Who knew there were other violinist in the family! After visiting Grandma and Pop-pop in New Jersey this past summer, it has come to our attention that Graham and Charlie's great-great-grandfather used to play the violin!
Grandma is thinking that perhaps the violin is about 80+ years old. It is a Stainer... and we were hoping we could retire on this discovery but unfortunately, nope! I took it to a music store to have the violin looked at by a "luthier" - someone who builds or repairs string instruments. What a fancy name! Anyway, the "luthier" sort of sighed and remarked about the violin's flaws when I showed him the violin. And then he asked me if I really wanted to have it repaired. And once he told me how much it would cost (which was a lot below of what I was expecting) I quickly said yes!
Looks so much better now :-)
Even Bobby got nostalgic about it! He was originally not interested in having it repaired. The music repair store recommended that I buy a new bow too but I bought some fancy rosin instead. I am able to make a sound with the violin so I guess that's a good sign. And perhaps I could just put a new bow on this Christmas' list this year. Ha ha!
I have been practicing a little bit with this violin and occasionally will play the same tunes with Graham. I have never played the violin before so this is quite the treat to learn while Graham learns. Maybe someday Graham and I can play a Mother-son duet. Someday... :-)
And oh, on top of this discovery - I also found out that my great grandfather on my mom's side of the family also played the violin. My uncle in England has his violin. How cool!!!
With all this excitement about music, we ended buying some tickets for the LA Philharmonics for December and also in the Spring. It all started when I found out that the famous pianist Lang Lang is coming into town next April. Charlie is so excited and so am I! And actually Bobby is too as we bought some tickets for date-night too :-D
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