Dealers And Stealers

There are violin dealers out there who scour the schools and prestigious music festivals in search of innocent young very promising string players for the purpose of cultivating a prospective sale of one of their fine instruments that they may own or have “on consignment.” This I have no problems with since, as a string player, one of the great joys of a life in classical music is to own a great instrument from one of the masters of the Cremonese or Venetian or Brescian periods.

What I take issue with is the implied necessity of one of these priceless masterpieces in making a career. So a young player before he/she is near full potential musically or technically or earning power is led to believe that without that Stradivari or Guarneri they will not be able to compete and their very career will be in jeopardy. Throughout the entirety of my more than 50 year playing career I have yet to encounter a string player under the age of 20 with enough knowledge, musicality, and technique to bring everything out of a master instrument. (more…)