GAINESVILLE VIOLINS MAGAZINE
June 2001
Welcome to the June 2001 edition of our free monthly electronic magazine.
Please read it in its entirety, as it contains important information that
could help you. RP from Tampa wrote: "Thank you so much for sending
out your newsletter. It is very nicely done and I thoroughly enjoy reading
it. You and Anna must have put a lot of time into it. I'll say 'thank
you' for ALL your customers! God bless." BS from Gainesville wrote:
"Your newsletter is WONDERFUL! I just have to tell you how informative
and pleasantly contagious your enthusiasm is. Thank you!"
FORMAT: For your convenience, this newsletter has been sent to
you in a very plain format. For your greater enjoyment, a nicer version
of the same letter is available at www.gviolins.cc/200106newsletter.htm.
If the latter version suits your software, please go there and read that
version.
SKIPPING MONTHS: On account of our looming travels and the madhouse
of activity in the shop when the schools reopen, there will probably not
be any magazines / newsletters for the months of July and August 2001.
RENTERS AND TEACHERS PLEASE NOTE: One urgent request must come
up front: If you are contracted in our instrument rental program, we strongly
recommend that you do NOT return the instrument for summer. Please keep
on renting. In any case, please do NOT do exchanges on your own for other
students nor hand your instrument to someone else (like a teacher) to
return it to us. This could cause delays and confusion. You are responsible
for the very instrument and its rental fees up and until we have it back
safely in our hands. Re the documentation required when you want to ship
it back, please see under "How To" below. For a "How To"
about shipping an instrument, please see the previous newsletter (available
on our website, address is below). Many thanks for your kind cooperation!
TEACHERS: Please e-mail us now to order one of our free fridge-door
magnet business cards! Please state your full mailing address.
ALL CUSTOMERS/TEACHERS: We'd like to remind you that our shop
will be closed during July 2001 while we are in Russia.
We'd further like to request you kindly to invite all your string instrument
friends/ students/ teachers to subscribe to and participate in our monthly
newsletter. It is becoming a valuable tool of communication and could
be developed into a fully-fledged on-line magazine. Please tell them about
it and ask them to go to www.gviolins.cc/newsletter.php
and sign up. All of you can view the rest of our website at www.gviolins.cc.
Please note the further contact information right at the end of this newsletter.
PLEASE SUPPORT and listen to your NPR classic radio station and encourage
your friends/ student to do the same. In the Gainesville area it is Classic
89 (89.1FM) and Nature Coast Ninety (90.2FM).
*** INDEX ***
01. Itinerary
02. Rental Program
03. Response To "Eugene
Ormandy Says"
04. Cellos and Cases:
Special Offers and More
05. References: Customers'
Comments
06. Brag Box
07. Now
That Graduation Is Over (including "Featured violin of the month")
08. Musical Genres Defined
09. Quiz (Win a Prize!)
10. Previous Quiz Winner
11. Alfred Brendel Says
12. More How-To's
13. Teaching
14. Orchestra Professionalism
15. We Believe
01. ITINERARY
There will be no further travels by us to various venues where we meet
customers and teachers this summer, except perhaps to Tallahassee…
the date and even the event is uncertain, because of an excessive work
load. Thank you for understanding! A great deal of business and service
can still be conducted by e-mail and phone calls, though.
Once again: Please check our website (www.gviolins.cc)
to see our latest itinerary.
02. RENTAL PROGRAM
A customer writes: "We are renting our youngest daughter's violin
from you and are very pleased with both the instrument and the service
you provide. It is time for our middle daughter to move up from her 1/2
size to a 3/4 size. Though we did not purchase her present violin from
you, we would like to ask if you would consider looking at this violin
to consider a trade-in. We would like to purchase the 3/4 Fritz Kreisler."
Of course we did just that. We gave them a 100% trade-in on their violin
(that is, we credited them with the amount that they had paid originally
for their violin), received their violin, and sent them a gorgeous Fritz
Kreisler.
A teacher from Jacksonville wrote: "How heavy do your rental violins
run? I've got a student with a rental violin built sturdily enough to
withstand being run over by a car! It feels very heavy to me, and it's
making her neck very sore. She wants to rent for a few more months before
she buys a violin. I think she should find a new rental soon so she doesn't
give herself back problems, and I'm trying to figure out what her best
option would be." Our rental program would certainly be her best
option!
The following is so urgent that it bears repetition:
"If you are contracted in our instrument rental program, we strongly
recommend that you do NOT return the instrument for summer. Please keep
on renting. In any case, please do NOT do exchanges on your own for other
students nor hand your instrument to someone else (like a teacher) to
return it to us. This could cause delays and confusion. You are responsible
for the very instrument and its rental fees up and until we have it back
safely in our hands. Re the documentation required when you want to ship
it back, please see under "How To" below. For a "How To"
about shipping an instrument, please see the previous newsletter (available
on our website, the address is below)." Many thanks for your kind
cooperation!
Some get confused about our "new customers pay for 3 months' rental
and get 1 free month" offer. This simply means that you pay the normal
3-month fee up front (monthly rental x 3, plus 6% sales tax (if applicable),
plus shipping), and we'll then give you your first month or part thereof
for free (thus rental period is more than 3 months even though you only
paid for 3). Rental fees plus sales tax are payable every three months
after that. Please remember to add 6% sales tax (if applicable) to purchases,
all rental payments, labor (repairs etc) costs. No need to tax any shipping
costs. Also note that 6% sales tax on $60 leads to a total of $63.60,
not $63.20.
Please always write your original invoice number (ex: T244/01) in the
lower left-hand corner of your check. Please also see "How To"
(item #12 below).
03. RESPONSE TO "EUGENE ORMANDY SAYS"
In the previous newsletter we published remarks made by the famous conductor
Eugene Ormandy and collected by the Philadelphia orchestra. A reader wrote:
"Thanks for the newsletter. What a memory it brought back! Once
upon a time - in 1958 - I was part of a big chorus (250 of us, more or
less, from three colleges) performing the Bach Magnificat with Maestro
Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The maestro cued us in a full
measure too early. Most of us followed him, then 'fugued around' (!) for
a few bars until we got back on track. He was oblivious. The director
of our college chorus said later, 'When Eugene Ormandy cues you to come
in, you had better come in even if you know it's wrong. Then you can fix
it.'"
04. CELLOS AND CASES: SPECIAL OFFERS AND MORE
We have great specials on cellos and lightweight hard cases (all sizes)!
Please call or e-mail us about this.
In the previous newsletter we posed the question whether there is a semantic
connection between the word "cello" and Latin "coelum"
(heaven), and we wrote about Yo-Yo Ma. A reader responded: "Yo yo
Jan! 'Coelum' is correctly spelt 'caelum' in Latin." Our friend is
half correct; both spellings are 100% correct!
05. REFERENCES: CUSTOMERS' COMMENTS
This section contains only a small selection of letters that we have
received since the May 2001 newsletter. Feel free to send your own experiences!
We love to hear them.
From LD (teacher who is leaving Florida):
"Dear Jan and Anna, I want to thank you for many things. First, thank
you for the wonderful service you have provided and continue to provide
to my former students. I feel you have allowed each of them to experience
a greater love of the violin. It is not easy to find a string shop that
offers instruments of such excellent quality. To find one whose service
is equally excellent is truly rare and remarkable. Secondly, I want to
thank you for the beautiful work you have done on my violin and viola.
You have been incredibly generous and I deeply appreciate your kindness
and skill. Thirdly, thank you for making my job as a new teacher so much
easier. Your guidance will be remembered. I feel very lucky to have known
and worked with both of you. I will always think of you with fondness."
A customer whose son M had nicknamed the Stefanini violin they bought
from us "Sven", wrote:
"Sven (the only Italian Sven in history!) is playing even better
each week. M's teacher continues to rave, not only about Sven but also
because M's bow which you gave to us free, is superior to the bow for
which he (the teacher) paid $350 recently." (Other nicknames students
gave to violins they got from us are "The Hornet", "The
Chicken Entrails", "The Little Prince", "The Little
Russian", "Prince Igor", and "The Golden Lion".
Each one has a story!)
CS writes from Illinois:
"I just returned from my daughter's violin recital. I approached
a young girl whose violin had incredibly rich tone. She told me about
your shop and your Fritz Kreisler violins. My daughter is only 6 but has
outgrown her 1/8 violin that's a decent student Suzuki violin. Her teacher
tells me she's ready for a 1/4. As it's time to get a bigger instrument,
I would like to upgrade to a better instrument. She really enjoys violin
and is rapidly moving through her Suzuki book. My thinking is if she gets
a better quality instrument her tone and intonation will improve. Given
that fantastic instrument I heard, I would be grateful if you could select
one of your Kreisler instruments for her, as well as send me the price
details etc. Unfortunately I live in Illinois so I can't drop by for a
visit. Thank you for your help."
CE (Vancouver BC, Canada) writes:
"Thanks for the newsletter. I can see why your business is doing
well since your newsletter is put together so well. God bless you. I am
so excited for you about your trip to Russia. Enjoy every moment."
DM (Ft Lauderdale) writes:
"Believe me, after your wonderful visit here it was very clear to
me why I had invited you down. R (the 14-year old boy who played for you),
said you were the nicest people he had ever met, can you believe that
coming from a 14-year old boy!? And A called me to thank me for having
you down and added if it hadn't been for me and you she would not now
have this gorgeous violin that she is in love with [it is our 'Hellier'
decorated Strad copy]. She is sooooo happy. Thank you so much for everything,
and I look forward to our next correspondence."
KM from Gainesville wrote:
"D is beside himself with joy about the new Klier viola. He can't
wait to show it to his teacher today. We can't thank you enough for everything
you have done and are doing for him, Jan. You and Anna are so good to
us! Have a great day! Love, K." [The teacher was delighted with the
viola.]
06. BRAG BOX
Julie Franklin, one of Gainesville's top young musicians, gave her senior
recital in the Thomas Center on 5.2.2001. She played piano, cello, Khu
Zheng, and her fine modern Klier viola. We are the only official dealers
for Dunov, Doetsch, and Klier instruments in north central Florida. The
viola sounded stunning in Bach's solo cello suite (No 3 in C major, transcribed
for viola), the Vaughan Williams pieces, Bloch's Suite Hebraique, and
Hoffmeister's concerto. In her program, she thanked our shop "for
putting up with [her] frantic last minute calls", and gave us a magnificent
2-liter bottle of caber bet sauvignon. Julie performed excellently, a
veritable tour de force, drawing a huge but focused sound with a beautiful
timbre and lots of different tone colors from that Klier. Most of the
students of Ms Helen Kirklin (Julie's viola teacher) play on Klier instruments.
We supply, maintain, and service them... and for such faithful customers,
we gladly respond to "frantic last minute calls!" The Kliers
are truly fine instruments, great value for money. We are so proud of
Julie and so honored to have her as a customer. Julie was featured in
"Our Town" in the Neighbors section of the Gainesville Sun on
5.31.2001.
At an evening of solos and chamber music by top performers at the Gainesville
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship building on May 24, 2001, three of the
four string players were our customers. All have top-of-the-line instruments.
AC plays a Liuteria Panis Angelicus violin, RN a Klier viola, and JUL
a Liuteria Panis Angelicus cello as well as a 150-year old French Maucotel
cello which we service and maintain.
At Miss Charlotte's Suzuki Strings annual recital in Brooksville FL,
many of the players used instruments obtained from our shop. The slogan
for the concert was, "Come and see what's RIGHT with the youth of
today!" Right.
07. NOW THAT GRADUATION IS OVER (INCLUDING "FEATURED VIOLIN OF THE
MONTH")
We find that parents often buy a fine violin for their graduating son
or daughter. Last month we suggested getting our stunningly exact copy/replica
of the decorated 1679 "Hellier" Stradivarius, which, together
with a boxed luxury book on that violin (by Machold Fine Violins), sells
at a list price of $8,000. Our normal price is $6,000, but last month
we offered these fine concert instruments for $5,000 each on a first come,
first served basis. Well, we are sold out! (Do not stress too much. We'll
have new stock soon. However, they are scarce.)
The featured violin of the month is a superb old German copy of an 1856
Georges Chanot (please refer to it as the "Bill S Consignment Chanot").
A similar violin was sold last year for $6,000 in Tampa, FL. Our price
is $1,800 (yes!) for the violin alone, and you get our usual unique shop
guarantees: a 7-day "money-back" satisfaction guarantee after
payment, lifetime free maintenance service, and 100% trade-in if you buy
a violin costing twice as much as you paid.
We are also selling the famous carbon-graphite (with real horsehair)
line of CodaBows at discount prices... see www.gviolins.cc
and www.codabow.com.
TK of Fort Lauderdale writes: "I got the Coda 'Colours' viola bow
today and don't know how I lived without it! I will purchase a Coda violin
bow soon as well. I am telling students about your May appearance in Fort
Lauderdale. Maybe we can get even more kids started! Thanks again for
the great service."
"Spielen Sie Doetsch?" On all instruments from Violin House
of Weaver / Eastman Strings (Dunov, Rudoulf Doetsch, Wilhelm Klier) we
offer better deals, unbeatable after-service, and much better guarantees
than most (all?) other shops and mail-order/internet dealers. We are sole
dealers for these fine and popular instruments in North-Central Florida,
and our guarantees are lifetime guarantees.
In our website and in the previous newsletter we mentioned our own workshop's
replicas of the 1742 "Heifetz" Guarneri del Gesu, which are
available only on special order. We can supply two to three per year.
To celebrate Heifetz's 100th anniversary, we were offering this violin
at 50% discount. Regrettably (but joyfully!), we have to announce that
this year's quota is fully booked. Due to work pressure, I just cannot
make any more during 2001. Please call or e-mail regarding availability
during 2002. "First come, first served."
We continue to deal in expertly and ethically restored fine antique classic
European instruments. We probably have the largest collection of such
instruments in Florida. Ask us about them. There are now four of our restored
19th century Buthod a Paris / Thibouville-Lamy violins in the Alachua
County Youth Orchestra (ACYO)!
08. MUSICAL GENRES DEFINED
JAZZ: Five men on the same stage, all playing different tunes.
BLUES: Played exclusively by people who woke up this morning.
OPERA: People singing when they should be talking.
RAP: People talking when they should be singing.
HOUSE MUSIC: OK, as long as it's not the house next door.
09. QUIZ: WIN A PRIZE!
The winner will be the sender of the first correct answer we receive
by e-mail. Please send your answer to customercare@gviolins.cc.
QUIZ: We regularly receive letters such as this one: "Hello! I want
you to know I have a violin with a label inside that says as follows:
'Antonio Stradivarius, Cremona fecit anno 1740'. Please, I would like
you to see this musical instrument and let me know all about this violin,
particularly whether it is a genuine Stradivarius. I live in Mexico, but
I'm going to Florida in August. I would like you to send me your address
so that I can go to your place so you can see my instrument, or maybe
you could give me some information by e-mailing me one of these days,
OK? Please answer soon. Thank you a lot, and may all your dreams come
true..."
Tell what's wrong with the label, and what the Latin means. The winner
will
receive a copy of the Hill Brothers' famous book on Stradivarius!
10. PREVIOUS QUIZ WINNER
The question was: Name a violin concerto that was commissioned and recorded
by Heifetz and state its composer. (This year is the hundredth Heifetz
anniversary.) The winner was LS from Tallahassee. She wrote: "Answer
(maybe): Walton violin concerto by William Walton." No "maybe",
she was right! She received a Heifetz CD from us, of course.
In the late 1930's, Jascha Heifetz commissioned a violin concerto from
William Walton (1902-83), which would become an enduring legacy. Heifetz
first recorded it with Eugene Goossens and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
in 1941, which recording is available on CD. The music critic Irving Kolodin
wrote, "This is a work designed to be played and replayed" -
an opinion confirmed not only by a later version by Heifetz himself (likewise
available on CD) but also by other violinists, some who were not yet born
when the work was written.
There was another correct answer that came in too late to win. A university
violin professor wrote: "To my knowledge, Heifetz commissioned and
recorded no less than 3 concertos. They are by Walton, Castelnuovo-Tedesco,
and Rosza. I am not sure about the one by Louis Gruenberg. I hope all
goes well for you both, and that you have a summer filled with safe and
adventurous travels."
When I reported back that LS had already won, the professor wrote: "I'm
glad LS won; I feel guilty entering these contests (can't resist though),
but I'm glad that another worthy student will get to hear Mr Heifetz's
matchless art. This is also a nice excuse to check in with you both. I'm
sorry to have missed you last Saturday. School's out and so am I, psychologically
at least. Your Russia trip sounds very exciting, and I'm sure you'll hear
some fabulous fiddling when you're there. I think that tradition is still
alive and well. With every good wish…"
There were also wrong answers. :-) DS of Gainesville wrote: "Hi
Jan. I have an answer for your May quiz. Hopefully it is correct. I believe
Heifetz commissioned and performed the Prokoviev Concerto No. 2. Thanks
for the newsletter." True, he recorded it. But he did not commission
it. Sorry!
Thanks to all participants.
11. ALFRED BRENDEL SAYS...
A Moment of Silence: "I like the fact that 'listen' is an anagram
of 'silent'. Silence is not something that is there before the music begins
and after it stops. It is the essence of the music itself, the vital ingredient
that makes it possible for the music to exist at all." (Brendel is
a famous pianist and chamber music partner.)
12. HOW TO...
How to pack a violin for flight on an airplane:
Just as you would pack it for shipping it by UPS… but do not put
it in a box. Pack it in its own case. (See the previous newsletter, in
our website.) Do NOT check it in; make advance arrangements to carry it
onboard with you.
Information to be included whenever you ship or mail to us (like a payment
or an exchange instrument, for example):
Please include at least the following information: your name, your child's
name (if relevant), your account name (if different from your name), your
address, your phone number(s), what the shipment/mailing is about, and
your invoice number. To find your invoice number, look on your invoice
at the top right-hand corner or in the space provided for it, for example
"T377/01." Also, if mailing a check, please write the invoice
number in the left lower corner in the space provided, and send the check
attached to a sheet with the aforementioned information.
How to use your Visa/MasterCard when mail-ordering from us:
Fill out the (rental) form in www.gviolins.cc for everything, adapting
it as applicable (for instance, in order to do a purchase and not a rental).
To use your Visa/MasterCard, please specify:
- Your full name
- Your address
- The card (Visa/MC)
- The card number
- The card expiration date
- The amount
- The item(s) you are buying/renting
- The name on the card,
- as well as any other information that may be needed.
Please write and sign clearly! Mail the completed form to our address
(see it at the end of this magazine).
13. TEACHING
A friend wrote:
"Teaching is an interesting phenomenon. The best example of a teacher
always brings to my mind my high school music teacher. (This guy was a
legend. People much older than I also remembered him.) Already well into
his fifties when I had him, the first thing that got me was that he had
a certain enthusiasm about both the subject he was teaching, and about
teaching, in and of itself.
"I could give many other examples of other professors whom I had
in college who were exemplary. But many of those outstanding individuals
could not rid themselves of certain 'civil service worker' mentalities;
not to mention the 'failed artist' and 'fallen professional' syndromes.
For some, teaching was a letdown, a failure. Fortunately for others it
is of the highest order - requiring one to 'walk the talk' (teaching by
example, observing the highest ethical standards)."
14. ORCHESTRA PROFESSIONALISM
Orchestra professionalism can be expressed in certain principles. You
won't find this list posted backstage, but, my wife tells me, that's because
everybody knows this stuff right out of music school:
1. You are, of course, on time. Always! Don't come an hour early (amateurish)
but never come late. Never! This is an Orchestra, and you are Violinist,
you're not some paper-pusher at Amalgamated Bucket. Orchestra musicians
are experts at finessing public transportation, and if they do drive,
at finding parking spaces no matter what, legal or illegal. Everybody
has a strategy for "Getting to the Gig," and a back-up strategy
in case the area is cordoned off for a Presidential motorcade, and an
emergency strategy in case of earthquake or civil disorder or an invasion
of the body snatchers.
2. Don't show off warming up backstage. Don't do the Brahms Concerto.
Don't whip through the Paganini you did for your last audition. Warm up
softly and be cool about it.
3. Backstage you hang out with other string players, not brass or percussion.
You don't get into a big conversation with the tuba player, lest you be
lulled into relaxation. He is not playing the Brandenburg No. 3 that opens
the show - you are. Stick with your own kind, so you can start to get
nervous when you should.
4. You never chum around with the conductor, too much. Likewise the contractor
who hired you; you can be nice but not fawning, subservient. If one of
them is perched in the musicians' common backstage, don't gravitate there.
Don't orbit.
5. You never look askance at someone who has made a mistake. Never! If
the clarinet player squeaks, if the oboe honks, if the second stand cello
lumbers in two bars early, like lost livestock, you keep your eyes where
your eyes should be. You are a musician, not a critic. String players
never disparage their stand partners to others. Stand partnership is an
intimate relationship, and there is a zone of safety here. Actually, you
shouldn't disparage any musician in the orchestra to anybody, unless to
your husband (or spouse), or very good friends. But you never say anything
bad about your stand partner.
6. If the conductor is a jerk, don't react to him whatsoever. Ignore
the shows of temper. If he makes a sarcastic joke at the expense of a
musician, do not laugh, not even a slight wheeze or twitter.
7. Try to do the conductor's bidding, no matter how ridiculous. If he
says, "Play this very dry, but with plenty of vibrato," go ahead
and do it, though it's impossible. If he says, "This should be very
quick but sustained," then go ahead and sustain the quick, or levitate,
or walk across the ceiling, or on water, or whatever he wants. He's the
boss.
8. Don't bend and sway as you play. Stay in your space. You're not a
soloist, don't move like one. And absolutely never, never, never tap your
foot to the music.
9. Go through channels. If you, a fifth stand violin, are unsure if that
note in bar 143 should be C natural as shown or B flat, don't raise your
hand and ask the maestro, ask your section head, and let him/her ask Mr.
Big.
10. You do not accept violations of work rules passively. When it's time
to go, it's time to go. If it's Bruno Walter and the Mahler Fourth, and
you're in Seventh Heaven, then of course, you ignore the clock. But, if
it's some ordinary jerk flapping around on the podium, you put your instrument
in the case when the rehearsal is supposed to be end. It was his arrogant
pedantry that chewed up the first hour of the rehearsal, and now time
is up, and he's only half way through The Planets, and is in a panic.
If he wants to pay overtime, fine. Otherwise, let him hang, it's his rope.
At the performance, you can show him what terrific sight-readers you all
are.
It's all about manners and maintaining a sense of integrity in a selfless
situation, and surviving in a body of neurotic perfectionists. And it's
about holding up your head, even as orchestras in America languish and
die out, victims of their own rigidity and stuffiness and of a sea change
in American culture.
Perhaps in a hundred years orchestra musicians will seem like some weird
priestly order akin to the Rosicrucians or the worshipers of Athenae.
But in the rehearsal for the Last Performance, the players will arrive
on time, and take their places and play dryly but with vibrato, and not
tap their feet. And one violinist will come home and have a glass of wine,
and say to her husband, "Why can't they find a decent trombonist?"
(Garrison Keillor, BBC Radio 3.)
15. WE BELIEVE...
"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for
it but what they become by it." - John Ruskin.
Same thing: "Those who do a kindness because they expect to be repaid
are always disappointed." - Old Chinese Proverb.
Finally, "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us."- Joseph Campbell
Have a great summer!
Jan and Anna van Rooyen
Gainesville Violins
3631 NW 41st Lane, Gainesville FL 32605, USA.
Email: customercare@gviolins.cc. Website: www.gviolins.cc.
Time zone: Eastern Standard Time, USA.
Business number (1 - 6 pm weekdays): (352) 372-8264
Cell phone no (only when we are traveling): (352) 278-1899
Fax no: (352) 374-4160
Account problems: Nisio Mercado, 352-335-9962
South African contact: Samuel (01127 12) 329-8960
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