Andrea's Big Purchase

Shortly after starting at NJHS, my smaller school, I began practicing on the music teacher's violin when there was free time. However, I don't necessarily get to go to that school every week, and even if I'm there, sometimes I can't use the music room to practice. I was finding that I wanted to play more often, so I started thinking about my options. Renting a violin here would be extremely difficult and just about as expensive as buying one (assuming I kept playing for several months to a year), so that didn't seem like a good option. Shipping my violin over from America wouldn't have been inordinately expensive, but it would mean risking damage during transit, and exposing it to a lot more humidity than it's used to. So I had some reservations about that, as well. Last weekend I decided to look into my remaining option, which was to buy a violin here.

I went to two music stores on Sunday. The one at the mall only had two violins, and the employee I talked to  seemed very certain that they were not what I was looking for. I may have given him the wrong impression by telling him how many  years I've been playing. Even though I started pretty young, I'm not a professional, and I don't need a performance-quality instrument. But based on what I was told, it didn't seem worth it to even try the two at that store.

After the mall I stopped in at another store from the same chain. I had found the store through a Google search, and it was in an area I've been to several times before. It's actually very close to an elementary school that I visit sometimes. Anyhow, this store had about ten violins. I tried several of them, some which were relatively inexpensive and a few that were fairly high priced. Once I had narrowed it down to two violins, it was actually pretty clear to me which one I liked best. One of them had a more pleasant sound and felt easier to play; it was like it fit better, somehow. Somewhat surprisingly, it was the less expensive of the final two.

So, I had found an instrument that would suit my needs quite well. The last decision was whether or not to buy it. It was kind of funny, toward the end I was standing in the practice room deliberating, and the salesperson thought I was having trouble deciding between the two violins. I didn't really want to tell her that I was actually trying to decide whether to buy one at all. But in the end, I decided that I would go for it. The violin and bow weren't cheap, but by this point I had decided that I'm serious about practicing again, and that it was worth it to me not to have to risk my violin from home. Besides it being a very valuable instrument, I'm also very attached to it. So I bought another violin.

The violin I got actually isn't Japanese; it's an Andreas Eastman model VL502. I didn't know anything about the different makers going into it, but a little research I did after the fact indicates that it's a pretty high quality instrument. Probably not quite as nice as the one I have at home, but still better than a student violin. Today I went to a small studio to practice (you can rent practice rooms for fairly cheap), and I'm really happy with the violin. It sounds good to my ear, and it feels like a good fit as well. The music I've been practicing felt much easier to play on my new violin than it did on the music teacher's. So I quite enjoyed my practice time.

I also went back to the music store today to buy some more sheet music, and I picked up a folding stand and practice mute as well, so perhaps I'll try practicing at home next time. A practice mute should dampen the sound a good deal, so maybe if I use that and only play during the daytime, my neighbors won't complain. I'm fairly certain that in a Japanese apartment building you don't really have the right to make as much noise as violin does at full volume. But since my neighbor and his children are obnoxiously loud themselves, I figure they can't really complain so long as I practice quietly. Then again, they may prove me wrong. I guess we'll see.

Although I spent a lot of money on this (maybe more than I'd originally intended to), I feel very confident that it was worth it. I'm already enjoying it a lot, and I haven't felt any buyer's regret. I haven't decided yet what I'll do with it when it's time to move back to America, but there are several possibilities, so I'm not too worried about that. So, that's my big exciting purchase.