We know the Stradivarius is the king of violins. The best in its family of hundreds are the tens or twenties with perfect tonality.
However that unique quality degrades unless the violin is taken out regularly from its case and played. As though it is alive.
To make one, Stradivari bought wood from the Apennines that had floated down the river. He bought it wet. That opened its pores. Then he soaked it for years in his secret solution. No one has been able to deduce the right combination of the sea salt, borax, fruit gum, quartz and ground venetian glass used. The sea salt acted as a base for the borax to tighten the wood, the ground quartz and glass prevented it from being eaten by woodworms and the fruit gum worked as a fungicide.
But there was another secret. It was the special varnish he had used. That varnish might appear to the naked eye to be smooth but under a high-powered microscope, it has millions and millions of tiny cracks. It is these cracks which absorb the harsh vibrations and dampen the resonances so that only the most perfect of tones could come out.
Even if one destroys a Stradivarius to analyze its combination, we still cannot replicate another Stradivarius. The wood was unique to its age and blending. So was the master's touch.
Each of us is a stradivarius in the making. When we are born to our particular grain of wood, we are already special in its pattern. As we get fortified by nutrition, learning, experience and worldview, our strength and timbre grow.
But we must each of us face up bravely to our own parcel of harshness from life that will surely come to everyone. How much of the perfect tonality we add to the store of humanity will ultimately depend on how well we can absorb the harshness that comes with living.
Some argue that if we detach ourselves completely, then we can damnpen that harshness and quicken our achievement of perfect tonality. But in the very process of doing so, we may find that we will also be losing something special that defines our individual uniqueness.
A Stradivarius is a stradivarius only because it has to overcome the imperfections of nature, nurture and life. How one overcomes pain and sorrow helps to define how one learns about life enough to coast from today into tomorrow. And then, perhaps, gain an insight into that something.
Indeed there will always be a sense of emptiness in the end. Let us accept it as the lot of mankind. For that matter, other species of the living kingdom.
But let me guess you would also have gained conviction that something special has to exist despite such a sad situation for all. That something special has been deposited inside each of us. It is the perfect tonality that reaches to come out because it wants to create heavenly music despite all the challenges hurled across our paths. Like a lark learning how to sing its first and last song.
Stradivari, the maker of fine violins, made them to live but only when played. If even a violin can be alive, so too must we. We too must play the game of life. If only to contribute to the collective sound that will soothe this tired world.
- Written by Walla in response to my post HERE -
