VIOLIN'S VARYING MOODS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 200, 24 August 1929, Page 13

VIOLIN'S VARYING MOODS.

It is an old saying that a thoroughly healthy person is "fit as a fiddle" and like many other old sayings it contains an essential fallacy. The health of a violin, or any other instrument of music, varies considerably according to circumstances, and every player will tell you that there are days, when his instrument fails to respond to his demands, often just when he himself is at his best. The violin in particular is a delicate instrument that requires to be wrapped in silk or some other fine dry material to prevent it getting cold or being seriously affected by the heat. It will become almost seriously indisposed in the course of an hour when being played in a hot room; it gets tired and out of sorts if it is played too continuously or too strenuously. Good violinists prefer to have at"leas.fc two reliable instruments because they know that holidays are as necessary for the fiddle as for themselves, and sometimes just when they are busiest one of tha fiddles gets overworked and must have a few days off. Keep "fit as a fiddle" if you can; but most of us wish to be fitter than a fiddle.