Equipment

Violin is one of the few trades where the top pros possess equipment that is way out of reach for most amateurs. Think about it: if I want the same golf clubs as Tiger Woods, all it will cost me is $3000 or so. If I want a pro-quality camera outfit, I can spend $5000 and get it. A server-quality computer? $10,000. Even most other musical instruments can’t compare. Professional woodwind and brass instruments rarely cost more than $25,000. But the members of the violin sections of major symphony orchestras often play on violins which cost $100,000 or more, and it’s rare to find a touring soloist whose violin (usually old Italian) is worth less than $250,000. The two big guns, Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu, currently go for several million.

An amateur violinist, unless he is particularly well heeled, will not pay anywhere near these amounts for his instrument. So how much does that handicap the amateur, with his cheaper equipment? Before answering that directly, let’s examine two related questions: first, would buying Tiger’s golf clubs make me play like Tiger? And second, if Tiger used my clubs (total value, $250), would he sink to my level of play? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding “no!” The harder questions would be “how much improvement would I see with Tiger’s clubs?” and “how badly would Tiger play with my clubs?” I can answer those questions fairly accurately, since I have golfing experience. I have used pro clubs belonging to friends, and they have given me more confidence, and occasionally truer shots, but not significantly lower scores. And I have a friend who participated in a “master class” at a driving range with Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus was working with the adjacent participant, who was having trouble getting the ball up in the air. “I don’t know if these clubs will do it,” the participant said. Nicklaus took the club, stomped the participant’s ball halfway into the ground, took an easy swing, and blasted the ball out of the ground. It rose beautifully, and landed over 200 yards away.

So do I suggest that equipment makes no difference? Not at all. When your income depends at least in part on your tools, you use the best you possibly can, and let your skills make up for any remaining deficiencies. There is no reason for a professional golfer to use anything less than the best golf clubs available, since they are incredibly cheap relative to what he earns. So Tiger would never play with my clubs, but even if he did he would still be Tiger. The situation is a little different with most professional violinists. The cost of "the best violin available" would be several times his annual income. So, the violinist uses the best that he can. It may not be his lot in life to own a multimillion dollar Strad, but he begs, borrows and signs his life away to play something very good. He wouldn’t play a factory instrument on the concert stage, but if he had to for some reason, he would still sound like a professional.

By now, I've basically answered the original question: How much of a disadvantage does the amateur violinist face, without a pro’s equipment? Not much. And that's meant to be encouraging to the amateurs out there! You don't have to own a big-bucks fiddle to sound good. The biggest difference between pros and amateurs in almost any field is skill, not equipment. And one skill a pro possesses is the skill of maintenance . If you don't have a great instrument, don't handicap yourself further with inadequate maintenance! It is rare for a violin with no major damage or setup flaws to sound bad. It might sound undistinguished, or lack certain desirable qualities that a pro would require, but it usually won’t sound bad. However, many instruments belonging to amateurs sound bad. That’s because the bridge is leaning precariously, the strings are a year old, the soundpost has been knocked around, rosin coats the top of the instrument, half of the bow hair is missing, and the other half has been worn smooth from 2 years of playing. Two hours in the shop and $150 would make it a completely different instrument! There’s a reason most pros obsess over the condition of their equipment. The time and money invested in maintenance are miniscule next to the time and money spent developing skill, but the dividends are huge.

Let me get back to playing skill. I’ll paraphrase Itzhak Perlman’s quote about experience, from the peak of his career: “My best night now is no better than my best night 10 years ago. But my worst night now is much better than my worst night 10 years ago.” Since Perlman made this statement in his prime, I’m not sure I agree with the first part of it. Perhaps he was having fun with the popular belief that prodigies are fully formed musicians from their youth. But the second part is dead on. Practice and experience raise the bottom line of your playing. Better equipment cannot do that. It is very easy to sound bad on a Strad, as I proved the first time I played one. Many of the best instruments are extremely temperamental. However, better equipment raises the top end of your playing. It is possible for you to sound better on a nice instrument than on a mediocre one. So moving to a better instrument will not immediately improve your playing, but will make it possible to climb higher than you could with your old one. Obviously this only matters if you’ve climbed as high as you can with your old one. How do you know when that has happened? Unless you’re very experienced, you’ll need your teacher’s help to define that moment. If you don’t have a teacher, you’re not serious enough to need a better instrument.

Finally, remember that all pros learned on student instruments. Nobody starts on a Strad, and since most pros start before they’re big enough for full size instruments, they play on student-grade instruments for many years. My first few instruments were of that quality, and my first full-size cost less than $5000. I got my next instrument when I was 15. This was the first time my family had had to buy a professional-quality instrument, and it was a financial sacrifice. Even so, it cost less than $20,000, which was manageable with some help from the bank.

The idea is to do the best you can with what you have, and when you just can’t cope any more, find something better. Don’t fret over your intsrument, but do obsess about keeping it in the best possible condition. Whenever I feel that the world is against me, that I can’t possibly play any better with the malformed block of wood that I’m holding, I think of some penniless kid somewhere with a balsa-wood violin. He’s practicing so that he can come over here and kick my butt in an audition in 10 years. Then I think of Jack Nicklaus hitting it 200 yards out of the ground.