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In Reply to: RE: Once again, the Strads don't measure up posted by Amphissa on April 08, 2014 at 23:58:27
.., and it's old news. Read all about it over in General.
Follow Ups:
Thanks for the heads up. I don't visit General much. So now I've read a lot of misinterpretations of the study over in General.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
The studies themselves are only part of the reason that I consider the results to be inconclusive.
The nature of "DBT"s, combined with the nature of humans, make them particularly unsuitable for making determinations of this kind.
The "nature of humans"? bwahahahaha!
Exactly who should express *preferences* for which instruments they like best and least if not the human soloists who play them? You want your cat making decisions about what violin a soloist chooses?
As to whether you like DBT studies, well, that's your *preference* and you are but a mere human. Maybe I should ask the tree in my front yard whether it agrees with you.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
can cut both ways....If the Strads were that bad,why would world famous soloists continue to use them?
I had a friend who plays tuba who switched from a Yamaha to a Miraphone.
He told me the Yamaha was a joy to play: intonation even, great tone, etc, etc.
The Miraphone was a bitch. It had its own character and took months if not a year to recognize and master. Intonation was uneven...but, when you learned to adjust, the sound was divine.....
There are many instruments like that. They have individual character and they may not be so pretty on first play...
FWIW and of course YMMV
Edits: 04/11/14
"DBT" discussions could easily derail this thread, and that was not my intention here.Suffice it to say that I wouldn't trust the results of these studies just yet. I know that it is extremely difficult to organize, conduct, and interpret DBT tests like these ones.
We really need to hear from violinists who have played both top-notch Strads and top-notch modern violins *over time*.
Edits: 04/09/14 04/09/14
Stradivari was a great maker, but his violins were not necessarily considered superior to all others until the 19th century, when a louder sound began to become required (see William Monical's article in the HDM). And nearly all early 18th century Cremonese violins have been so heavily repaired and modified over the centuries that it is difficult to define exactly what a Strad is.
Of course, once Strads and Guarneris became accepted as the ideal and the required goal of any violin maker to copy them as closely as possible, by definition they were the best and unsurpassable. But in recent years violin makers have begun to take on the approach of improving on Strad's design.
As for blind tests, even sighted tests don't conclusively establish that older is better. Long ago, Isaac Stern said only the very best Strads were worth playing, and otherwise a violinist was better off with a modern copy. That was back in the day when not all Strads cost a fortune. David Oistrakh, grossly underpaid and short on hard currency under the Soviet system, bought a relatively cheap Strad in Boston that had all of its original varnish removed. Now that any genuine Strad (including that one, no doubt) is worth a mint, their mystique is even greater. But some contemporary makers, such as Stefan-Peter Greiner, have developed their own mystique.
Unresolved questions I have, mostly related to some obvious flaws in the methodology, make it impossible for me to trust the results of the tests right now.
Edits: 04/09/14
Subjecting musicians to double blind tests of instruments has been attempted many times before. I doubt their methodology could ever be perfected. I would suggest the following methodology: Give the musician two or more instruments and plenty of time to play them and get used to them. Then see which one he or she uses for important auditions or performances where significant money and/or reputation is at stake. I promise you, if the results with the older, more valuable instrument aren't at least as good as with the newer, cheaper one, any placebo effect would quickly fade.
Of course, the best musicians sound good on almost anything. Yes, many musicians feel better about playing a rare and valuable instrument. But only if they get good results with that instrument.
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