A Minute with Miles

The body length of a full-size violin is about 14 inches, give or take a very small fraction. This is a standard length, and an optimum length, arrived at by trial and error over many years by the great violin makers of history. Violas, on the other hand, have no standard length. For the pitch range and acoustics of the viola there probably is an optimum length, but whatever it is, it’s way too great for the instrument still to be held up and played under the chin. Body lengths of violas vary anywhere from under 15 inches, for very small instruments, to over 18 inches, for enormous ones. My own viola has a body length of about 16 and ¾ inches – and frankly I wish it were smaller, because it would be easier to play. The problem is that unless you get lucky, it’s hard to find a small viola with a big sound.

I’m guessing you haven’t thought much about this, but one of the things we musicians have to put up with is calluses. Not feeling sympathetic? But what if the calluses are peeling, or bleeding, or have bruises under or around them, or make you look like you’ve been attacked by a vampire? You can probably guess that string players have calluses on the tips of the fingers of their left hands, and you’ve seen the indelible marks on the necks of violinists and violists.

“I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called the negro melodies."

It’s often—not always, but often—interesting to read what composers have written about composing—especially if they’re good writers. Aaron Copland was an excellent writer, although by all accounts a very reserved man, one who kept his personal feelings hidden.

The little snippet of music you just heard, our “theme music,” is from the first movement, the Prelude, of the Partita Number 3 in E Major for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach wrote a set of six large works for solo violin – three sonatas and three partitas. The sonatas are constructed of contrasting movements with such names as Allegro, Andante, and Adagio.

“I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called the negro melodies."

“Music…embraces at once the real and the ideal… "

Several centuries ago, it was common for violin makers to print their names in Latin on the paper labels they glued in their instruments. That’s what the great Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari did, and that’s why an instrument made by Stradivari is known as a Stradivarius.

Staccato notes are notes that are not sustained for their full rhythmic value: they come to a short stop, which separates them from notes that follow.

In music, everything belongs to everybody – and that’s a beautiful thing.