Conversation with the Violin Maker, 17/3/16
Today I went to see the violin maker. It wasn’t my intention to, but as I passed his window, I noticed he was there and knocked to ask if I could visit the next day. I had an instrument I wanted him to look over. We chatted for a while about various thing. Then he asked me to look at some technical drawings he’d been making, analysing a Stradivarius violin. They were beautiful and intricate; they seemed like graphic scores. I asked if he would build this violin? “No,” he replied. “I’m humbled by the great makers; I don’t want to emulate them. I will put this under glass, as my research.” I had been struggling all day with a slight dissatisfaction about my own contribution to the previous evening’s performance (Cage, Feldman, and Wolff). Something had not slipped into place, but I couldn’t place it. Now that thing came into view, and I thanked him profusely for the message. I had forgotten in my playing to be humble. In presenting the concert and the repertoire, I had tried to be responsible for it. But it isn’t mine to be responsible for or to present. I only had to let it go through me.