And what about the soundholes? Symmetrical cursive f’s, with circular finials at each end, they are perhaps the most recognizable part of the violin. They have such grace and beauty that it is easy to imagine hat they owe little to functionality. Yet the more one considers them, the clearer it is that few other shapes would work so well. Some sort of aperture is necessary to allow sound to escape, but the middle of the belly must remain intact to support the bridge, hence the holes’ positions toward the sides. Their narrowness means removing as few grains of spruce as possible \u2013 again important for strength \u2013 and the curves into circles at each end prevent splits from developing. Finally, the outward curve into the lower corners places the bottom finials in dead wood, not wasting any potential source of amplification, while the narrow waist of the violin forces the holes to curve inward at the top ends. In short, no one has conceived of a better basic design for the soundholes than the original, seen to perfection in Amati’s work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s not often that one takes the time, as a professional musician, to just sit and take a look at one’s instrument. I don’t mean actually looking at the instrument – that happens all the time. Inspecting for damage, polishing the varnish, making sure the bridge is straight, etc. What I mean is looking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[424,115,22],"tags":[3630,3628,3629,3660],"class_list":["post-709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-instruments","category-music","category-viola","tag-amati","tag-f-holes","tag-toby-faber","tag-viola"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-br","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7400,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/viola-night-at-portland-youth-philharmonic\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":0},"title":"viola night at portland youth philharmonic","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Friday night I went to see the Portland Youth Philharmonic's Winter Concert at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. It was a nice program: varied and interesting. My main interest was in hearing the young violist Lauren Siess, who won the PYP's concerto competition, play the Walton Viola Concerto.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/siessposter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14102,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/05\/24\/viola-jokes-ftw\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":1},"title":"viola jokes, ftw","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm a big fan of viola jokes. I don't find them in the least bit offensive. Why? They're mostly made up by violists, for one. They're also based in a rather checkered early history of the instrument and its proponents. They have a basic sense of truth to them, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_6812","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_6812.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_6812.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_6812.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_6812.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_6812.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_6812.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":231,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/02\/the-end-of-an-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":2},"title":"the end of an era","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I received word this afternoon that my old viola has found a new owner. Some people like to name their instruments, I never got into that. Now that I've learned of the sale of my first viola, I wish I had named her (for lack of a name, I'll settle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1145,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/09\/19\/there-are-days\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":3},"title":"there are days…","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I wish that I were blogging anonymously sometimes.\u00c2\u00a0 I could unburden myself of whatever was vexing me from a day's worth of rehearsals, private practicing, or teaching, and say whatever I wanted. That would be great. But... It also would not be terribly ethical.\u00c2\u00a0 It's easy to say whatever you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12577,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/04\/06\/classical-up-close-concerts-blitz-events-set\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":4},"title":"classical up close concerts & blitz events set","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"You can see the complete list of events\/locations\/times at the Classical Up Close website, but the programs are listed at the Classical Up Close facebook page. \u00a0ED: Now everything is on one handy page at www.classicalupclose.com. Here's a handy cheat sheet I've created (all evening concerts at 7:30 p.m. and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5380,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/10\/01\/new-musicians-join-symphony\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":5},"title":"new musicians join symphony","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"We had a spate of auditions at the end of last season, and the results netted us three new musicians who are all now settled in Portland and playing with the orchestra.\u00a0 They are Principal timpanist Jonathan Greeney, oboist and English hornist Kyle Mustain, and violist Silu Fei.\u00a0 Here's a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "auditions"","block_context":{"text":"auditions","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/auditions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/jonathangreeney.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"IMG_8084\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/IMG_8084-300x400.jpg?resize=300%2C400\")
It’s not often that one takes the time, as a professional musician, to just sit and take a look at one’s instrument. I don’t mean actually looking<\/em> at the instrument – that happens all the time. Inspecting for damage, polishing the varnish, making sure the bridge is straight, etc. What I mean is looking at it as an object of aesthetic beauty. I think that in these terms, we string players are pretty fortunate.<\/p>\n