Dear Summer Lovers,
Recently, we came into a violin. This has been a lifelong hope of mine, to come into a violin. We added it to the wondrous heap of instruments that we tend but cannot play; Of course, this statement is all wrong. I play the violin very happily. Most would not call it music, but that is quite beside the point. Let me tell you what I have learned of the violin.....
It is fantastically light- it weighs less than an empty cigar box, I bet, and it is scarily delicate. You pinch it, like a telephone, under your cheek. What an idea! So awkward; but this is part of its charm. You play it with a shredded strand of stuff that seems to wear away as you play, and what does the violin do? It whispers, right into your ear. I took it outside, to stand in the breeze and shrubbery, and play a little piece of my own invention, for the bees and insects, as I thought they too would enjoy the scraping and squeaking.
We also have a piano we do not play very well, but that does not diminish our enjoyment of our piano at all. For one thing, you need a piano, to put your globe of the world on top of, and also to keep music in the bench. I hope you have a piano, or that you will get one soon. Or if you cannot spare the space in your heart and home for a piano, may I suggest a violin? Imagine opening it, to its cobalt crushed velvet interior, taking it up, ever so gently, and then, very carefully listening to its quiet secrets, which are only for you, and no one else.
There are some pianos here, to convince you that you need one, or even half a dozen. These pianos are playing a piece by a composer I am very fond of- Graham Fitkin. Sample more of his great works on his website: www.fitkin.com
