This. The goal is to never have to do this shit ever again.
I have a colleague that just left the industry to become a violin luthier. Motherfucker doesn’t even know how to play yet. That’s how far they want to get from anything related to their work life.
Not sure you need to know how to play them, to sell them. Heck, I had a bow re-stringing apprenticeship under a guy named Howard Needham. He can repair any damage done to any violin. He doesn’t play a lick. He ensures that at least one of his apprentices can properly play a scale to test the instruments. Or he used to anyway. Haven’t talked to him in a couple decades, so he may not be with us anymore as he was in his late 60s back in '99-'00
Once you learn, your fingers never forget. I haven’t had a lesson in almost 3 decades at this point. I pick mine up and practice once a month or so, but I can still just whip out songs at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately I never learned to sight read, and only play by ear. I can “read” music, slowly. I just can’t read it at tempo.
Well to be totally honest, there was a decade and a half that I didn’t touch the thing. Took me a few days of practicing for about an hour to get the skills back, but that also could be because while I wasn’t playing strings for that decade and a half, I was still tooting around on my woodwinds and brass. Love a French Horn. I should see if I can find a used one.
I have most of an orchestra in my spare room. I still need a good xylophone to round out my percussion, a French Horn and a Sousaphone to fill out my brass, a Bass Flute for my winds and a harp for a complete string set.
This. The goal is to never have to do this shit ever again.
I have a colleague that just left the industry to become a violin luthier. Motherfucker doesn’t even know how to play yet. That’s how far they want to get from anything related to their work life.
Not sure you need to know how to play them, to sell them. Heck, I had a bow re-stringing apprenticeship under a guy named Howard Needham. He can repair any damage done to any violin. He doesn’t play a lick. He ensures that at least one of his apprentices can properly play a scale to test the instruments. Or he used to anyway. Haven’t talked to him in a couple decades, so he may not be with us anymore as he was in his late 60s back in '99-'00
Yes, that’s what my colleague told me. They did specify that the luthier school requires that they can play a little, but not much.
Once you learn, your fingers never forget. I haven’t had a lesson in almost 3 decades at this point. I pick mine up and practice once a month or so, but I can still just whip out songs at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately I never learned to sight read, and only play by ear. I can “read” music, slowly. I just can’t read it at tempo.
Practicing every month is the whole reason you can still play.
I haven’t touched my French horn or piano in years and I couldn’t just sit down and play anything, and I was really good at both.
Well to be totally honest, there was a decade and a half that I didn’t touch the thing. Took me a few days of practicing for about an hour to get the skills back, but that also could be because while I wasn’t playing strings for that decade and a half, I was still tooting around on my woodwinds and brass. Love a French Horn. I should see if I can find a used one.
I have most of an orchestra in my spare room. I still need a good xylophone to round out my percussion, a French Horn and a Sousaphone to fill out my brass, a Bass Flute for my winds and a harp for a complete string set.