Scan 335
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
8 lines. Read by computer on 9 September 2026. Printed page 291. See the scan on archive.org.
1the strains of the human voice. The slightest movement of the arm or the wrist, the lightest pressure of the elastic bow upon the strings is responded to immediately, and the quality of the tone is the result. As the quality of a pianist's notes depends upon the delicacy of his touch, so does the character of the tones produced on the violin get its color entirely from the manner of bowing.
3The tones produced on the violin depend upon two things—the stopping and the bowing. When a violinist presses one of the fingers of his left hand upon one of the strings to produce a note he stops the string, and when he draws his bow across that string, producing that sound, he is bowing.
5From what has already been said it is readily seen that the art of "stopping" constitutes the foundation of violin playing. When one has learned to handle his fingers in such a manner that they will stop at the right place to produce the desired pitch he has provided a finger-board for his violin. The accuracy with which the strings are stopped constitutes the purity of the tone, and the rapidity with which the fingers are placed as the hand passes back and forth over the strings expresses the skill of the performer.
7In no other instrument is the relation between the musician and his instrument so close as is the relation between the violinist and his violin. If the bow is drawn across the strings correctly a mellow liquid tone seems to flow from under the player's bow, the tones glide smoothly and harmoniously into each other, there is no scraping of the bow, no thumping on the strings, no conscious change from one string to the other. Tucked under the player's chin, within the embrace of his left arm, his ear close to the body of the violin, he listens with all his soul to the responding tone as his right arm brings the bow lovingly to the strings. Between the master and the violin exists an intimacy not found with other instruments. Can such a relation become possible with a stately organ or a grand piano? The horn, the flute, the oboe are held away from the
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