How to Judge if a Violin has a Good Tone

by Peter Zaret In a violin a "good tone" is a complex mixture of qualities that blend together to create a pleasing sound. Some of these can be evaluated objectively (po er! clarity! balance! evenness" and some are very much a matter of judgement and personal taste.

Power
"#here are hundreds of adjectives that describe the tone of a violin$ article! 'o to (hoose a )iolin." Po er is measurable in concrete terms. In other meter the meter can tell you hich one is louder. %lso from my article How to Choose a Violin$ "+ver and over I as, these hypothetical questions$ -hy do you thin, an orchestra has ./ violins and . flutes0 #he ans er is the flute produces the po er of 12 violins. 'ave you ever seen a violin dro n out a piano0 'ave you ever seen in a violin concerto! the soloist dro ning out the orchestra0 % violin can never be too loud. It is the only instrument in the orchestra (other than the viola" to the player than to the audience." %s quoted in my article on 3uest for Po er$ "#he lordly violin and its less illustrious relatives in the string family are in trouble. %s today4s concert halls gro more cavernous! it becomes increasingly difficult for a solo violinist to project his sound above a thundering orchestra and out to the most distant seats. %nd even if he does! many stereo hi5fi addicts contend that the sound is only a pale echo of the 4electronically enhanced4 concertos that they can conjure up in their living rooms...(&rom #ime 6aga7ine! *ecember 82th! 19::."" Po er is obviously particularly significant for classical players but their instruments so ho hat about violinists ho perform in other here the tone comes out of a hole three inches from the left ear and aimed directly at the ear. It sounds much louder ords$ decibels. *ecibels are facts. So much of judging the arm! lyrical! rich! clear! deep! smooth! ill be loud." (&rom my brilliant! "and on and on. #he most important one though! is po er. % good violin

tone of a violin is subjective! but decibels are facts. If t o violins are played exactly the same next to a decibel

genres such as ja77! bluegrass! country! celtic! etc.0 #hese fol,s are probably going to electronically amplify important is po er to them0 6y ans er is that po er still matters. It is a matter of or, as hard to pull sound out of it. -hen the sound is ell balanced (further reserve. If you are completely confident you can be heard you relax and play better. -hen the instrument has intrinsic po er you don4t have to discussed belo " you don4t have to expend extra effort to adjust for disparities. %lthough there are many qualities to a good tone po er is the most important.

Clarity
It is very important that the tone of a violin be clear. % fu77y unfocused tone have to or, too hard to get a good sound out of the violin. % fu77y! the ear but it ill not carry and ma,es the player ooly tone might sound loud enough under

on4t go very far. In addition! it ma,es bo ing harder. % fu77y note drops off much faster than a changes! articulation! and smooth moving from one note to another

clear and resonant note. #his ma,es bo

more difficult. %ny difficulty in one area has an effect on another area. &or instance! if you have to concentrate

on articulation! you are distracted from your intonation! rhythm! etc. % fu77y quality in the tone very softly ill practically disappear. % clear tone ill ma,e the player have to on other things! li,e ma,ing beautiful music.

hen playing

or, less hard and concentrate

Balance
It is important all ; strings have the same volume and all the notes on the strings have the same volume and quality. If a violin has one ea, string it can be a big problem. <ou either have to play louder on the ea, string or softer on the other strings. +nce again e have the problem of po er! (of lac, thereof" if you have to ea,en the other three strings to compensate for one ea, string. In my entire life I have never heard of a violinist struggling =+# to be heard. (%ctually! if you are a poor player this sometimes comes in handy. 'iding in the bac, of the second violin section can sometimes save a job>" 3uite often ith a good violin either the * string or the % string ill be a little ea,er than the other three. % ea, ? string or a ea, @ string ould be far orse. % ritten this violinist plays more on the @ string and the ? string than on the middle strings. #he virtuoso music is bo

ay as it is very difficult past fifth position or so on the middle strings to play ith any real intensity or flair as the ill tend to hit other strings. +f course the only ay to hit the really high notes is on the ? string. If this area is no good! my suggestion is to get another violin.

Evenness
3uite often even on a good violin there ill be one or t o ea, notes or a olf tone. +nce again this presents a or,. #he player doesn4t ant some ith the traditional bass bar you problem for the violinist to ma,e the tone even enough to ma,e the phrase tend to have a

notes that surge or some notes that practically disappear. +n a good violin

olf tone on the A natural or ( natural above % ;;2. #his is particularly prominent higher up on

the @ string! but also a problem on the * string (third and fourth finger in third position! and first finger and second finger in first position on the % string". %nother problem area is the & natural and the & sharp in the first position on the ? string. I ill never forget playing Aeethoven4s second Bomance ith an orchestra. It is in the ith the first finger on ent ell but I had to ,ey of & major! (a bad ,ey for the violin". #he only ay to start the piece is in first position the ? string. #his note is usually (and the & sharp" spend a lot of time or,ing on this. +bviously it the & natural is close to the nut of the violin and hard to stop the string. #he performance recently heard a very famous violinist

ea, and very difficult to bring out. %dding to this problem is

ould be ideal if all the notes on the violin sounded the same. I

ith a very famous violin give a recital. ?very time he hit the ( natural

above % ;;2 the tone became thinner and ea,er.

Warmth
% po erful tone that is strident! edgy and brassy ithout depth is not to be desired. 3uite often a student violin ith the traditional bass bar ill be armer arm and deep on the @ and or a small viola have these qualities. @enerally spea,ing! a student violin * string the % and ? strings ill tend to be ea, and ooly. 6y ne

bright and brassy sounding in the lo er register. +n the other hand if the tone is

bass bar ma,es the @ and * string

and richer but at the same time ma,es the % and ? string more brilliant and po erful. I must add! I do not regraduate most student instruments unless the top and bac, are extremely thic, CDE roughly /2F thic,er and stiffer than is normal. #he essence of my patent is I discovered ho to build up the bass of the violin by adding ood to the bottom part of the bass bar a ay from the surface. #herefore the violin becomes deep and rich in

the lo er register yet bright and brilliant in the upper register. It is also structurally more solid than the traditional ay of building a violin.

Richness
#his is a quality that can be hard to define. I li,e to thin, of it as full bodied. In more concrete terms! it boils do n to a good strong fundamental and many strong overtones. (ontrast the lo er register of a flute and the lo er register of a violin. #he flute is louder but the violin sound is more interesting and complex. (In my opinion! of course". #he violin string produces more overtones than the flute. Get us say the flute tone is more pale as opposed to a good violin this out quite a fe hich is softer but has rosy chee,s. =o offense to flute players. In a piece of chamber rote t o music! such as the Aach Arandenburg (oncerto no. / a flute player can ta,e revenge on the violin. I have found times> 6o7art is said to not have li,ed the flute for this reason! although he absolutely gorgeous flute concertos.

e!th
It is hard to define the difference bet een a deep tonal quality and dar, tonal quality. #o me the viola has a dar, quality in the lo er register and the cello has a deep quality in the lo er register! although the cello plays an octave lo er than the viola. % dar, sound deep sound ould be a strong fundamental ith not as many overtones as ith a hich has a strong fundamental plus good strong overtones. % good example of this ould be a

double bass playing the same note as a cello. #he double bass

ould have a dar,er quality as the viols don4t

have as much si77le as the violin family. Get us say the @ string of a violin and to a lesser extent the * string should have some of the qualities and characteristics of a cello and a viola. (ertainly not too much! though. It should still sound li,e a violin. % good strong fundamental plus many overtones. If the @ string has a also. ea, fundamental it ill sound tinny and brassy. #he lo er register of a violin must be deep and rich but it must si77le

"moothness
#his is another hard one. If the violin sounds smooth under the ear it ill tend to not carry ell. It is more important to sound smooth to the audience than to the player. % violinist has to get used to a certain edginess under the ear that the audience doesn4t hear. #his edginess is once again the preponderance of the higher overtones studying hich is one of the components that gives the tone its richness. 6y old teacher at Huilliard! Hoseph ith him! I couldn4t understand it. 'e sounded so great in the concert hall and on his recordings but up as super articulating much li,e an actor as as rough and edgy but .2 feet a ay! it &uchs! had an absolutely gorgeous tone that carried to the farthest reaches of the hall. -hen I first started close he sounded scratchy and rough. I reali7ed later! of course! he spits out the consonant sounds. P4s! #4s! A4s! etc. Ip close it smooth and rich

Brilliance
#o me brilliance is synonomous ith spar,ling. % brilliant quality is very important particularly in the upper register. )irtuoso music tends to go up very high on the @ string and on the ? string. #he higher you go up the tighter the string gets and the more brilliant the sound. %lso as mentioned before! it is much easier to go high on the outer strings than the middle string. #here should be a brilliant sheen to the tone even if it has a rich and deep quality. +nce again the large mix of overtones combined ith the strong fundamental. 'eifet7 had a rich

tone and there

as al ays a brilliant shimmering si77le to it. 'e

ould occasionally crash do n on a note!

usually in the higher positions! that ould sha,e me out of my chair>

Res!onsiveness
Besponsiveness means ho easy it is to get the tone out of the violin. If it ta,es too much effort it ma,es other or, too hard to get the tone out you must brea, a ay ooly aspects of playing the violin more difficult. If you have to quality the responsiveness responsiveness

your concentration from intonation! rhythm! phrasing! etc. @enerally spea,ing if a violin has a dar, and ill tend to be hard. % balance bet een the t o is best. % violin

ill be relatively easy! and if the tone of the violin is on the bright side the ith too easy a response can ill tend to crad, and squa ,. % little resistance

bring problems if you are nervous in a performance. #he tone

can be helpful at times. +n the other hand! in the larger instruments such as the cello and bass! the easiest response is most desirable. #here is much more physical exertion ith these instruments and an easy response is very helpful. Spea,ing about nervousness and tension! that is one of the reasons quite often a violinist muscles going in the bo strings ill start out a recital ith a lot of open stro,es and

ith a Sonata from the Aaroque period. If you have a lot of rapid stro,es of detache and martele it gets the arm. &or the left hand the piece is usually in first and third position ith a slo tempo! hich helps to loosen the fingers. If you start off a recital ith long bo

the dynamic is pianissimo! good luc,>

Edginess
?dginess can also be defined as a lot of surface noise. In my opinion! if there is a good strong fundamental in the tone a good deal of edginess can be very helpful. #he edginess is really a preponderance of higher overtones. #he more overtones the better for carrying po er. It is a fact! that the human ear pic,s up the higher overtones better than the lo er ones. #he soprano high (! or third finger in third position on the ? string is the center of here the human ear hears best. #hat is a prime reason hy the violin! hich produces less sound than the viola! the cello or the bass actually carries better. -estern 6usic usually puts the melody on the top and the accompaniment or supporting part on the bottom. #hus in almost any ,ind of string ensemble the violin ill carry the solo part and the viola cello and bass fundamental and clear. ill carry a supporting part. ?dginess ith the strong fundamental it ithout a good strong ill help carry the tone arm! rich and ill sound brassy and squea,y. 'o ever!

ill not sound edgy and brassy 82 to .2 feet a ay. #he tone from a distance

ill sound

Resonance
Besonance is another very important factor in choosing a violin. -ithout resonance the tone dies immediately after the bo changes direction. % gap bet een notes hen playing legato passages is obviously very bad. If ill the tone dampens immediately after playing a short stro,e such as spiccato or martele the musical phrase be desired. (It is better to have too much than too little though". Imagine a piano

sound dead and clipped. % nice resonant tone is ideal for a violin. 'o ever! too much resonance is also not to ithout dampers. +ne tone ould overlap into another and another! etc. Since a violin doesn4t have dampers the tone dies on its o n if the player doesn4t go to another note on the same string. #herefore if there is too much resonance you have the possibility of a piece of music that is entirely composed of double! triple and at times quadruple stops>