MAKING THE FINAL DECISION
Once you’ve been to a shop and have narrowed the selection to one or two instruments, it’s a standard procedure to take it out for a week, try it at home, take it to a lesson, and take it to orchestra rehearsal. You need to try it in all the situations in which you play. You should remember that instruments might not sound their best until you’ve played them for a half hour. “If an instrument has some essence or quality that you like, give it some time,” Givens says, “because you need to play a lot of instruments for half an hour before they warm up, before the colors and the responsiveness really show themselves.”
Givens also emphasizes the importance of buying an instrument in good condition. Otherwise two years may pass and old repairs will fail, old cracks will develop into something more serious, or the neck will collapse. All of a sudden, your instrument has to go in for a major restoration that costs thousands of dollars – and it comes out sounding and feeling much different from what you remembered and loved. That’s a heartbreaker, Givens says. So do business with places that are concerned about condition and can offer follow-up support and care.
In addition, do business with a shop that offers future trading or selling options. Most places will give 100 percent trade minus any kind of repair necessary to put the instrument into saleable condition. Also, find out if the company you bought the instrument from will put it on the market for you if you don’t need it anymore. Some always will, and some never will, Givens says.
Above all, the thing to remember about buying the first nice instrument is that you’re the one who needs to be happy with it because you’re the one who is going to be playing it. There are many audiences to consider, but the most important audience is yourself. The sound that instrument makes under your ear must be pleasing. Trust your own judgment about its responsiveness, its voice.
“When you practice, you want a sound that’s really inspiring and satisfying,” Givens says, “I feel that way about my cello. When I sit down to play, regardless of how much time I’ve had to practice, I want that sound to be glorious.”
各位中文翻译来了
选择你的第一把高级琴
去年在攻克《巴赫小提琴和双簧管协奏曲》之后，我知道我已经准备好了。我成年学琴三年了，已经开始在弦乐四重奏担任第一小提琴了。我觉得我的那把学生琴的声音开始变得刺耳，反应不灵敏，同时太明亮的声音与四重奏显得不协调。是到了换琴的时候了。
在制订出一个大概的预算之后，我到一个信誉比较好的琴行转了转。大概在试了6、7把琴后，我迅速将目标锁定在了两把小提琴上。我把这两把琴带回家，在上课时试拉。其中的一把标价4000美元，声音甜美；另外一把2000美元，产地是芝加哥，我习惯叫它“芝加哥”。我开始倾向于较便宜的这把琴，因为我喜欢它的饱满、细腻的音色和迅速的响应。但是我还是不大确定，于是我没有告诉我的老师和朋友琴的价钱，请他们鉴赏这两把琴。
