A Strange Noise at 3 am!

 This morning I was practicing the same piece of music at 2 am in the soundproof music ( corner) room upstairs.  At 3 am or so, a loud bang was heard outside the closed window. It scared the hell out of me ... in the still of the night!

I ensured first it was not from the violin. Then I verified all windows and doors to the exterior were closed. Having watched enough X files and reading about aliens in balloons made me beat a hasty retreat to the safety of bed 😳

I narrated the events to the good wife at lunch. Her only comment was someone most likely threw a stone at me. But it must have missed me, and got the wall instead 🙄!

So I investigated in the afternoon by going to the rooftop. No aliens! No balloons! A piece of the concrete from the roof had fallen down!

They say music can be powerful! But looks like music can crack roofs too 😁😆

  

Reconnect with an old Friend!

Reconnect with an old Friend!

 Today was a red-letter day!

1963-1970 we were all together in St Joseph's School, Trichy.

But Jeevan disappeared for a couple of years, but he came back to our class again.

He told me that since his dad was District Forest Officer, he was transferred a lot, so he got shifted to near Erode where he was in a girls' school except only one English section had mixed company till 9th standard.

His children are in Baltimore which is in the suburbs of Washington DC a few miles away from his own house. As he missed being close to his own boys, he is reliving his days with his grandchildren!

Jeevan had a quiet meal with my wife and me. He had not changed much in looks, but I would not have recognized him in a crowd after 53 years!

It was a joy to meet him and talk of most of our classmates - past and living. ... of our school carefree days.

As life goes on and as time rolls on, it is good to catch up with old friends of 5 decades and more, not having seen them since school days. It was as though the intervening years had dropped away and we were in school only a couple of days ago!

Thank God for these moments and the reconnecting to school bliss!

Alternate kinder, cheaper humidifier for violins -a report!

 Alternate kinder, cheaper humidifier for violins - a report!

The days are getting warmer. Humidity is around 60% where I live. 

Humidity affects the tone of the violin and in extreme situations can open up the seams of the violin causing significant damage to the delicate instruments. 

Ideal humidity levels at 50-60% keep the violin in order and help with quality sound. To protect the violin, it is better to keep it in a silk cloth cover. This however may not help in humid situations.

The commercial dehumidifier appeared to have a thicker tube. The tube is stiff and insertion through the f-hole can cause damage to the wood.

So I've used a chest tube which is made of soft PVC which is designed for human use. This tube surgically lies adjacent to the heart and lungs causing no harm with multiple holes and has graduations in cm. Being a surgeon helps to access and buy this soft tube easily. This tube is sold as a sterile packet for about 1/6 the price of the commercial dehumidifier.

This tube can be used as a dehumidifier tube for violin, viola, cello or guitar. I have only tried it on violins. This tube is soft and pliable with graduations to know the depth and will not slip into the body of the violin due to the bulbous tip.

The technique for use of this chest tube is to soak it for a minute in water and wipe it before insertion. Water should not enter the violin seams, the same as in the commercially available ones.

2 videos are enclosed: how to use on violin and how to store it in the violin case.