Zygmuntowicz on violins

This excerpt was taken from a talk in Banff, Alberta Canada: Brooklyn luthier, Samuel Zygmuntowicz, validates the Renaissance of fine violin-making at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition.

“Ultimately, the violin is just a conduit for energy. There’s an impulse that starts in the mind of the musician. And they send those to their muscles and to their hands. And there’s a little point of contact between the bow and the string, [sic] and that’s where the energy is transferred from the violinist, to his hands, to his bow, to the string: the string to the bridge, and the bridge to the body.”

“And that little tiny pathway [sic] when that impulse hits that violin, the violin moves a little bit, and tries to release that energy. And that’s why it vibrates. And the surface of the violin moves; and that moves air. That air moves air next to it all the way to where you’re sitting in the back of the room. And that moves your eardrum; and then to your nerves, to your brain. So, in a sense, there is a direct line from the musician’s brain to your brain.”

“It’s very physical; it’s not metaphysical.”