Perils of String Playing

Being a string teacher, I have seen it all, or so I thought. In concerts I have seen bows break while a student was playing (she bravely muddled on), I actually dropped a violin and broke it while tuning it for the concert, I saw a bridge snap while a child was playing.

Last night, at our Winter concert, one of my beginning viola players came to me with his bridge which had fallen out. I put it back in, but probably not as carefully as I should have. While we were playing Jingle Bells, I heard a pop and knew that the bridge had come out. I looked at my player and mouthed for him to just keep playing. He did. After we were finished, I told him that I would put the bridge back in at the end of the concert, but he said that the bridge had actually fallen INSIDE the viola! Amazing! It had to turn 90 degrees to do that, and it did.

I worked on it for 15 minutes later at home, then Hal managed to get it out after about 10 minutes, and I was able to put it back in, with a lot more care this time. I took it to him at school today, and he was amazed that it was fixed. I know he'll be practicing over break. He's just that kind of kid.