Finally got around to ordering a new bow for the viola a few days ago, and it arrived today.
Sounds a little rough right now. Still need to get the bow broken in with rosin and remember how to bow the strings. Can definitely tell the viola’s just a little too small for me (or else I just have fat fingers).
Now to see if I can re-teach myself all the viola-playing stuff I used to know.
Strings on the viola
While running errands over the weekend I stopped at a nearby music shop to see what they had for string instruments. Picked up a set of strings and a pitch pipe to help me get things into tune, but they didn’t have any viola bows in my price range. The ones they did have were very nice, but a little more than I needed at this time. Thanks to the pitch pipe and a few MIDI files I found online, the viola is now newly strung and sounds decently in tune, although the A sounds kind of odd to me. Maybe when I hear it with the bow it’ll sound better. Plucking the strings does make some very satisfyingly familiar sounds though.
Now I just need to find a bow and some beginner’s books.
More on the viola
Inside the body of the viola, there are two stickers. One sticker says
A. R. Seidel
Mittenwald OBB
Handmade copy of
Antonius Stradivarius West Germany
This sticker has 1986 written on it.
In search of musicy-bits
Ok, so now that I’ve got this spiffy viola, I need to find a place around here where where I can get:
- a new bow (or two)
- rosin
- some strings (C, G, D and A)
- music and instruction books
- something to help me tune the viola
This should be interesting. Simba was a total spaz yesterday when I was checking out my new toy and plucking the strings trying to tune it. I bet it will be even more entertaining when I actually start trying to play the thing.
Anybody know of any good local music shops that carries stuff for string instruments?
A new old hobby
Today I spotted a viola the neighbours were selling at their yard sale, so on a whim I decided to pick it up. Unfortunately I missed out on the Lemond road bike he was selling yesterday, otherwise I could have started up two old hobbies.
I used to play viola for about 7 years between grades 4 and 11. I enjoyed playing but being somewhat tone deaf (although I can tell when something doesn’t sound quite right or is out of tune) and somewhat lacking in the rhythm department, I think I had gotten about as good as I could get by the time I reached high school. And by then my interests were starting to diverge to other things like cycling and running.
I hadn’t touched a viola since then but always thought about getting back to it. When I saw the neighbours set one out this morning, I just thought it would be too good of an opportunity to pass up. It’s in reasonably decent shape and sounds decent despite having a thin crack along the top of the body. It’s missing a G string, needs a new bow and maybe some new pegs but those things should be easy enough to find somewhere.
I wonder if my viola books are still back home sitting in the closet.