My new violin outfit

For quite a while now, my old violin has been going downhill.  It was my first student violin and it was time to upgrade.  My bridge was bent at a dangerous angle, and I wasn't getting the response I wanted in the tone and sound.  So Dad and I began to search for another violin that I could grow with and play for years to come.  I had already played a half dozen or so nice instruments, so I had a good idea of what I wanted.  We decided to do a trial period with a couple violins, and decided to go with Kennedy Violins, where they have trials for two weeks or more for a good price.  

Then it came down to which two violins we would take on trial. After a few days, we decided to take the Nicholas Gand and the Anton Gerard, both very nice instruments.  Once ordered, it was only two days before they arrived!  The long and short of it is this: I took a couple days to play both violins, and took them to our orchestra conductor to get his opinion.  In the end I chose the Anton Gerard to be my new violin!  I am very, very excited and inspired to continue in my music with this new instrument.  

Here are some photos I took of my lovely violin this morning.  The living room had the best light, so I had to prop the violin on the couch.  It is even prettier than the pictures...

Violin, meet blog readers.  Blog readers, meet violin.

Bad angle, I know, but the neck is so pretty that I had to capture it...

The back is SO cool!!

I'm a very happy girl. :)  Thank you Dad!!!