I commissioned a viola!
Ever since I took up this instrument I’ve had to contend with the handicap of a smallish hand and its short pinkie (little finger). It doesn’t affect me other than being a bugbear in my ability to reach the ‘C’ string on my viola with any degree of comfort. My left arm has to stretch inwards from the elbow while holding the instrument in order to allow my fingers to reach over its nether bout. Unlike violins, violas come in different sizes, and the bigger it is, the richer, deeper and more ‘viola-like’ is its tone – hence the penchant for large violas. Although my instrument is the smallest adult size, it is chunky, and during long rehearsals it feels as though I’m holding up a wardrobe! I tend to play flat on the bottom string due to the stretch required for my hand. In retrospect I probably would have been better suited to learning the violin.
Enter Alan McGeoch, self-taught luthier from Fife.
We met in the foyer at a string workshop in St Andrews where he was exhibiting of a few of his instruments. Somehow, this tall, upright Scottish gent from St Andrews and I hit it off. Notwithstanding my hollow attempts at playing a tune, he offered to make me a small viola with a nicer sound and better suited to my physique. No violists I questioned had heard of him. But since neither age nor expertise is on my side, and since he stipulated he would sell it if I wasn’t completely happy, it seemed an offer difficult to refuse. I took a expensive punt on a complete unknown, wishing myself good luck and all that.
Four months later Alan sent me this photograph of my new instrument “in the white” sitting before a mirror at her dressing table. (to be continued)
