rommel is an accomplished musician who runs a music store on matalino, a few blocks away from home. on the wall of his shop, hanging like clothes on a laundry line, are about two dozen good quality violins and violas of different makes. in a cabinet across are strings for violins, violas and cellos. and on the shelves are different accessories ranging from rosin (that makes the bow sticky enough to glide and vibrate the string), to shoulder rests, etc. in that small third floor apartment that doubles as a recording studio, he has a piano on one end and an electronic keyboard hooked up to a computer on the other. and, if you are not careful, you are bound to step on some recording gizmos that are on some "organized disarray" alongside sparkling violin and viola cases on the floor.
the php350 string set and the three aspiring violinists
rommel was still out of the store when i arrived. in front of the apartment door stood three young boys with two dirty black violin vinyl cases leaning on the wall just behind them. the youngest of the trio was barely a teen-ager and he looked at me and said that he had been ringing the doorbell and no one was answering. the second kid who was about two years older said that he just got text from rommel stating that he was already at the parking lot below. i asked what they were going to buy. the oldest who was in his mid-teens said that he was buying a php350-a-set violin strings. they were aspiring musicians who study at the sta. isabel college which was a good hour's drive away on a good day. (but they obviously commuted so it must have taken quite a bit more.)
the sound post
rommel's wife came in first with her eldest child of six -- a precocious boy who has all the sound pitches committed into memory (the whole piano range including even the black keys!) i was standing by the door and the three kids rushed in after them with violins in tow. it's disneyland for them! and the scrawniest of the group started playing the piano. the middle kid looked at the violins hanging on the wall and picked one out and started playing
hating gabi. he showed off how far up the fingerboard he could go on the instrument that was just a tad bigger than what he should be playing.
original strad siguro ito, he said. rommel's wife was tolerant and even apologized to me for the mess of the shop.
anyway, rommel finally came in with a young woman who was looking for a particular set of violin strings. i overheard thomastic blue but she was pining over the red that had already sold out. they cost about $120 a set on internet. then, apparently worried, the oldest of the aspiring violinists asked if the php350 strings were still in supply. and rommel promptly brought out a set for him.
in the room-filling din, the piano player suddenly stopped playing and asked rommel if he could install the sound post of his violin. it had fallen off. (the sound post is the "soul" of the violin. it is literally the pillar inside a violin that provides the color of the sound the violin makes).
a sound post rarely falls off and so i had to ask how that happened. did you happen to loosen all the strings? the kid with eyeglasses that are as big as his face brought his violin out and my heart sank when i saw why.
it was a bachendorff violin with hardly any varnish left but still looking dignified. he turned it over and showed a long crack on the back. rommel gave a loud "tsk!" he told the young boy that he has to have a luthier fix the crack. the sound post will only fall off again if he installs it -- something rommel does for free. "
mahal magpagawa sa luthier," the kid said as he looked up to me through his huge eyeglasses.
the bridge, the slipping G-string and the neighbor's sandpaper
quietly seated was the oldest of the group installing his new strings. my g-string keeps slipping, he called out. (nice pun, i said to myself.) since rommel was busy with the youngest, i approached to help. the bridge hardly had notches for the strings. i learned that he had been sanding the edge off so that the strings would come closer to the fingerboard. etch out a notch on the bridge with a needle file (preferred) or a fine sandpaper, i told him. the kid raised his violin to me and asked me to do it. i said i'd rather not as the bridge is just too fragile to mess around with. he insisted. but i need a sandpaper to do this, i said. and he reached into his knapsack and pulled out a square inch of used sandpaper. where did you get that? i asked laughing. he asked from his neighbor, he said.
i gave up after a few strokes as the sandpaper did not have any grit left. you need a new fine grade sandpaper. we might just ruin the bridge. but he said he did not mind since the bridge costs only php50. then i thought, perhaps, a hacksaw would do better! but that would be too unkind for me to say.
i looked at my watch and it was approaching 4 PM. i would be bringing joy to her cello lessons soon and i had to bid goodbye. and as i was leaving, i overheard one of the kids telling rommel how much his mom still owes him for the violin that he sold them. "s
abi ng nanay, php4000 na lang po ang utang namin. tama po? next week daw po babayaran."
early that day, a patient quipped, i can't imagine a life without music. that afternoon, i am reminded that music in its high art form is still a luxury that is beyond the reach of many. well, i bought a fine, light-weight pernambuco bow and left wondering if i deserved it.
