How much different is it to play in the Baroque style versus playing on a modern violin?
LaMotte: It’s totally different. A lot of it is the difficulty in holding the instrument. With the modern violin, the chin holds the instrument so that the left hand can be free. With Baroque violin it’s almost the opposite, because the left hand is ninety percent of how you hold it. There’s a certain lightness that you get used to, and you have to use balance to your advantage. The hand is never free on a Baroque fiddle. I see that as an advantage, because you become much more attuned to the violin. You move with it and the bow moves with the instrument. It’s very organic. So Baroque violins use gut strings. Where do you get them? LaMotte: I get mine from Damian Dlugolecki, who is an internationally known maker of guts strings, and he happens to live in Troutdale. How long do they last? Do you have to keep them in the freezer before they decompose! LaMotte: No you don’t have to keep them in the freezer? They are cured, and they will last a while, but it depends on how much you sweat t
