Or no strings background, I'm not too picky.
I'm working on a scene and I need to confirm that it's understandable from an outside perspective, you see my baby Damien plays violin, I play viola, for the matter I'm covering there really isn't a big difference. I need to make sure that my explanation of the issues with the violin are understandable to people who aren't familiar with them. So without further ado, here's my little snippet I just need to know if the way this is explained makes sense:
He takes a violin from a shelf and brushes away dust, “I must say a song isn't an offer I've gotten before. I'm curious to know it's worth.”
It may be the most pathetic instrument I've ever seen, varnish dull and scratched, bow almost devoid of hairs, strings starting to rust, one gone completely. I take it gently, tune the three strings and pray they won't snap. I tighten the bow as best I dare, though it crackles a complaint no bow in good condition would.
West steps back as I bring the violin to my shoulder, “If I um if I do this you ah you swear you’ll tell us everything you know about the um the cambion killings?”
Samael sits on his counter and crosses his heart, “Death is fair child, if nothing else death is fair.”
I can’t say I agree, but I have his word and that is the best I can hope for. I put the sad little bow to the string and start to play.
The violin is an instrument that thrives on technique, a little vibrato turns a boring piece into something beautiful, some shifting can make up for a missing string, a finger laid a millimeter too high or too low can completely change a note. Technique I can manage, but the string isn’t the only thing missing on this violin; there’s no shoulder rest. Without the shoulder rest I have to work harder to keep the violin on the right place with my shoulder and chin, which puts me in an awkward position where I can’t easily move my hand down the neck of the instrument to change positions, and my wrist ends up bent against the instrument without any space for the extra flourish that creates the richer sound of a vibrato note. Between the missing shoulder rest and having only three of the four strings I don’t have the full range of the instrument to work with, which essentially makes me musically crippled.