Violin Open E String Whistling Problem (Part 1)

One of the most frustrating problems for violinists is the whistling E string. You play on the D string and when you cross over to the open E, it whistles with an annoying high frequency squeal. Or you play a chord in Bach and the open E string whistles.

This whistling is not due to poor bowing technique: I have heard the best violinists in the world whistle their open E-strings.

The whistling open E string is caused by the string vibrating in a torsional (twisting) motion rather than the normal Helmholtz (transverse or sideways) motion. The torsional vibration frequency for an unwound plain steel E-string is approximately 4,800 Hz (an open E is 660 Hz), and independent of the diameter of the string or the tuning. The torsional damping (damping is how quickly the vibrations die away) is extremely low, so once the string starts to vibrate torsionally, it does not want to stop very quickly. Your finger tip provides very high damping, and that is why the whistling does not occur with stopped notes. (Stopped notes can still squeak due to low string damping and poor bow technique, but that phenomena is generally not due to torsional behavior.)

The lower strings don’t have whistling problems because the windings provide extremely high torsional damping. That is why a wound E-string (for example our Helicore H311W) is more whistle resistant than plain E-strings. We also add a damping compound to our wound E-strings which increases torsional damping. For the ultimate whistle-proof E-string, try our Kaplan Solutions Non-Whistling E string (KS311W 4/4M). In addition to the winding and added damping compound, it uses a stranded steel core, which lowers the torsional frequency and further increases torsional damping.

The Kaplan Solutions Non-whistling E-string is also very sweet sounding compared to solid steel E-strings, yet has plenty of power due to its high playing tension, comparable to heavy tension solid steel E-strings. The string has a solid ball-end, which cannot be removed, so we include an adapter which allows it to be used with common hook type fine tuners.

In part 2, I will discuss why it is so difficult to prevent an E string from whistling.

Playing Harmonics

One of the most overlooked aspects of playing harmonics on bowed string instruments is the bowing point. A common cause of harmonics not sounding is that the bowing point is too far away from the bridge.

When playing higher notes, the bowing point usually has to move closer to the bridge, since the vibrating string length is shorter. (The same proportional bowing point to the bridge is closer to the bridge in absolute distance for a shorter vibrating string length.) We usually make this bowing adjustment automatically as our left hand moves up the fingerboard when playing really high notes.

When bowing harmonics, one must remember the bowing point needs to be based on the effective vibrating length of the harmonic and the actual sounded pitch, and not where the left hand actually stops the note. For example, the typical artificial harmonic is played in the low positions, but actually sounds two octaves higher, so it must be bowed as if you were playing the normally stopped note two octaves higher. (In this particular case, the string is actually vibrating in four short segments, like four links in a sausage.) This means the bowing point must be closer to the bridge.

Addendum: I should add that the bowing speed and force (pressure) should also be based on the effective vibrating length of the harmonic and the actual sounded pitch, and not where the left hand actually stops the note.

False Strings

I discuss false strings in the latest June 2011 issue of Strings Magazine. Here’s the beginning of the article:

"One of the most common questions about stringed-instrument strings is about the nature of false strings. What is a false string? Musicians often use the term to describe any string that does not sound right, such as a string that sounds dead or won’t bow properly. However, a false string technically occurs when a string doesn’t produce the correct pitch due to a lack of uniformity or defects. In rare cases, the instrument itself may be the source of intonation issues.

To understand false strings, it helps to understand a few basic concepts. When we talk about uniformity, what we mean is that the string is not what physicists call an “ideal string.” An ideal string is uniform in density and mass along its length and is completely flexible. This ideal guides the choices that string designers make with materials and varieties of string design.

False strings were more common when gut was the primary string material. Gut strings are a natural product made from highly processed sheep intestines…”

Fortunately, false brand new strings are extremely rare today. However, strings can become false with use. For more details, see the rest of my article "How to Know if False Strings are Hurting your Sound." A subscription to Strings Magazine is required to access the article.

Chamber Music Lovers

My favorite activity is playing chamber music! Chamber music lovers will go to great lengths to play with friends. Last month I flew all the way (from New York) to Los Angeles just to attend a chamber music party. Not just any chamber music party, but Eve Cohen’s famous annual Composers Chamber Music Party, with over 60-80 people, lasting past midnight. Haydn, father of the string quartet, and my favorite chamber music composer, was the featured composer this year, so I could not miss it! I was part of the last group, playing until 3:30am!

Eve knows most of the amateur chamber music players in the LA area. I first played with her over 30 years ago when I was in college at Caltech. The next time was 10 years later, my first summer at the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East, known as “Bennington” since it has been held at Bennington College (Vermont) for decades. Bennington is one of the oldest and largest adult amateur chamber music programs, in its 66th year. We spend all of our waking hours playing chamber music. I have been going for 20 years, but I am still a babe compared to those who have made their annual trips to Vermont for 30 or 40 years!

If you are a serious chamber music lover, check out Bennington and perhaps I will see you there!

Violinist Alexander Markov at Carnegie Hall

Last October, almost 30 years after his Carnegie Hall debut recital, violinist Alexander Markov returned to a sold out Carnegie Hall to perform his own “Rock Concerto”. He repeated a version of this concert in the Norwalk Concert Hall (Connecticut) last week to a much smaller, but no less enthusiastic audience. The Norwalk Concert Hall brought back fond memories since I grew up in neighboring Wilton and spent many Saturday mornings rehearsing with the Norwalk Youth Symphony in this hall.

Alex became interested in rock music during high school and it became a passion along with Paganini. He commissioned a custom 6-string violin (it is actually viola sized) to use in his rock band, but he was very frustrated with the guitar strings he was using which could not be bowed easily. I designed a special low F string for his instrument, which uses a magnetic pickup, and he was thrilled with the results!

Alex performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto for the first half of his Carnegie Hall concert. It was an extremely satisfying “old-fashioned” performance, more concerned with emotional communication as expressed through Alex’s own unique tone and phrasing rather than the more “clean and correct” playing of most modern performances. For his Norwalk concert, he played a variety of show pieces. My favorite was his remarkable performance of the Paganini “Moses” Fantasy Variations played all on the G-string. It was also delightful to hear the Sarasate “Navarra” duet with his father Albert Markov, who is still in remarkable playing shape. And of course he played his signature Paganini 24th Caprice (watch on YouTube) with its famous left-hand pizzicato variation.

Alex has revised his Rock Concerto since the Carnegie concert. The Carnegie version was more dramatic and operatic, with a huge chorus, and long sections. The pacing of the Norwalk version was much improved, with shorter sections, and featured Alex more prominently. The most heartfelt moments were Alex’s lyrical solos, tinged with bitter sweetness. It must have been difficult for his family to emigrate from the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Did I hear echoes of this? The music is completely different, but it calls to mind the emotional landscape of the musical Fiddler on the Roof.

American String Teachers Association Convention

I attended the American String Teachers Association annual convention in Kansas City two weeks ago with Lyris Hung, our Bowed Brand Manager. Scott Laird, music educator at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, was there as well representing D’Addario. With almost a thousand teachers in attendance, our D’Addario booth was mobbed and we quickly ran out of posters and other items!

There were hundreds of presentations, as many as ten simultaneously, and I wish I could have gone to all of them! Lyris and I presented our own session “Demystifying your strings” and we could have stayed for hours answering questions. Several of our artists presented clinics, including Christian Howes, Julie Lyonn Lieberman, Jeremy Cohen (Quartet San Francisco), Eric Gorfain (The Section Quartet), Pedro de Alcantara, Scott Laird and electric violinist Mark Wood. Mark Wood and his band, joined by the Olathe Area Youth Symphony closed the Convention with an exciting concert. Lyris remarked that students are often weak in rhythm, but this orchestra, inspired by Mark, was rockin and groovin! Middle aged classical string teachers were doing the same in the audience!

Lyris and I also visited the Kansas City Symphony to answer questions about strings. We were hosted by Christine Grossman, their principal violist, and a D’Addario string player. We attended their concert and I thought Kansas City was fortunate to have this wonderful orchestra. The strings played with a warm cohesive tone, the principal wind players were excellent, and the balance between the sections outstanding. They seem to have strong support from the community and everyone is looking forward to their new home in the $400million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. We walked by the complex which is nearing completion and it looked spectacular!

The Violin Society of America 2010 Convention

The 2010 VSA Convention was our biggest and most successful convention ever, with over 500 instruments and bows entered in the competition. The list of winners are here. Congratulations to Jeff Phillips who won Gold Medals for his violin and viola, and Peter Goodfellow who won a Gold Medal for his cello! Congratulations to all the other medal and certificate winners as well, and all those who competed. The standards rise every year and there were some excellent instruments that did not even win awards!

There was simply not enough time, even over a whole week, to attend all of the interesting activities and presentations and catch up with friends and colleagues. There was a wonderful study exhibit of Old Italian and French Masters organized by Jim Warren which showed the fascinating connections between the various makers: I was drawn to an exquisite Rogeri next to one of his Maggini copies which had previously been attributed to Maggini himself.

My favorite instruments were in the Hors Concours and Innovation Exhibit room, which I help organize. We had a gorgeous exhibit of VSA Hors Concours winners (VSA Competition winners who are no longer eligible to compete because they won too many Gold medals!) plus other past competition winners and the competition judges. I saw for the first time a bow by bow judge Stephane Thomachot, one of the most influential living bow makers. I spent many hours with Hors Concours bow maker Gregor Walbrodt: his viola bow was so fantastically balanced and handled so well that it could have been mistaken for a violin bow! Hors Concours bow maker and newly elected VSA President Rodney Mohr had a large selection of bows on display, the most interesting and fun being his 4G bass bow. It is so beautifully made that one only noticed on closer inspection that it was made out of recycled materials and pieces of pernambuco laminated together. Embedded in the frog was a 4Gigabyte memory chip that can be hooked up to a computer USB port!

One of my favorite violins in the exhibit was by Joseph Grubaugh and Sigrun Seifert, but the star of the show was a bass guitar they made inspired by an old guitarron. Look at that gorgeous back (picture of Joe and bass guitar at right)! Joe had a cardboard model of a viola they plan to make using a similar technique of bending the plates.

Here are some interesting presentations I heard: Christina Linsenmeyer, curator at the new Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix, Arizona…Innovative bass maker Jim Ham who has turned his attention cellos, violas and violins…Alex Sobolev and John Bell on rapid manufacturing techniques for the 21st century, and their digital violin project…The latest research results from our “Vieuxtemps” del Gesu project, with Joseph Curtin showing the apparent importance of the acoustic response due to the excitation of the bridge in the previously neglected vertical direction, and Terry Borman showing modal animations integrated with CT scan data…Hors Concours bow makers David Samuels and Yannick Le Canu discussing Dominique Peccatte… Bernd Musing of Arcus discussing carbon fiber materials for violins and bows, and how the frequency of the first bending mode for a bow stick affects sound…Violin maker and historical researcher Carlo Chiesa on little known facts about Cremonese makers delivered in his unique entertaining style…David Gage on bass setup…Tom Croen on fingerboards…Ned Steinberger showing his latest lightweight NS Electric violin…Jeff Van Fossen and Roger Zabinski of Coda Bow discussing how they design their carbon fiber bows.

Other memorable activities: playing Doug Martin’s latest ultralight balsa violins – their aesthetics remind me of the instruments portrayed in Picasso and Braque’s Cubist paintings…Discussions and debates on violin acoustics, competitions and other topics with many people, often at midnight…Watching competition judge Bill Scott giving critique to competition competitors with the utmost patience, tirelessly …Watching David Samuels plane a bow blank at the Bow Forum…Playing most of the 200 violins in the competition!