One day, they will be out on display....

One day, I hope to get my office fixed up all nice, just for me. When that day comes, I will then have out on display the violin and mandolin I have that are my great grandmother's. The violin is in an old, stinky wood box, and doesn't sound very nice. Could be that it is so old, and when I received it 25 years ago from my great aunt, the violin was in two pieces. I took it to a lithier (violin maker aka gugenmacher) who put it together for me, but I do believe she did a very poor job. The violin is dated inside 1797. I had one lithier tell me that it is most likely the standard Sears & Roebuck violin that was put out in the early 1900's. Well, I'm inclined personally to believe that it truly was made in 1797, being that my grandfather was born in the early 1900's, it belonged to his mother who was most likely born in the late 1800's.. and I don't know if she received it new or passed down from another family member. I wish I had that information. My Great Aunt Teresa Sumner gave me this violin and the mandolin along with a picture of her in elementary school holding the mandolin with her music class. It was one of those old timey pictures that was brown and there were two pictures side by side that were viewed through a picture viewer. Aunt Teresa was a music teacher, and did all that she could to encourage my musical talent. She often sent me her music programs from her seasonal visits to hear the Chicago Symphony. I enjoyed receiving them, along with her notes.

My friend Kim questioned me in an earlier post, do I have them out on display. No, not at this time. In high school and college, I used to have the mandolin displayed on the wall, held up by fishing line, with a flower arrangement woven into the strings. They make handles to display string instruments, and one day I hope to have a set, to display in my office the violin and the viola that I play. In high school, after I had the violin fixed, I often played it. One day, after I'd been playing severely out of tune, my teacher glared at me, and said.. "you've been playing that violin, haven't you?" One day, I'll have to stand them up side by side, and show the difference. The violin is about 4 inches shorter than the viola, and makes a difference where your fingers hit the strings. It becomes second nature to let your fingers go where they should to play, since a stringed instrument does not have any keys, so going back and forth tends to distort the natural placement.

One day, I will indeed have these two out on display for all the world (that that passes through my home, anyway) to see, and question where they came from!