Understanding Humidity and Stringed Instruments

Atmospheric water - humidity - changes the size and weight of wood in violins, cellos and other stringed instruments. But it can be managed.

Perhaps Vivaldi understood both the beauties and curses of nature. Arguably the composer’s most popular composition, “The Four Seasons” (Le Quattro Stagioni), celebrates the changes from spring through summer, fall and winter. But he also might have known how changes in weather can subtly torture fine cellos, violins, basses, and all other wooden-stringed instruments.

That’s because all of those instruments are forged from an organic product, wood, that is affected by humidity. The violin that plays well outside on a hot, sultry summer night will need care and adjustment if moved inside to a dehumidified space (such as a concert hall) or transported to a dry, cooler climate a day or two later. Humidity changes are the enemy of stringed instruments.

The scientific explanation of this is in equilibrium moisture content (EMC), which is the balance between water bonded within the wood of the instrument itself and water in the air. That moisture in the wood, when newly introduced (e.g., when the violin travels from dry, coastal California by airplane to a humid Georgia in summer), will have several effects on the instrument and how it plays:

Expansion (humid air) and contraction (dry air) of all pieces of wood. The effects of shrunk (when dry) or swollen (when wet) wood: There are many things that can go wrong, which are the symptoms that can alert you to what the problem is. They include: Tightening or loosening of the strings, slipping/sticking pegs, open seams or cracks, buzzing/nasal/muted sounds, when the bow skates across the strings, a decreased response or projection of sound, or a change in the neck projection.

Weight increases. The sound of a stringed instrument changes because the wood is denser with moisture in humid conditions. What one buys in a violin maker’s shop does indeed change as soon as it travels somewhere.

The bigger the instrument, the bigger the effects. Because it is made of more wood, a bass or a cello will experience greater effects from changes in humidity/moisture than a violin.

Ideally, you would treat your violin the way museums treat great physical works of art. You would always maintain a set degree of humidity and temperatures. Unfortunately, musical performances and musicians exist in a bigger world; therefore the stringed instruments must find a way to travel to the ends of the earth.

This is why a few active measures by the musician might be undertaken. They include measuring the relative humidity of an environment with a tool called a hygrometer. But just measuring it is step 1. More importantly, you can control humidity by several means: run a humidifier (if it is too dry) or a dehumidifier (if it is too wet) in the space where you will be playing. For traveling, a humidifying Dampit might work (particularly useful in winter, when artificial heating systems are drying). But ideally, the violin will adjust to the local humidity - and the musician will adjust the instrument strings accordingly - when in a new environment for two or three days.

To gain a bit more insight into protecting an instrument from environment, a visit to a local violin shop should do the trick. A local violinmaker would stock proper cases, dampits and humidifiers among the accessories they stock.

Vivaldi may not have had the modern tools for reading humidity, nor did he have airplane travel to hasten the atmospheric changes. But he certainly appreciated the graduations in temperature and humidity over the course of four seasons that allow us to adapt more easily to Nature’s whims.

The Benefits to Children Who Learn String Instruments

Music study can lead to a rewarding career. But simply learning how to play a violin (or tuba or oboe) can positively affect development in many ways.

We go to a concert hall and see virtuoso musicians performing some of the most adored musical compositions on some of the finest violins and cellos and pianos ever made. It is difficult to imagine that at one point, these violinists and pianists - and flautists and bassists - were once novice players, taking lessons as children, and setting the timer to assure at least one hour of practice per day. But that’s how a great number of performers begin.

A considerable body of research has developed in recent decades on the cognitive, physical, and social benefits of childhood music education. Some of those benefits accrue from any musical instrument study, and some specifically come from learning to play a stringed instrument such as a violin, cello, bass, harp, or viola.

One of the leaders in this research and reporting is Chris Boyd Brewer, whose 1995 book Music and Learning continues to be a reference source on the power of childhood music lessons. She quotes Beethoven: “Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks, and invents.”

Indeed, it contributes to an understanding of math - those notes on a page that represent beat, rhythm, and scales are a lesson in division, fractions, and patterns. It also contributes to an understanding of physics: the interaction of bows and strings involves friction and vibrations in a range of degrees. One need not be a violinmaker to understand these physical properties; the musician understands them from study and practice.

Musical training helps in all kinds of mental and even social development as well. How so? Brewer lists 16 benefits, including the following:

Change brain wave states - Research from the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto shows that fine movements made to create a sound, done with an unfamiliar instrument (a Tibetan singing bowl) created audio-induced brain waves that improved connectivity between auditory and sensorimotor areas of the brain. (Producing the same sound in this study from simply pressing computer keys didn’t have the same effect on brain waves.)

Focus concentration - Brewer says that mental, physical, and emotional rhythms are stabilized by music. “Baroque music - such as that composed by Bach, Handel, or Telemann, - that is 50 to 80 beats per minute creates an atmosphere of focus that leads students into deep concentration.”

Increase a multisensory learning experience - She calls this “whole brain learning,” and she sees benefits in what she calls “Active Concert” and “Passive Concert” modes. The Active version is of course what the player experiences, but even the Passive mode, listening to music while studying something else, increases information absorption.

Community building - By another description this is about the interaction of players - a band, ensemble, or orchestra - which involves the shared goals of a community that requires cooperation. They might compete, they might learn from each other, but importantly, they share a goal of creating the sound that an individual cannot create on his or her own.

Other benefits, noted by other educators, include having an enhanced application for colleges (in a competitive world, the musician has a leg up over the non-musician), better emotional health (music lowers levels of depression and anxiety), and a strong development of social skills (a music student is more likely to form friends when in a group than not in a group).

But consider the posture of the violinist relative to the kid hunched over a computer or in the permanent couch-potato slump of watching television. Indeed, the violinist learns to both sit and stand for practicing and performing, a physical advantage not typically associated with music study. Every instrument requires a certain posture for proper playing, but the violinist is very often the star of the show - and needs to look like it.