Violins and the Power of the String...

by Mark Landson, Editor in Chief

With the perfect merger of science and art, the violin and its sisters, the viola and cello, are considered perhaps the most expressive and versatile instruments of any musical instrument ever invented.

Beethoven's heart poured from them. Mozart's mind was brought to life by them. They have been the basis for the music of cultures from East to West for centuries and have moved people's hearts through Indian classical music, European classical music, Celtic music, and American Bluegrass/Country music.

What is the history of these amazing instruments? How can a simple string produce such a variety of tones and tonal colors? Is it true that the violin is one of the hardest instruments to learn? Why are Stradivarius violins so valuable? How does the violin bow work? How often should I rosin my bow? Are there core fundamentals that can dramatically improve my playing in minutes?

I've played the violin and viola since I was 6 years old, beginning as one of my dad's first "Suzuki" violin students. Since that time, my dad went on to be one of the best pre-college violin teachers in the US and the president of the International Suzuki Association, and I went to the Eastman School of Music to study viola, played in professional orchestras and chamber groups throughout the US and Europe, and have my own chamber group now called "Neo Camerata".

Building an Online Magazine

So Why this site? The Internet is an amazing thing. All this information that's swirling about in a chaotic fashion. Webzines, blogs, online versions of print publications. All have there good and bad, and on the internet, it really is sometimes hard to weed out the great stuff from the so-so.

Pondering that very conundrum of how to glean the best from the rest got me to thinking about developing a little twist on how the web has been run so far. On one hand, we've got print publications and their online fronts. These mags are put out with editorial content from experts, and generally contain some pretty good information. But is it the best we can do, and is it enough? Well, the answer seems to be no, because all manner of faster on the feet content keeps coming by independent blog writers, private website owners, and many others. Generally, though, most of these points are scattered about the net and you have to go chasing things around, and then, of course, you are pretty much getting just one person's opinion. Forums can be a source of comradarie and community, but they're just not the place to go where you want well thought out information like a magazine article gives you.

But what if we could combine the expert opinions of magazines with the richness of user contributed content? Well, I guess the answer to that will have to be seen as this site develops, because that is at least what the Violin Space aspires to. On this site, anyone with good information that contributes in a real way to the site can contribute an article, and post it up. I will also be soliciting articles from experts, and will exercize some editorial control to keep the standards of the site high. But the final say on which articles rise to the top will come from readers, and especially those that send out the Violin Space Articles to their mailing lists.

I'm looking forward to the journey, and I hope to see you back many times on the site!

Mark Landson
The Violin Space