It has been a good long time since last visiting here. There has been a lot happening, and yet not so much.
The most fun has been with violins. I registered mine at a site linked with a British music publishing house, one that specializes in all things violin-ish. Here's the link: http://www.cozio.com/Instrument.aspx?id=11377. It's just kind of a kick, in a really geeky sort of way, to have added this information to the store of data about great and almost-great violins.
Here's a picture of another I got to play:
It was made by Nicolo Amati, probably the teacher of Antonio Stradivari, in the 1670's. Amati's work is known for perfection of detail, beauty of form and sweet, full sound; this instrument was no exception. It is really beautiful!
The other bit of playing that I've gotten to do was at my Mom's funeral. She always said she wished she had been able to help me get a better instrument, and so with the money she left me, she did. I wanted to play for her and chose a piece by Fritz Kreisler called "Love's Sorrow."
I played this short piece for Mom over the phone last Fall, when I was just learning it, and it made her so happy. She said it reminded her of dinners with her parents when she was a teenager; they would go to a restaurant in Chicago where violinists played music like this. She said the music took put her back in time, to happy moments with her parents and her beloved brother Jim.
I played part of it, very softly, in her hospital room while she was completing her journey to the next life. I played it more loudly at the cemetery.
