National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-06-03
BosToN,s GIRL FIDDLERs.

A Fashionable EccentTicity - Families
that Can Furnish n Feminine string
Band.
A stranger in Boston who happens TO be in
the street when the girls are going to OF
returning from school cannot fail to notice
that many of the pupils carry violin cases.
This is so common a spectacle that no notice
is taken of it by the inhabitants. Not infre-
quently young woman balances her violin
case with largo box of painting materials,
and it is currently reported that so fashion
able have painting and violin playing become
that more people carry the tools than arc
even in tho smallest way acquainted with
their use.
A well-known violinist said: "The fact you
have noticed, that tho girls here have, In many
instances taken TO violin playing, has been
Of great benefit to professional fiddlers. A
good violinist can now find here all tho teach
ing he wants. Tho taste for violin playing
among ladies began to be noticeable hero
about FIVE years ago, and now, it has been
calculated, there are from 400 to 500 young
ladies studying, beside many who have be-
como sufficiently advanced to pursue their
practice alone.
"The violin is an instrument particularly
well adapted for ladies. 1t does not require
any great physical strength, and the proper
handling of Instrument aud bow admit OF the
display of the utmost grace Violin playing
does not have u tendency to narrow the chest
and round the body as TOO constant sitting at
the piano often does Tho violin Is portable,
and, with mute on, can be practiced in a
school or bed room without annoying tho
hnugahnln Df thn difHrulIiAg of the
instrument are great, but i find, as rule,
the feminine ear Is more acute and accurate
than the male. As the great difficulty of the
violin is to stop the notes in tune, the value
of good ear Is inestimable. Thcre are many
young girls in Boston who are really excel
lent players, and in several instances there
arc families where the daughters can supply
q complete quartotte, viz, first and second
violins, viola, aud violoncello. The last
named instrument is less adapted to ladies,
because it should properly be held by the
grip of the lower limbs, but the placing of q
long peg on which the instrument rests has
almost overcome the difficulty.
my pupils take the greatest possible inter-
est in their instruments, They read up on
the subject Of violin making, and can talk
learnedly with q professor about scrolls,
single and double purting, sound posts, bars,
and vHrnishes. They have tho dates of the
great makers firmly fixed in their minds, and
VIII argue warmly aDOuU lne respective uerltb
Of the Cremona artists.
81 don't know what started tho fashion in
Boston, but probably the advent of some lady
violinist or the reading about the great tri-
umphs Of Mme Normau-Neruda in London.
At any rate, the fashion, though on the whole
steadily increasing, grows spasmodically, and
the recent playing of concerto by Mme
Sembrich at the Abbey benefit has brought
me several new pupils.
"a girl should begin to learn when about
10 years old, but not unless she has u strong
liking for music a good ear, and decided
perseverance. The first stages of learning
are extremely dreary, and nothing can make
them endurable but strong ambition. Bad
violin playing is, think, the worst torture
know, and will not keep pupil who does
not show application and intelligence.
should think myself fit for jail if l turned
loose upon society any large number of bad
players. 1t requires from two to three years
of honest work before pupil can play a
simple piece sufficiently well to please oven
partial listeners, 70 be great violinist is,
as Dogberry says, the gift of nature Some
men of intelligence, industry, and who de-
votedly love their instrument will practice
for ten hours n day for half their lives and
never be moro than good, reliable players.
On the other hand, the now pre-eminent
Joachim at 10 played the Mendelssohn con-
certo In 30 superb 3 style that the composer
publicly embraced him."