And some people say we should not spend a lot of time thinking about the materials and processes used long ago. They instead think that some modern violins sound just as good and cost a lot less. Claudia Fritz at the University of Paris is one of those people. She led a study that was published in “The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
At a musical competition in Indiana, she asked twenty-one really good violin players to test six different instruments. She did not tell them that only three of the violins were very old and costly. Together, the three were worth about ten million dollars. The other three were made by modern luthiers, or instrument makers, and cost a hundred times less.
MARIO RITTER: Ms. Fritz asked each of the players to wear welders’ goggles, thick, dark eyeglasses, so they could not see the instruments very well while holding them. She thought that some people might be able to identify an old violin by its smell. So she put a little sweet-smelling perfume on the part of the instrument that fits under a player’s chin.
The test began in a hotel room. All the subjects in the experiment were permitted to play all six violins, and then say which one they would like to own. Then each player was given only two violins to test. One was very old. The other was modern. They were asked which of the two sounded better. The results of the test led Ms. Fritz to believe that there is no secret to how the old, great violins were made.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25