Optimal Tone

Just as every vessel has its specific capacity and every body its specific weight, so too does every string instrument possess a maximum fullness of sound that we may draw fully from it through proper handling, and without forcing. This is the optimal tone. Producing it depends less on highly developed muscular strength than on correctly fulfilling static and dynamic requirements (i.e. bow grip and the appropriate application of force).

A skilled player of normal physique can produce optimal tone on a properly set-up cello without much effort. If the tones of two players on the same instrument are different, then the one who achieved the greater volume used more suitable means than the other!

Just as some people are good at sports and others are not, we can distinguish between those who play with a good tone and those who do not. The former are players who can play with a certain “tonal imagination” (audiation^[1]), in whom the movements necessary for ideal tone production combine effortlessly into a unified sequence; they find it easier than others to produce an optimal tone.

However, the expressive possibilities of sound behave differently. Here, the individuality of the player comes into play.

With our current clear understanding of how mechanics work, we can confidently counter a medieval notion that metaphysical influences have anything to do with tone production. Mechanical perfection can be taught, but not so the creative intellectual principle.