After a bit of a lull period over summer, it is now back into full freelancer mode again... juggling schedules and racing from place to place. This year is shaping up to be a crazily busy one... I have my own ensemble to run, other people seem to be happy to keep asking me back to play, there is the teaching in a private studio and university to manage, and last but definitely not least, there is the family to be there for.

Ach... my head is spinning over the last couple of days. It is nice to be in demand, but the stress of trying to make everything work does get a bit overwhelming at times. I'm hoping that I've just sorted out the last little problem... at least the one that is looming in the next month. I have one more tangle to sort out, but that is September... so, there is time for that.

Anyway, I had opened up one of my cases the other day to find that the Baroque Viola had thrown two strings. I did know that it lost the A string the day before, and was going to change it on this day... but it was a pretty unwelcome surprise when I saw that it had also snapped a G string as well.

An even more unwelcome surprise was when I saw that I hadn't gotten myself a spare of that string when I did my recent large string order from Europe... and an EVEN more unwelcome surprise was when I found out that that particular string wasn't commonly stocked in Australia... AND when it was stocked, it was hideously expensive! Sure, it is an unusual gut core string made in Germany that is wound in silver and gold... oh, that is probably it...

Anyway, I found myself a temporary stand in... gut-core wound in Aluminium... it feels different and responds quite differently, and more problematically, it has a metal ball end instead of a loop end which means that it will start to damage the tailpiece if it is left on for too long. But needs must...

... and I have ordered two of the other strings from Europe. It is quite strange that it is cheaper and easier to order them from the other side of the planet instead of the local capital city! But that appears to be the state of our economies and supply-chains at the moment!

But that instrument won't be required until the next project... meanwhile, this week, I need these two trusty instruments. It only occurred to me just when I took this photo that this is the oldest and youngest instruments that I will partnered with in this concert! A difference of about 250 years between the old and the new... and funnily enough, the old one is the sprightly one whilst the new one is more docile one!

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

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