was a violin strung as a viola and needed a bit of love) – importantly he decided he wanted to learn himself!
I had hopes of us playing duets into the night and helping him along with at home lessons….all hopes dashed when he realised I’m not cool enough c’est la vie.
He was getting close to high school and to help his transition (as we went to an out of area primary school) we stumbled across Mansfield Musicworx. It was a great way to get him used to going to Mansfield High School as the lessons are on site. We soon discovered the music teachers have a connection to the high school (duh!) and so in addition to his regular school group lessons, he had one on one lessons that were complimentary to it, with the odd bit of communication between the teachers to keep him developing forward. Musicworx also have solo performance opportunities, which I recon are important to help a musician develop because it’s a near term goal and a bit of pressure too.
Dial forward a few years, with both sons playing the violin, we have discovered Broadwater Road Uniting Church. Worship is something can can really be enhanced by music, and with both contemporary and more traditional services its a nice environment within which to play as well. It’s a bit of pressure with new songs each time, often in challenging keys for young (and old) fingers alike. One of the things that is most serendipitous is seeing the generations mix and in a sense ministering and appreciating each other.
At bit further down the road is the Mt. Gravatt Mens Shed who have a regular jam group going, they seem happy enough to have the boys along on the holidays too. Its good for young boys to see music as a mans pass-time too I reckon! (See them playing with the shedders at Bagpipes and a violin…what could go wrong? )
I have lost count of the times I have been servicing a $300 instrument only to find $180 strings on it, because that was what some music store (or cough teacher) recommended. I know why they recommended it of course the % markup on strings is pretty low, so if you can sell an expensive set you are more likely to cover your transaction costs.
But is not really a good match for the violin or likely the player, It’s a bit like putting racing tires on a Hyundai Excel or a donning Tuxedo to go water skiing… looks great, but not really fit for purpose. In fact for a beginning student expensive string may make them sound worse…amplifying every technique imperfection.
There are literally hundreds of violin strings on the market today and you can buy them all in Brisbane, with great variation between them in tonal properties, projection and durability. Yes they are expensive, why can’t they be like guitar strings at $20 a set you ask? Its all in the construction, and perhaps to the premium of playing a classical instrument?
So what do I recommend? Here are some thoughts…
Steel strings…
Steel strings – everyone wants them on a guitar , but on a violin they don’t sound the best. Probably this is because the modes of vibration, don’t get the delicious upper order harmonics nor the rich fat lows. But on smaller instruments where the string length is shorter, so they are not so tight its not too bad and so are a good match for beginners. The tone on smaller violins tends not to be stradivarius quality, as they re generally cheaper instruments only used for 6 months or so so expensive strings are a bit of overkill. I like the Clarion Silver Strings, with a multi stranded steel core and last a longer time. So a good match up even on 3/4 size instruments, if its your first instrument and your just starting out ~$25 a set too they are easy on the pocket.
Filament cores…not cat gut
Filament cores are the modern equivalent of traditional gut strings (which were never made from cats), but without the challenges of humidity, tuning and generally better sound projection (pursuits have at me in the comments section if you will)
What to choose – Basics
By the time you are on a 3/4 or 4/4 instrument though you will probably want something better than steel, to reflect a better instrument and also to reflect you developing tone production abilities.
Thomastik Alphayue come in around $50 and then Pirastro Tonicas at ~$65 and are a good choice here. In fact Tonicas will do you well into your third grade of playing and beyond.
From here though what string you use starts to depending on you as a player, your violin (especially if its electric) and the kind of music you play. Thomastik Dominants have been around forever, and are a mainstay of quite a few professional and amateur violists alike , at ~$100 treat yourself to solid performer perhaps?
The above strings are what I tend to keep in stock for setting up instruments new and preloved, though I can order in anything my Brisbane violin customers want as well.
Stepping up
Pirastro Violino (~$80) can bring down a hard edged new instrument a bit and for the more serious Pirastro Obligatos ($175) can bring out some rich dark tones, Larsen Tzigane(~$120) are another option in this regard for some really chewy tone.
If you want a bit more brilliance and projection go for Evah Pirazzi Strings ($165) or newcomer Warchal Brilliants (~$120 ), pronounced as Varkal if you want to sound sophisticated at the till ( the V and W sounds are substituted in some European countries). There are also the Thomastik Infeld Red and Blue (~$130), designed to mix and match to get the right string for your violin across the 2 sets (and give you something sophisticated to talk about – like you are discussing fine red wines).
Durability
Strings can last anywhere from 6 months to a year depending on how much you play them, yes many will keep going long after that but they tend to lose their “magic”. Evah Pirazzi’s for example are a favourite soloist string but are infamous for not keeping their zing all that long (3 months some people recon). String lose their sound so slowly you may not even notice it till you put a fresh set on and then “wow these are the best strings ever”.
When to change
I usually have a set of what I want to try next in my violin case. When the first string goes (breaks or gets ‘fuzzy’) and change it only and maybe wait till the second one goes before I give in and put them all on.
Strings tend to go better with their own kind , I suspect this is because all the strings resonate sympathetically to the one being played, though often people might have an E string they prefer (especially if you have a wolf note – you’ll want the patented Amber E from Warchal)
Most often its the A string that goes first, up near the fingers, there is something about its winding and finger sweat that does mix. On student violins its often the E string – as a victim of over enthusiastic tuning …ping!!!
Simply for Strings in Brisbane Northside runs a programme every year called Stringtember, with a modest discount on all strings. It’s as good a reminder as any to change your strings. I suspect they chose September because it is the quietest time of the year in the trade (except possibly week 3 of term 1 ) so it makes sense to drum up business..and hey while you are here look at these lovely instruments 😉 As for me its when I catch up on all my backlog of instrument renovation getting ready for the December rush.
So your spending anywhere from $60 – $160 a year on strings, it sound like a lot but remember thats just the cost of a few violin lessons. Strings are what make the sound and are only cents per day, so get over it and treat yourself and your violin.
Experimenting with sound
Here are some violin string tonal charts. I like this one from violin string review the most, because its multi brand, and you can read loads of crowd sourced reviews of strings here as well. To help you decide to drop you $$ on. It can feed your confirmation bias on what you think you want , or help you discover something new.
Violin Strings Brisbane – a guide : Image courtesy of ViolinStringGuide.com
Hear loads of strings being played on the same instrument and discussed (Courtesy of whitehorsemusic.com.au in Sydney)
I’m in a boy band, thats what my mum recons, of course she’s in her seventies and that makes me…ummm yeah well never mind.
I’m the youngest member in my boy band, they all play songs I’ve never heard of …well mostly….. there is Roger Whitaker, Linda Ronstat and some of that modern stuff like Neil Diamond. I joined my boy band a few years back, to diversify my musical experience , I wanted to get away from notes and start feeling the music and improvising more.
My boy band is down at the Mt. Gravatt Mens Shed its a jam group of professional, semi professional and hacks alike (I won’t tell you which category I fall into …it wouldn’t be good for my reputation). Basil keeps us honest leading us from the keyboards.
It grew out of their long running beginner guitar lessons and features guitars, uke, harmonicas, bass, keyboards and a drummer or two (they keep each other in time). On my first visit they tried to get me to learn guitar…I told them old timers I was too old to learn something new 😉
It mostly just jammin’ but we have a few gigs here and there to help with focus. My only worry is gigging at senior citizens association, I’m a bit worried they might throw their underwear at us 😉
