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Emotions Towards an Instrument
Feelings towards our instruments
Topic Rating: 4.8 Topic Rating: 4.8 Topic Rating: 4.8 Topic Rating: 4.8 Topic Rating: 4.8 Topic Rating: 4.8 (22 votes) 
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StaceyC
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January 5, 2019 - 7:25 pm
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It's so hard to put into words, yet I found myself wanting to try tonight. I am such a beginner but I have had this love of violins for years. I truly love my violin and am attached to it. I got new strings for it today and hearing it play so clear and smooth just made me love it even more. I truly can't describe properly how it makes me feel to play it, let alone just look at it.. It makes my heart happy.. I know this all probably sounds corny but it's how I feel. As soon as I open my case and see the violin there, I'm happy... Does anyone else feel like that??

You'll never know unless you try! What's in my violin case?

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Shane "Chicken" Wang

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January 6, 2019 - 1:37 pm
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StaceyC said
It's so hard to put into words, yet I found myself wanting to try tonight. I am such a beginner but I have had this love of violins for years. I truly love my violin and am attached to it. I got new strings for it today and hearing it play so clear and smooth just made me love it even more. I truly can't describe properly how it makes me feel to play it, let alone just look at it.. It makes my heart happy.. I know this all probably sounds corny but it's how I feel. As soon as I open my case and see the violin there, I'm happy... Does anyone else feel like that??  

You are not alone. I felt kinda strange when I felt closer to my violin than I had my previous not violin instruments. I haven't been able to play for the passed few days and it is breaking my heart. I have trouble understanding how people give up their violins when they trade up. I can see getting another easier to play instrument, but this one has become my best friend and I can't give that away.

I read on this forum, where someone asked if anyone else had cried while tuning up their instrument. I laughed at first and wouldn't respond to the posting, because there are some things we shouldn't admit to. And it was just teary eyed not full on crying. No other instrument has been able to bring me to a crying halt, but this violin has. When it is just you and the instrument, you can share an emotional level of yourself no one else ever sees.

I know exactly how you feel. For some of us, it is perfectly normal.

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
January 7, 2019 - 11:38 am
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16430

I am numb after all these years but I still love looking at my instrument and all the wonderful instruments in our shop. Also, I've met so many customers that feel the same way that you feel. I understand your feelings for sure.
Our cleaning lady said that she feels great every time she visits our place and said that it reminds her of a game room or toy store. LOL

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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coolpinkone
California, the place of my heart
January 7, 2019 - 4:04 pm
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For a while when I was first playing violin I had a very hard time in thinking what would happen to my violins after I died.... I didn't want anyone to play them. 

I have sort of let that go now.. ha ha.. if I don't think about it too much. LOL

Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato

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Amateur

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January 7, 2019 - 7:26 pm
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But Pierre, it is a toy store.

The violin(and viola for that matter) is a more intimate instrument. We're forced to embrace the instrument to play it and we maintain constant contact. We're the only ones to place our ear to the it while we play. It's quite expressive and between the ebony fittings, varnish, f-holes, c-bouts, purfling and carving, it certainly has great aesthetics(so much so that mandolin and guitar builders have copied it).

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
January 7, 2019 - 10:30 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
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Amateur said
But Pierre, it is a toy store.

bunny_pole_dancer

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Shane "Chicken" Wang

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January 8, 2019 - 12:56 am
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coolpinkone said
For a while when I was first playing violin I had a very hard time in thinking what would happen to my violins after I died.... I didn't want anyone to play them. 

I have sort of let that go now.. ha ha.. if I don't think about it too much. LOL  

@coolpinkone you... kinda got me choked up with that....

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
January 11, 2019 - 6:25 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16430

Me too. :)

Rather not think about that. 

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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wtw
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January 12, 2019 - 5:48 am
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I don't care much personally. On the contrary, I'd prefer someone play it so it doesn't end up in someone's attic taking dust... would be a pity.

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coolpinkone
California, the place of my heart
January 12, 2019 - 2:01 pm
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Awh...thanks @Shane "Chicken" Wang & @Fiddlerman ... I am not going anywhere... ( I hope.. ha ha)

That was just a statement of how much I loved the violin.    I have never really cared what happens to my possessions... but I thought about with my violins.  

I definitely want them played... the music must go on... 

Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato

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mookje
The Netherlands
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January 13, 2019 - 12:52 am
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I’m really in love with my violin and she can always brighten up my day. I’m not sure if I want any one else to play on it, but the music must go on indeed. Maybe it depends on who is going to play my violin after I’m gone smile

 Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about dancing in the rain!!

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
January 13, 2019 - 9:38 am
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Just picture a future Heifetz playing on it and you'll be fine. ;)

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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StaceyC
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February 22, 2019 - 9:20 pm
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I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one that feels the way that I do when they look at/play their violin. :) It really is an amazing instrument.

You'll never know unless you try! What's in my violin case?

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Scrap
Arizona
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February 25, 2019 - 12:08 pm
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I concur. I love my violin. It brings back tremendous memories from my youth. Some amazing friends I had while learning and playing. Also Wonder Woman! But that is a story that gets me into trouble with my wife. I started playing because as a 9-10 year old boy the orchestra teacher looked an awful lot like Wonder Woman.....

Today, I pull out my violin and my day just gets better. Hearing some songs played over it brings joy to my soul. Hearing my son play makes it better. Playing a duet with my son, nothing tops it. As a man, I always thought playing catch with a baseball would be one of the ultimate father-son moments. It isn't. Playing Amazing Grace in a talent show together topped it.

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Pete_Violin
Utah

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March 3, 2019 - 6:32 pm
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Fiddlerman said
I am numb after all these years but I still love looking at my instrument and all the wonderful instruments in our shop. Also, I've met so many customers that feel the same way that you feel. I understand your feelings for sure.
Our cleaning lady said that she feels great every time she visits our place and said that it reminds her of a game room or toy store. LOL  

What are you, @Fiddlerman , dead inside!!! LOL...  I know you have feelings for your violin.  You can't fool me!!!!!!!

I have such amazing feelings for my violin.  But not just that, for the joy it brings me and others.  My violin transports me to another world when I play.  Nothing else matters.  I can escape most anything and leave behind my problems and disappointments. 

Then when I see how the music affects others.. their smiles, their way of stopping everything just to hear it.  It is the best feeling in the world.  I seriously don't know why people do drugs!  This is so much better, not that I would know.

- Pete -

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
March 3, 2019 - 10:11 pm
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pchoppin said
............My violin transports me to another world when I play.  Nothing else matters.  I can escape most anything and leave behind my problems and disappointments. 

Then when I see how the music affects others.. their smiles, their way of stopping everything just to hear it.  It is the best feeling in the world.  I seriously don't know why people do drugs!  This is so much better, not that I would know.  

I like that. Way to go Pete. 

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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starise
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March 8, 2019 - 12:36 pm
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I guess I have had mixed feelings about my violin. If it has been a long day and I need to work on my technique then it's almost a "yuck" kind of feeling. I like what I can eventually attempt to extract from it. Sort of like eventually drinking the wine after you grew the grapes, harvested them and then let everything ferment. For a beginner like me, the ratio of pain to pleasure is pretty wide. I occasionally get a few drops of nice wine for my efforts and that make it worthwhile for me.

I don't get emotionally connected to my instrument. I see it more like a tool. I have three or four low end violins. They all seem to have different personalities. I bought one from a woman in the symphony who was trading up. It has a lighter finish. I never really felt like it was the one for me. Then I bought another one in the 1000.00 range from a shop and I told them I wanted a warmer sound. Unfortunately they sold be a brick, well ok, a hollow brick. It's hanging on my wall. I lost interest in it. I will at some point take it down and re string it, maybe move the sound post. It's a beautiful, instrument. I just couldn't get the sounds out of it I wanted.

My most recent instrument was purchased up here in PA. at a local luthier. Probably considered to be upper end beginner or intermediate model. To date, this has been the one I have become most attached to. It isn't a pro soloist violin but it works ok for Irish traditional and some church tunes. I won't go deaf in my left ear playing it. The only thing I'm noticing is I think the response on it is suffering as I'm getting into more complex material..........so it probably isn't my last violin. I don't think I'm fickle. It's more of a progression for me. I would be sad if something happened to my favorite violin, eventually the tears would dry and I would be violin shopping again :)

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Michael Browder

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March 8, 2019 - 3:47 pm
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I love my violins, even when they're cantankerous. And I love the sound of a violin. It creates almost an orgasmic feeling for me. This is a bit weird as I can't really say this about anything else I own. For instance, I am into certain sports like nordic skiing, but the objects I use there are just tools as said by starise above. 

We live in an apartment without a lot of space, but I leave my violin out after playing quite often just because I want to look at her, and revel in her beauty. Some do this with a guitar or violin to motivate them to practice. I don't need added motivation, I just like looking at one or the other of my two playable fiddles. (And no, they don't get jealous of each other. They used to when I played one more than the other, but now I just alternated days and make it even for the two of them.). 

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MoonShadows
Stroudsburg, PA

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March 8, 2019 - 5:29 pm
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Great comment @Michael browder

Jim

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Frederica

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September 4, 2021 - 6:03 pm
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coolpinkone said
For a while when I was first playing violin I had a very hard time in thinking what would happen to my violins after I died.... I didn't want anyone to play them. 

I have sort of let that go now.. ha ha.. if I don't think about it too much. LOL

  

I have the opposite fear - how do I make sure my violins are played after my death (which seems not in sight pretty soon!), even my not-so-good inherited one?

I had the idea of bequeathing them to a music school with the wish to gift them to students who cannot afford an instrument, so that they will belong again to one person. 

I mean - isn't it sadder to think that after one's death instruments that were played and "loved" for decades might just end up in some cupboard, or worse, on the bulk junk?

You read so many threats in forums "I found this violin, how much is it worth?" I don't want mine ending up there, I had rather see them played on, if possible.

Also, other things that I cared for for decades maybe - I would rather see them used than just being thrown away.

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