KUSC’s Alan Chapman has a lot to say about music, but can he say it in 60 seconds? That’s the Chapman Challenge. We ask a question and Alan has a minute to answer it.
Today’s question is from George in Santa Monica who wants to know what happens when a violinist breaks a string.
Hit play below to listen to this week’s Chapman Challenge on Arts Alive.
If you’re talking about a violin soloist playing a concerto, it depends on when the string breaks. If it’s at the beginning of the piece, the soloist might simply replace the string then and there. But if the concerto is in progress, the concertmaster might hand the soloist his or her instrument.
About twenty-five years ago there was a newspaper article about the great Itzhak Perlman, claiming that while playing a concerto in New York he broke a string right after the beginning of the piece. The article says that he signaled the conductor to begin again, that he played the work on just three strings, that you could see him (and I quote) “modulating, changing, recomposing the piece in his head”.
The story seems highly unlikely.
Now if you’re a member of a string section in the orchestra, you can simply replace your broken string since others in the section are playing the same part. And that can be accomplished rather quickly. A Berlin Philharmonic cellist is reported to have replaced a string, wound it around the tuning peg, and tuned it in 29.1 seconds.
That’s today’s Chapman Challenge. Is there a question you’d like to have answered in 60 seconds? Send it to us at [email protected]
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Alan Chapman
Alan Chapman, in addition to his weekday morning program, is also the host and producer of two weekend programs: Modern Times and A Musical Offering.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Yale University. He is currently a member of the music theory faculty of the Colburn Conservatory. He was a longtime member of the music faculty at Occidental College and has also been a visiting professor at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. His analytical work has appeared in the Journal of Music Theory and in The New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill, winner of the Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing on music.
Well known as a pre-concert lecturer, Alan has been a regular speaker on the L.A. Philharmonic's "Upbeat Live" series since its inception in 1984. He also works closely with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Pacific Symphony. His lectures have been presented by virtually every major performing organization in southern California. He has been heard globally as programmer and host of the inflight classical channel on Delta Airlines.
Alan is also active as a composer/lyricist. His songs have been performed and recorded by many artists around the world and have been honored by ASCAP, the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and the Manhattan Association of Cabarets. His children's opera Les Moose: The Operatic Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was commissioned by LA Opera for its 1997-98 season. Alan frequently appears in cabaret evenings with his wife, soprano Karen Benjamin. They made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2000 and performed at Lincoln Center in 2006. Their recent CD, Que Será, Será: The Songs of Livingston and Evans, features the late Ray Evans telling the stories behind such beloved songs as "Mona Lisa" and "Silver Bells."
