Bow Hunting II

I have been to my violin teachers house twice. This is how it went the first time I went to his house. I showed up with the bows. He took one look at the black bow, announced that it was carbon fiber (not at all pernambuco wood which is the best wood to make bows with) and that It would most likely sound like crap. What did I say in reply? "Crap!" I played the bows for him. He decided that the one from Fred's shop that is not the fat one was the best. I agreed.  We decided to look a while longer, but still hold onto it

 About a month later, we had gone to Elizabeth's and Fred's shop again. I picked out 3 bows at Elizabeth's shop. One was made of a wood that she had no idea what it was. It had a very pretty ringing tone, and was very loud. One was made of pernambuco wood, grown in Brazil. The very best wood you can get. It had a very pretty melodramatic sound on the lower strings, and an energetic sounds on the higher strings. It rung allot on the lower strings, but not very much on the higher strings. The third bow was one that Elizabeth made herself. It was made to sound and act like a $30,000 bow that some really famous bow maker made. It was my favorite. It had a beautiful ringing sound on every string, and was very nimble. I also picked out 1 more at Fred's shop. It have a creamy sound to it, but didn't ring very much.

  

     My mother called my teacher and told him about each bow. From the sound of it, he said not to get the bow Elizabeth made. She is not well known enough to price her bows that high, plus it didn't even have her frog on it, which she said she would make for us for another $2,000. We didn't care about the frog. It is just valuable on the artistic side of bows.  It does not change the sound at all. But it does take away from its value. My teacher also said not to get the bow that we don't know what kind of wood its made from. He said that she is a bow maker, she should know what kind of wood it is, and the fact that she doesn't is a really bad sign. So all that was left was that pretty bow. 

    Here is a link to a diagram of a bow to help you out! Click   HERE.

 We went to my teachers house, and I played all the bows for him. He said  that he wasn't impressed with any of them, that they where all run of the mill, and not to buy them. He know has some of his friends looking around for me. So all in all we are back to square one.     :(

Bow hunting

Today we went bow hunting. In total we caught a bear, a lion, and a rabbit...... I wish! We drove to Fred Osters shop. He is the man that looks at instruments on the Antique Road Show. I looked, and played 32 bows for an hour and a half. I played more than 32 scales, played a section of a song at least 30 times, and played the section of another song at least 30 times. I picked 2 bows. I was hard work, and I was very glad when it was over. Yesterday we went to a lady's shop, and looked at 9 bows. I picked the black one. It responded well, and had a nice sound. It was also the one that they lady that owns the store was going to buy. She said that if I wanted it, I could have it. I feel bad, my mother is very proud of me for having such good taste at a cheap price ($300). The other bows are around $700.. I don't think it's that cheap..... When we got home, I played them all, and liked the black one allot. One of them from Fred's store was fat, heavy and quiet. The other is fine, but it can get a little hard to control on the REALLY fast parts. My mother made me play them with my eyes closed, and pick the one I liked the most. The first two times I said that I hated the fat one, and loved my old bow. What can I say? I have been playing with it for over a year... Tomorrow I am going to my violin teachers house to play them for him, and to see what he thinks. We are going to meet him in the afternoon at his house in Philly. He told me to bring my swimming suit, because he got a swimming pool, and that I am welcome to come over and swim any time, as long as I want, any time of the day... Some ones excited! I wonder if he know that we have a swimming pool.. I will let you know what he thinks!!!

FUN!!!!!!!!!

We have spent the last few weeks tearing out the downstairs carpeting and hardwood, and the entire kitchen (the men did that). Now the installation has begun. The workers are coming in, as a result I have lost all privacy, and have been very bored, in the way, and tired. They come any were from 6:30 am to 1:00 pm, and the latest they have stayed is 5:30. Why am I tired you may ask? Because for the past two weeks I have been woken up by the sound of drills, rotary saws, circular saws, electric and held saws, and the most popular: a NAIL GUN!!!! I swear those things sound like gun shots!! So, as a result, I have been doing everything in my power to hasten the results. Such as...

1. Playing the Piano very loud every time they stop working to listen to the climax of the basket ball/baseball/football game on the radio station. 2. STOP playing the piano really loud when I hear the electrician yelling to each other from the kitchen to the basement. 3. Watch them while they work, to make them nervous and hurry them up. (this is yet to happen)... The results? Our kitchen should be finished in about to weeks!!! Ahhh, the hard wood of your labors..

Just My Same Old Theories..

I was going to tell you about my crazy weekend, and I wrote a really long post about it, and saved it.... BUT IT GOT DELETED!!! I have come to the conclusion that there are computer fairies, and computer devils. Our house seems to be completely inhabited with computer devils. My theory is that I had this perfectly awesome post all ready to be published neatly tucked away in a file, waiting for my mother to look it over and give it the o.k. But! Alas!! The computer devil got jealous and forked it away with his fiery pitch fork to be tortured in his fiery furnace. My point? Make sure that you get a computer that is inhabited with computer fairies. How do you tell? Just ask the sales clerk. If he makes a weird face, it is STUFFED with computer fairies. If he chuckles, and says yes, it is full of fire fairies (AKA COMPUTER DEVILS)!!

What color are YOUR eyes?

One of my Grandmothers favorite baby stories is when I was walking around telling people what color eyes they had.

"Your eyes are brown, and yours are green, and yours are blue!"

When I got to my sister, I announced that her eyes where also brown. Apparently she was not happy about this, and insisted that her eyes where hazel. When my Aunt asked me what color my eyes where, I paused for a minute, and then answered...

"Blue!"

"Right!" My Aunt replied.

I was very proud of myself for defeating that trick, or at least what I thought was a trick. Finally my Grandfather came up and asked me what color his eyes were. I stared at them long and hard, thinking.

Well, they're not really blue, and they're not really that grey... I know what color they are!

Innocently I looked up at my Grandpa and answered..

"Your eyes are the color of old!"