| | I found a violin....
After I lost the 1988 London Williams & Sons, I've never touched a violin since then.
I've never picked any piece of wood with nylon strings and try to disrupt their peaceful installation through vibration.
I've forgotten how tight should I screw the bow.
I've grew afraid of sound, and I've not been talking to them for a long time.
I've lost touch with that realm since then. And I can't seem to remember how I lost the violin.
Thar part of memory seemed to be blank, a clog of empty white space, menacing outwards, growing, deteriorating.
I've never dared to stare into the blank. I decided that I am no music material.
I am better off science, even though I don't do well there either.
Then, I found a violin.
One day I found the 1986 Mheguagon Guinari copy. It was made in 1986 on August 18th in some Asian city that I am not familiar of. Or did the violin found me? I am not sure, but I got hold of that violin through a fervent tennis player. Ever since I picked up the violin and inspected at it carefully at it's craftsmanship, it's tone, it's texture, I seem be drawn back to that piece of instrument time from time.
I've started to become comfortable with bows and strings, but still dwell outside the region where I used to be. I used the Guinari Copy, not to play any Sarasate, but only to play the Latin melodies. It wasn't until during one session of violin demo that I suddenly realized how the Mheguagon was not made to play those tropical rhythms. Her high notes are crisp and clear, while her bass notes are thick and colorful, hinting an interesting past. Every violinist establishes a special connection with the instrument. While we often say we wanted to find a suitable violin that we can express our emotions with, the reality is often the violin that finds us. The Mheguagon is interesting. It makes me burn with yearn that I felt I could use the bass notes in the begining of Zigeunerweisen, and then latter use the clear high notes in the fast passages. It made me remember what Zigeunerweisen sounded like. It made my blood capable of running faster under the rapid Gypsy beat. It made me better; it made me alive.
Since then, I've begun to look at the 1986 Guinari copy differently.
We have then crossed path frequently. On August 6th in a private performance I was blessed to use Mheguagon again. It, I think I am starting to feel the connection, the spirit and soul of the violin, that I will refer to it as she, I think she had a decorated top and a sexy bottom voice that I thought something was chemical. Though I wanted to earn her respect and so I acted aloof towards the exceptional tone that night. I then communicated with the violin for hours every day and up until now, I still cannot believe that I could ever find such a high level of spiritual communication with a violin from the Asian market.
It was August 10th, when the violin and the fiddler made their disposition under the bridge. I was able to borrow the violin for practice until 4 am in the morning. Yet the practice session hasn't gone as smooth as it used to. The bass notes sounded rounder and the high notes mellower and I thought maybe the violin had something to say, while in fact, I myself had a secret statement to make. I took the piece of magical artwork to down under the bridge, away from all the city lights, away from my room mates and away from the sick screen that is the easy tunnel to that polluted world out there.
Under the bridge, I closed my eyes and felt the wind and the trees. Then I slowly ran my hand through the curls and swirls of the instrument, and I played a note and let it ring while I feel the vibration in my heart. Then I started to play with no direction and with no conscious of what I am playing. Yet I felt the beautiful notes from the Mheguagon again. It was that early morning that we have decided to be together. I played music I've never heard of until the sun slowly brushes me back home with its yellow grazes.
Life is neither happy nor sad but unpredictable. After the lost, I could not believe I could ever play music again, not to mention that I could not believe I could ever meet her, the perfect Mheguagon Guinari Copy who is so precious to me that surprisingly, I often feel cherished by the violin. It is often said that the first step of great music is great connection between the fiddler and the violin. Though the type of connection I feel with Mheguagon is more than extraordinary. It made me, for the first time, wanted to thank a violin, the Mheguagon for treating me so nice, for lending me it's powerful voice to express music, and for communicating with me and going to wherever I am lead.
I thought I was incapable of love but I have yet fallen in love with the new found instrument. The violin that is not just a violin and often touches my heart in various ways that I cannot imagine. The piece of art that taught me the a different meaning of art. The Guinari copy that made me forgot about Stradivarius and experienced the joy of spiritual connection in a completely different level.
Every time I lay hands on that violin, time flies and practice sessions that were few hours seemed like few seconds. Even until nowadays. I could play the violin without touching it, so that sometimes, even though we are miles apart, the connection is by no means any dimmer.
Mheguagon has redefined music of my understanding and pushed me to a different level. I love you.
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| | Posted 9/3/2007 10:02 AM - 9 Views - 2 eProps - 2 comments
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