Why this violin is so expensive?

some violence cost $60 some 10,000 some Millions but what did they cost so much hi I'm Timothy and as a violinist I'm going to be answering why a violin like this cost millions of dollars euros MMB throughout the centuries of violin making there has been a few DJ's that we've really looked up to and Colton the gold standards of the violin world and personally for me when given the option I prefer to play on a vintage instrument but instruments like this which is 300 years old are really expensive and even if you had the cash why would she purchase it on merely just a wooden box wouldn't you rather put that money into that nice fancy condo in the middle of Manhattan or maybe an old collection of vintage comics and is the sound that much better well believe it or not there are several reasons that contribute to the hefty price tag of these special instruments but before we go to those reasons let's put this back into my violin case because I feel very uncomfortable just holding around like this I'm back well let's start with the most obvious reason it's a rare piece of art there aren't many of them and there's a finite amount of them left on this earth let's take Antonio Stradivarius for example he's probably the most well known violin maker in history he made about 1100 instruments and only about 250 violins survived to this day just like really rare paintings the less we have the more money that they'll go for actually for many wealthy investors investing in a Stradivarius or another rare instrument is a really smart way to diversify their portfolio since the 1990s many of these rare instruments have tripled in value and funny enough they've actually even be in the world's stock market from a year-to-year gain next up is a reputation of these instruments something like a Stradivarius which has been just so popular in everyday culture through the media through television through the internet most people who have any knowledge of a classical music industry have heard about Stradivarius and know about its craftsmanship its value its rarity and the quality of sound as well next up is sound quality now I can personally tell the difference between something like a Stradivarius and a Guarneri del gesù compared to most other violins and that's because these sounds so incredibly good they stand out and nobody knows exactly why maybe it has something to do with the recipe of the varnish or it's asymmetrical or the type of wood that they were using or maybe it's just purely because it had time to age and marinate but not all of them are made equal as well let's take Stradivarius or Strads for example we consider that the instruments that he made from 1700 to 1720 as the golden period which means that it has the most precious and the most hyped up violins that he ever made and definitely there are some out there there are not good violins at all but they're really old and vintage and this brings the question of can you tell the difference between a modern instrument and a vintage instrument well I don't have that answer for you but I do have a video comparing a 60 dollar violin to a $6,000,000 Strad but in all seriousness there also is a gray zone between really finely made modern instruments and some of these legendary Stradivarius Azure Guarneri del gesù there's actually been a test where people were blindfolded and they listened to one Stradivarius or an old instrument compare it to a modern instrument and I think the test said that they actually preferred the modern instrument I'm not surprised because modern instruments have the luxury of having really good technology we've learned from trial and error there's science behind it we can understand sound waves what works construct surely and so forth so there has to be an instrument that's made today that is superior to ones in the past because there are just more resources available to use to perfecting what works and what doesn't and that being said a great violin is a great violin it really does take skill to be able to play on any instrument whether that be a really fine modern instrument whether that be a really good Stradivarius or whether that be just any other instrument they don't play on its own and a really great violinist that has tremendous skill can really bring out the best out of each instrument and that's being said to be honest a six million dollar violin by someone who doesn't have the skills can make it sound like a $60 one so this next reason is not about the white as to the cost of the instrument but it's added to why these instruments are so prized especially for us as musicians oftentimes receiving a loan of one of these rare instruments is one way to recognize an artist's talents achievements I think of it as a prize kind of like a diamond ring but I guess you wouldn't perform with the diamond ring for a young artist like me having the opportunity to have a loan of a rare instrument is a huge honor and it raises our profile to promoters to organizations to the general public as well that organizations and foundations are willing to trust us to perform on these rare instruments that have such a long history of wonderful violinists and other stories are associated with it the other thing about these instruments is that they are very sensitive to the way you play on them I've learned that a great instrument will teach us how to produce certain sounds and the very best violinists out there name one yourself they probably had perform on one of these rare instruments at some point of their career I know some of them play on modern instruments or maybe not some of the household names like Stradivarius but maybe a viola more Galliano or iguana but they're still very expensive the violin themselves tend to be extremely well taken care of by the artists themselves the Lussier is the foundation or the organization so that really helps keep it in great condition when I have to take it outside and walk around the streets I make sure that that violin is in a very protective case my case is actually made of carbon fiber so it's very strong I make sure to guard it with my life I make sure it's snug I don't let anybody touch it I don't let it out of my sight we also make sure that we bring it into the shop very often to make sure that the sound post is straight to get a cleaning to make sure that there aren't any loose seams to make sure there are any cracks to fix any blemishes that we have might have caused because we are actively playing on it so that's why these rare instruments can really go for five six seven ten sixteen million dollars I think that was what the record was for a violin so currently unknown to me I'm performing on a 17 17 windsor weinstein Stradivarius violin on loan to me from the Canada Council for the Arts musical instrument Bank and if you want to hear what it sounds like in a performance click on one of these two boxes I'm performing on that violin and if you liked this video why don't you subscribe as well and maybe drop me a like comment below follow me on Instagram because I get lonely well until next time thank you for watching you

Channel: Timothy Chooi

Views: 2,656

Rating: 4.9210525 out of 5

Keywords: Violin, Timothy Chooi, Classical, Classical Music, Violonist, how much do violin costs, stradivarius violins, how much do stradivarius violins cost, stradivarius violin price, stradivari, why are violins so expensive, how much do musicians earn, stradivarius violin vs normal, stradivarius violin sound, cheap violin, how to play the violin, violins for beginners, violin viola, violin price, how much do pianos cost, strad violins, history of the violin, how violins are made

Id: 7gECn_wpgO4

Length: 6min 50sec (410 seconds)

Published: Sun May 17 2020