String Quartet by a SINGLE VIOLIN - THINKING OUT OF THE BOX!

 String Quartet by a SINGLE VIOLIN - 

THINKING OUT OF THE BOX!

String quartet is defined by Cambridge dictionary as consisting  of two violins, a viola ( a bigger violin) and a cello ( much bigger violin played by standing it on the floor)!

More than 120 years ago, at least as far as I could trace backards , a technique existed by violinists to play all the 4 strings at the same time.

In the modern era, this is not possible as the strings travel over a curved top...the so called 'bridge' before coming into contact with a bow, generally allowing one or two strings to be played…. well occasionally, 3 stings too. But all 4 strings is an absolute impossibility to play together for long durations!

The modern violin book books do not even mention this technique!

But this problem had already solved by the ancient old violinist, by thinking out of the box.

The ancient violinist took the bow apart by unscrewing and removing the screw. The small rectangular part ( frog ) of the bow comes off  holding all the hair at one end. This is kept on top of the strings, the stick without hair is kept below the violin. The frog is held along with the stick.

This allows all the bow hair to evenly touch all the strings held in a curved fashion by the bridge. When bowed, the tone is even and four string chords are played continuously.

Following is a small video demonstration of how it is done - this is my first attempt at it. The string quartet played by a solo violin.

Video can be viewed by copy paste of the url below in Google!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB4iB3LKdvQ

I learnt a long time ago from my surgeon teacher and mentor Dr Fenn - Always think out the the box. Always know the history of surgery to avoid mistakes or even to call anything new.  This applies equally to music. 

Musician associates who have only witnessed this video(but not performed this technique) have cautioned that the bow handling has to be gentle to avoid damage to the bow hair. In general, violin playing is associated with gentleness, care and soft hands!

Thank you for your interest!