First of all, I'm bad bad bad by not maintaining the blog. Of course I practiced the violin during all this period and most importantly, I played again with some very good friends and fellow musicians. I should bring back this blog to a current state.
Today I went trying some violin bows at a local music store. I created a checklist and had in mind a price range. I was isolated in a room with around 10 bows (wood and carbon fiber). I didn't ask for the price tag beforehand neither the maker's name. I tried them one by one comparing them to the best bow I own. The third bow I tried was the one that stood out from the others and remained, in my opinion, the most interesting bow in terms of sound clarity, penetration and weight. It's around 60 grams actually. At some point I was alternating my bow with the "chosen one"; it's a Marco Raposo bow made in Brazil. I terms of strength, flexibility and ability to play, the bows are the same. However, the Raposo has definitely a better projection. The sound is strong in the lows and penetrating in the highs. I finally brought it home. Let me be clear: I did NOT buy it YET! But I could bring it home to try it. So far, I'm very pleased by how the sound has improved but I'd like to try ricochet, staccatos and other techniques so see if there is REALLY a difference when played. By the way, the bow doesn't actually look beautiful, it's an ugly round stick with bright wood but it's nice to hold and is so far giving good results. I have the bow for a week so I'll certainly have an update next week ;)
Tonight I listened again to Darf Ich by Arvo Pärt for violin, a bell and strings. I actually knew Pärt's composition but Darf Ich was introduced to me by a good friend and I fell in love with this piece. There's something very deep in Arvo Pärt music that touches the soul.
2 comments:
Do you know what it will cost yet? I mean, these things are so terribly expensive. I bought my cello for 2300 EUR and the bow for 700 EUR and that is ridiculously cheap for such an instrument, but still you could buy a small, but good car from that money.
And I guess, it is always difficult if you still have the "old one", that is only a little bit worse than the new one. Doesn't matter if you buy a bow or a television or whatever. When you still have the old version, you spent all that money not to own the thing, but only for that "little bit better". (That's the reason, why I am always happy if something old breaks, because then I can go and buy a better version of that thing without that problem :-) )
Maybe you should "accidentally" drop your old bow somewhere on the street: "Whoops, how could that ever happen? I guess, now I have to buy the new bow" ;-)
No, seriously: Do you plan to still use the old bow? When I bought mine, my cello teacher told me, that he is looking for a bow like that for his work in the orchstra. Not because it was better than his original bow, but obviously he was looking for a bow for the "not so important" work with the orchestra. Well, so much for professional musiscans and their love for the orchestra :-)
Ok, I am waiting to see and hear an example of your new friend!
Marcus
The bow was around 700$. Even though I tried bows at 1100$ too but didn't feel a huge difference really. What conducted the price is the material (e.g. Gold platted instead of Silver). That's really not important to me as long as it's not plastic ;-) My old ones are actually in that price range even though I got them most often with a good deal.
I don't think I will wait for my bow (or bows!!) to break to change a bow. If at some point I test one and hear and feel a very noticeable difference. I will go with it.
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