Joshua Bell

[Jenn]

I just caught a Today Show feature on this amazing artist. What a guy!
Perhaps currently our best instrumentalist, he breaks all of the
traditions, plays all sorts of styles, plays for kids all over the place
for free, doing what many of us in our own small ways, have been busy
doing. Very encouraging for the future.

[MiNe 109]

In article

om>,
Jenn > wrote:

> I just caught a Today Show feature on this amazing artist. What a guy!
> Perhaps currently our best instrumentalist, he breaks all of the
> traditions, plays all sorts of styles, plays for kids all over the place
> for free, doing what many of us in our own small ways, have been busy
> doing. Very encouraging for the future.

He's popular in Austin for his youthful good looks and willingness to
socialize with the local musicians as well as for his playing.

Stephen

[Joe Duffy]

> Jenn > wrote:
>
>> I just caught a Today Show feature on this amazing artist. What a guy!
>> Perhaps currently our best instrumentalist, he breaks all of the
>> traditions, plays all sorts of styles, plays for kids all over the place
>> for free, doing what many of us in our own small ways, have been busy
>> doing. Very encouraging for the future.
>

Mark O'Connor?



Joe

[Jenn]

In article >,
(Joe Duffy) wrote:

> > Jenn > wrote:
> >
> >> I just caught a Today Show feature on this amazing artist. What a guy!
> >> Perhaps currently our best instrumentalist, he breaks all of the
> >> traditions, plays all sorts of styles, plays for kids all over the place
> >> for free, doing what many of us in our own small ways, have been busy
> >> doing. Very encouraging for the future.
> >
>
> Mark O'Connor?
>
>
>
> Joe

What about him?

[Joe Duffy]

In article >,
Jenn > wrote:
>In article >,
> (Joe Duffy) wrote:
>
>> > Jenn > wrote:
>> >
>> >> I just caught a Today Show feature on this amazing artist. What a guy!
>> >> Perhaps currently our best instrumentalist, he breaks all of the
>> >> traditions, plays all sorts of styles, plays for kids all over the place
>> >> for free, doing what many of us in our own small ways, have been busy
>> >> doing. Very encouraging for the future.
>> >
>>
>> Mark O'Connor?
>>
>>
>>
>> Joe
>
>What about him?


Breaking tradition, camps for kids, etc.


Joe

[Jenn]

In article >,
(Joe Duffy) wrote:

> In article
> >,
> Jenn > wrote:
> >In article >,
> > (Joe Duffy) wrote:
> >
> >> > Jenn > wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> I just caught a Today Show feature on this amazing artist. What a guy!
> >> >>
> >> >> Perhaps currently our best instrumentalist, he breaks all of the
> >> >> traditions, plays all sorts of styles, plays for kids all over the
> >> >> place
> >> >> for free, doing what many of us in our own small ways, have been busy
> >> >> doing. Very encouraging for the future.
> >> >
> >>
> >> Mark O'Connor?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Joe
> >
> >What about him?
>
>
> Breaking tradition, camps for kids, etc.
>
>
> Joe

Yeah, he does.

[Jenn]

In article . com>,
Bret Ludwig > wrote:

> He's a Bigger Dicker with an expensive old violin.

Sorry.... what's a "Bigger Dicker"?

[MiNe 109]

In article

om>,
Jenn > wrote:

> In article . com>,
> Bret Ludwig > wrote:
>
> > He's a Bigger Dicker with an expensive old violin.
>
> Sorry.... what's a "Bigger Dicker"?

Maybe he means "Biggus Dickus".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggus_Dickus

Stephen

[Jenn]

In article >,
MiNe 109 > wrote:

> In article
>
> om>,
> Jenn > wrote:
>
> > In article . com>,
> > Bret Ludwig > wrote:
> >
> > > He's a Bigger Dicker with an expensive old violin.
> >
> > Sorry.... what's a "Bigger Dicker"?
>
> Maybe he means "Biggus Dickus".
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggus_Dickus
>
> Stephen

Perhaps so.

[Jenn]

In article om>,
Bret Ludwig > wrote:

> > > > > He's a Bigger Dicker with an expensive old violin.
> >
> > > > Sorry.... what's a "Bigger Dicker"?
> >
> > > Maybe he means "Biggus Dickus".
> >
> > >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggus_Dickus
> >
> > > Stephen
>
> No, I meant that like most career classical violinists who own or
> have the use of expensive Cremona violins he trades heavily on the
> fact he has a expensive old violin. He's actually a fine musician,
> and I understand the career move-having an old violin worth a great
> deal of money means you get attention, in exactly the way that
> although Liam Neeson is a serious actor, and does not do and is not
> connected to adult films in any way, everyone knows he has the one
> asset every male in porn needs for a big career. But if the public
> response to hauling these museum pieces around were ridicule rather
> than admiration, the phenomenon would go away

I know that you have an issue with Strads, et al. But I'll repeat what
I've said before: If the Cremona instruments sound inferior to good
modern violins, celli, etc, what any player gains from the use of such
instruments wouldn't be worth the risk to their career. If the player
doesn't sound good, no amount of publicity gained by using famous old
instruments will help him/her.

[Joe Duffy]

In article >,
Jenn > wrote:
>
>I know that you have an issue with Strads, et al. But I'll repeat what
>I've said before: If the Cremona instruments sound inferior to good
>modern violins, celli, etc, what any player gains from the use of such
>instruments wouldn't be worth the risk to their career. If the player
>doesn't sound good, no amount of publicity gained by using famous old
>instruments will help him/her.


Well said.
The rest is BS.


Joe

[Jenn]

In article . com>,
Bret Ludwig > wrote:

> On Apr 30, 7:14 pm, Jenn > wrote:
> > In article om>,
> > Bret Ludwig > wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > > > > > He's a Bigger Dicker with an expensive old violin.
> >
> > > > > > Sorry.... what's a "Bigger Dicker"?
> >
> > > > > Maybe he means "Biggus Dickus".
> >
> > > > >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggus_Dickus
> >
> > > > > Stephen
> >
> > > No, I meant that like most career classical violinists who own or
> > > have the use of expensive Cremona violins he trades heavily on the
> > > fact he has a expensive old violin. He's actually a fine musician,
> > > and I understand the career move-having an old violin worth a great
> > > deal of money means you get attention, in exactly the way that
> > > although Liam Neeson is a serious actor, and does not do and is not
> > > connected to adult films in any way, everyone knows he has the one
> > > asset every male in porn needs for a big career. But if the public
> > > response to hauling these museum pieces around were ridicule rather
> > > than admiration, the phenomenon would go away
> >
> > I know that you have an issue with Strads, et al. But I'll repeat what
> > I've said before: If the Cremona instruments sound inferior to good
> > modern violins, celli, etc, what any player gains from the use of such
> > instruments wouldn't be worth the risk to their career. If the player
> > doesn't sound good, no amount of publicity gained by using famous old
> > instruments will help him/her.- Hide quoted text -
> >
>
> Sorry to take so long on this. Recommend you read "The Violin Maker"
> with a critical eye. Tests by many, including a man named Beament
> (whose wife is a violinmaker:I have her book somewhere) show that
> listeners cannot reliably distinguish new from old nor "great" from
> vanilla violins-even listeners who are violin dealers or concert
> violinists themselves! They cannot.
>
> More interestingly is the fact I learned from a classical and pop
> recording engineer whom I must not name but who did a good chunk of a
> certain (very, very, very big) Italian big band/classic pop singer's
> work (lots of string sections-some with the parents of Leonard
> Slatkin) on the third label he was on, and some on the second. He
> swears most concert violinists have profound hearing loss. They
> couldn't tell one from another-but they can play in tune because
> fundamental is all they hear and therefore as they deafen intonation
> gets better.

That doesn't make sense.

>
> >From Publishers Weekly
> Celebrated Brooklyn violin-maker Sam Zygmuntowicz recently accepted a
> challenging commission from violinist Eugene Drucker of the Emerson
> String Quartet: to make a new violin that would equal Drucker's
> beloved Stradivarius. Marchese (Renovations: A Father and Son Rebuild
> a House) documents their collaboration. He follows Zygmuntowicz
> through the exacting, scrape-by-scrape process of trying to transform
> a block of wood into an exquisitely wrought vibrating box that somehow
> captures the inexpressible sonic essence the finicky Drucker longs to
> hear. Along the way, Marchese goes on a pilgrimage to Stradivarius's
> hometown of Cremona and delves into the secrets behind the maestro's
> incomparable sound. Was it the wood? The varnish? The nap-time
> transmigration of his spirit into the violin under construction?
> Zygmuntowicz's example, Marchese finds, suggests a more prosaic, if no
> less marvelous, possibility-that the genius of craftsmanship resides
> not in magic ingredients or arcane techniques, but simply in taking
> infinite, exhausting pains with the work, in "caring more and more
> about less and less." He also broaches a more inflammatory corollary:
> that modern violins actually sound just as good as Strads. The result
> is a beguiling journalistic meditation on the links-and tensions-
> between art, craft and connoisseurship. (Apr.)

You're mistaking my argument for something that it's not. You can
either believe that Strats, etc. sound better, or not. That's a matter
of taste. My argument is about your claim that soloists would play
Strats just because of the publicity it generates, whether or not they
sound better.