THE IDEAL TONE
The ideal tone is that which satisfies the player and also “holds the
audience spell-bound.” It is said of a very famous violinist that he one
day entered the shop of a celebrated London dealer and heard, in the
room above, the tones of a violin with which he was instantly
fascinated. This instrument he determined to possess, and succeeded,
after much trouble, in finally becoming its owner at the handsome price
of two thousand pounds. This violinist made his choice of tone through
being, for the moment, a spell-bound audience of one, and not through
playing upon the instrument himself. It is impossible adequately to
judge tone by playing upon the fiddle; the player is too close; he
cannot tell whether the tone is “carrying” or not; its beauties, or
frailties, are, like a picture, only appreciated at a distance, and the
violinist can no more get away from his tone than a singer can get away
from his voice. But he has this advantage over the vocalist: he can
become, so to speak, an audience and hear the tone-quality _inherent_ to
a given instrument produced by another; but not, bear in mind, as _he_
will produce it. None the less he may, by this means, select his voice
with a measurable degree of certainty, if he has some idea of what
constitutes an ideal of violin tone. There are few matters connected
with the violin approached more lightly and with less understanding than
this question of ideals of tone, whether in the violin or the player. As
we have seen in previous chapters, some violin makers ignore it
entirely, being content simply to make the fiddle, just as some players
ignore it, and are content merely to play the fiddle. These are
continually seeking the instrument which, through the perfection of its
tone, will turn them into virtuosi--a thing it never will do.
Although the great artist never hears himself as others hear him--even
on the gramophone!--much experience enables him to know something of the
tone effect he is producing. We studied this matter with a favourite
pupil of the late Dr. Joachim for a subject, whose opinions on tone are
interesting. “The most an artist can do,” he says, “is to study the tone
of his violin with painstaking care, and, by constant practice, fit such
tone ideals as he may possess to those of the instrument. This must be
done with such thoroughness that the two ideals become one, otherwise he
will be continually at conflict with his violin, and unable to devote an
undivided attention to the expression of tone and technic in a manner
which experience will teach him is most impressive to the hearer. This
‘manner’ of expression becomes in time, and in its turn, second nature,
and only when this final point is reached is the artist entirely
unconscious of possessing either a violin or method, and the expression
of tone becomes untrammelled as the expression of thought--to which,
indeed, it may be likened. This is the only ‘secret of tone,’ and, until
it is accomplished, no player can truthfully say he understands, or is
able to express, the true tone of the violin--or even such ideals as he
may possess.”
I will now devote a short chapter to the method by which a tone ideal
may be cultivated and acquired. It would certainly be too much to say
this method (or any other) is an unfailing producer of virtuosity. It is
but one of many guides, and, as such, I believe it cannot fail to
interest every keen student of Tone.