The weather in Sydney is bad for violas
mainWe told you earlier this week about the Sydney Symphony violist who job-swapped with a mate in the Concertgebouw.
What about the Dutchman, Jeroen Quint, who took her seat Down Under? Got the better part of the deal, right?
Not so. Read on:
Not all is easy here. The Sydney humidity has an impact on how I produce sound on my instrument (although I personally don’t mind sweating a little bit as a price for all the sunshine we get in return). My dear Poggi viola seems quite happy with the weather, but her strings and the hair of my bow are less forgiving. One must develop a way to deal with surprises like ever-changing tension and (lack of) responsiveness.
More here.
Anyone had the same problem?
Haven’t played in an Australian summer, but as a lifelong West Coast of the USA resident, my first summer at a festival in North Carolina was a big shock to both me and the viola, which was quite youthful at the time. It sounded as if it were coming from the bottom of a well, until I figured out that I had to leave the case open in a room with the a/c going most of the time in order to dry it out sufficiently to sound normal. Also, nobody told me about getting an extra-short rehair before going there, so by the end of the 6 weeks, when I loosened the screw fully the hair hung in a deep curve and it took forever to tighten sufficiently to get to playing tension.