Buying a Stradivarius won’t make you t a better violinist. Working on your technique and interpretation will. ;-)
-
But at a certain level of competence as a musician, buying an excellent violin, like a Stradivari, Amati, Gurarneri, or Stentor will make you sound better and provide a better playing and listening experience. That's why good violinists pay big money for a fine violin.
Your list of violins makes exactly my point. There is no one “best” violin, much less violin manufacturer (as there is no one “best POP” lens) — instead it is important to get a very good violin and play it well. It is the skill of the person playing a good instrument that makes it work, not the choice to use this or that specific instrument. I guarantee you that Perlman, Hahn, Bell, or Mutter playing a decent but not remarkable violin will impress you far more than some decent mid-level professional violinist playing that Stradivarius, et al.
It is also true that different violinists prefer different violins — again a parallel to the notion that there is no “best” lens.
In addition, it isn’t common knowledge, but quite a few of those super-expensive violins (and other very old instruments) are not actually owned by the musicians. They are sometimes owned by wealthy investors and collectors who then parcel them out to deserving virtuosi.
One more music story — I have a ton, since my professional life was built around that endeavor: I’ll anonymize the person I’m describing for professional reasons, but it concerns a professional double-reed player. If you know double-reed musicians, some of them can be as obsessive about reeds as the most obsessive lens fanatic. (It is a bit different, in that they don’t buy “the best” reeds, but instead obsess over the best tools for making them and the best materials to use.) Anyway, this can make some of them become, well, obsessed in an unhealthy way, to the point that they imagine that without the perfect read they are dead in the water. (Meanwhile, listeners can’t detect any differences attributable to the specific reed knife or gouges used, but instead respond to the player’s technical chops and expressive ability.) The musician I’m thinking of has a motto: Learn to play well on bad reeds. That is admittedly a statement designed to provoke, and the real point is that you can make first class music using excellent reeds… and give up the fruitless and ultimately unproductive infatuation with the search for the holy grail of perfect reeds. Or lenses.
Dec 11, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Notice: Undefined offset: 0 in /var/www/vhosts/fredmiranda.com/httpdocs/forum/viewedits.php on line 155
Buying a Stradivarius won’t make you t a better violinist. Working on your technique and interpretation will. ;-)
-
But at a certain level of competence as a musician, buying an excellent violin, like a Stradivari, Amati, Gurarneri, or Stentor will make you sound better and provide a better playing and listening experience. That's why good violinists pay big money for a fine violin.
Your list of violins makes exactly my point. There is no one “best” violin, much less violin manufacturer (as there is no one “best POP” lens) — instead it is important to get a very good violin and play it well. It is the skill of the person playing a good instrument that makes it work, not the choice to use this or that specific instrument. I guarantee you that Perlman playing a mediocre violin will impress you far more than some decent mid-level professional violinist playing that Strad, et al.
It is also true that different violinists prefer different violins — again a parallel to the notion that there is no “best” lens.
In addition, it isn’t common knowledge, but quite a few of those super-expensive violins (and other very old instruments) are not actually owned by the musicians. They are sometimes owned by wealthy investors and collectors who then parcel them out to deserving virtuosi.
One more music story — I have a ton, since my professional life was built around that endeavor: I’ll anonymize the person I’m describing for professional reasons, but it concerns a professional double-reed player. If you know double-reed musicians, some of them can be as obsessive about reeds as the most obsessive lens fanatic. (It is a bit different, in that they don’t buy “the best” reeds, but instead obsess over the best tools for making them and the best materials to use.) Anyway, this can make some of them become, well, obsessed in an unhealthy way, to the point that they imagine that without the perfect read they are dead in the water. (Meanwhile, listeners can’t detect any differences attributable to the specific reed knife or gouges used, but instead respond to the player’s technical chops and expressive ability.) The musician I’m thinking of has a motto: Learn to play well on bad reeds. That is admittedly a statement designed to provoke, and the real point is that you can make first class music using excellent reeds… and give up the fruitless and ultimately unproductive infatuation with the search for the holy grail of perfect reeds. Or lenses.
Dec 11, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Previous versions of gdanmitchell's message #16946184 « which lens has the most 3D POP? »
