Music Sensations

Electric violins have come down in price, at least a little. Without mortgaging the house, you can get one of your own. Once the toy of rich professional musicians, the new wave of electrified strings is ready for prime time. Lots of colors and styles are available. There is likely one for you.

While the professional symphony has yet to embrace the electronic age, blue grass and jazz have taken to the electrified stringed instrument with glee. Finally the favored few stringed players can be amplified and heard over at outdoor venues and in concert with other, louder instruments.

Innovation has not stopped with mere electrification. The shapes of the new violins has more the look of modern sculpture than carved wood. The new composite materials have made the instrument nearly indestructible which is a boon for all who travel. You can find them made of Lucite and therefore clear as glass.

Since violins have moved into the world of jazz and bluegrass as well as world music, they have had greater acceptance than in the past. The classical orchestra is slow to incorporate them, but soloists have made inroads in that direction.

Parents of new string players everywhere will appreciate one particular feature of electric strings. They can be silent. Plug the output into the headphones and junior hears his every note and you hear nothing at all. True bliss.

Durability, flexibility in form and color and style are some points to consider when thinking of a new violin or cello. Still, abandoning the acoustic and heading for the amplifier may not be for everyone. At least, not yet.

Weighing the pros and cons is a job best left to the consumer and his pocketbook or perhaps his sense of tradition. But make no mistake, you will be seeing more electric violins than ever before and one of them might just be yours.