It’s Not a Joke--She Loves the Viola

I wish to respond to the article “Musicians Take Jabs With Nary a Sour Note” (Laugh Lines, Life & Style, May 18). I am a violist, and I am very, very tired of viola jokes . Writer Tom Hensley chooses to report these as his first examples of “musician jokes,” and later he asks why musician jokes are acceptable when ethnic jokes are not, adding: “Are violists less a community than Polish Americans?”

As vice president of the American Viola Society (720 members), I can tell you that we are a community, we have international congresses each year, and we publish a journal.

Why play the viola? Why not the violin, where the student can become a star with an enormous solo repertoire? Why not play a wind or brass instrument? What about the percussion instruments?

We who chose the viola know that it was for the sound, the distinctive, beautiful, mellow quality that only a viola can produce. Most of us started on the violin, and soon learned that its often piercing, sometimes strident quality left us edgy and unsatisfied. Some of us tried other instruments as well--the piano, for example, and found its mechanistic response not human enough. In fact, the viola is our voice. The only voice we will ever need to express ourselves.

The sound of the viola has been variously described as dark, woody, autumnal. Yes, it is all of these, and sometimes sorrowful, melancholy. But it can also be joyful, playful and lighthearted. A violist can express a multitude of emotions through the instrument: calm and repose as well as anxiety and excitement. Our range is wide, we can enjoy the higher tessituras; but there is nothing as satisfying in this world as a resounding open C!

The vibrations of the C string go right up through the jaw into the head, and the entire skull resonates with this note. It is at this moment that the violist experiences the most instantaneous knowledge of selfhood, of personal validation.

A few years ago, I played an outdoor chamber music concert, and just before the beginning of the concert, a bee flew into my viola. It was buzzing around inside. What to do? I grabbed the bow and played the loudest open C I could muster. In a few seconds, the buzzing stopped, and I shook the insect out of the body of the viola. The vibrations had stunned it into submission. Need I say more?

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A violist knows the physical effort necessary to produce music. The instrument is bigger and heavier than the violin, and requires considerably more effort to play. Violists know about fatigue, about sore fingers and tired muscles. A sports medicine consultant will tell you that repetitive motions are the most difficult for the human body to sustain, and the most injurious. Look at the viola part in any ensemble composition, what do you see? Repetitive motions. Finger placement and stretching are more demanding than on the violin because of the greater distance between the notes. Applied bow pressure and weight are also more effortful.

What about the role of the violist in the musical kingdom? It is true that we seldom have a chance to star, but for most of us the supporting role feels right. We understand the responsibility of making the violinist and cellist look good in the chamber music ensemble by giving them the most support possible. When playing the accompanying musical figures, we know how to accommodate: when to play forte and when to hold back, when to push the tempo and when to hold steady. We listen! We know the inner parts and how, without them, there would be almost no music at all.

Perhaps the violist’s greatest attribute is commitment. We are committed to music and to the viola in particular. Over the years we constantly seek new repertoire, and ask composers to write something special for us. We discuss repertoire among ourselves all the time, and trade music. A new recording by a violist is an event.

However, it is not always easy to be a violist--sometimes we take harassment from others, and much of the time we are ignored and our importance goes unrecognized. But we love the viola fervently and cannot imagine playing any other musical instrument.