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Comment by gtycomb | Hacker News Reader

It is not about the instrument alone but also who is playing it, and how, certainly. Here is violinist Hilary Hahn playing Bach Partita No. 3 -- it is emotionally moving, to the human ear. It represents so many years of her training and performing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VOkrddp6M8

Her instrument is a Vuillaume, and this instrument was owned by Pagnini. (Paganini had an unfortunate betting habit. He lost his favourite Stradivarius in one of those betting bouts. Later, the French luthier Vuillaume built him one just like his Stradivari. Paganini liked it as much as his lost instrument).

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I'm curious about how much of the tone is the instrument and how much is the player.

I remember watching an Igor Oistrakh masterclass where he complained about the sound a young violinist was making on her cheapish violin. He said "play it like this" and then played the same note on his vastly more expensive instrument. I think everybody in the room was thinking something along the lines of 'I'd like to see him make that sound with the instrument she's playing."

Maybe its like how much of one's software creativity has to do with the programming language one uses and how much of it is the programmer herself.

Yo! Oistrakh. One of my favourite violinists. I have noticed the following with my 10 year old's violin teacher (who is a really good violinist). To show him a certain technique during her lesson she reaches for her instrument instead of his. Especially for a bit challenging violin part, I guess she can confidently show a technique better on her own familiar instrument.

I can't speak to that particular situation, but you can get a great sound out of affordable violins, and the biggest deciding factor by far will be the skill of the player.

The biggest physical thing to stand out when learning is that you make slightly more tinny sounds on smaller violins, and you don't typically hit a full size violin until you hit puberty.

If I were to guess, his violin does sound better, but the skill would make the biggest difference in the two situations.

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