The Curse of the G String

       If you ask someone what the difference between band and orchestra is, they'll probably tell you this: band plays the instruments you blow into and orchestra plays the ones with strings. This, to a certain extent is true, but I'll tel you the real difference, and that's this:

A band player will never know the horror of having their G string snap in front of the entire class, and orchestra players do.

       It doesn't seem like a big deal, and it's not, but just imagine this. You, a teenage female, must proclaim to your entire orchestra, composed partly of teenage boys, and your middle aged male instructor, that your G string, has in fact, snapped. It's a rare occurrence, but for some odd reason, the viola gods have put a curse on me, stating that ONLY my G string will snap, and ONLY at the most inconvenient of times, only enhancing the factor of humiliation. And just in case you don't understand why it's so humiliating, just take a look at the definition.

       I have only ever had a string snap three times in the five years I've played viola, and all three times it has been my G string. Why can't it ever be the C? Or the A? Or the D? Of course, I suppose the D isn't much better. And why is it, that two of those three times, it has happened in class? I stand by the theory of the curse. I mean, it could be because viola music is often very G sting heavy and I'm terrible at fighting the corrosion of my strings, but that's highly unlikely. Since when does poor maintenance result in broken equipment? That's right. Never. I'm cursed.

       The only time my G string has chosen to break with out an audience present, was just today actually. I was practicing the piece “Cannon in D” for a wedding I'm playing this weekend, and suddenly, in the midst of a highly dynamic phrase, it snapped. I was home alone, so I cursed. Loudly. And then begrudgingly dragged myself to the music store to buy a new string, since I had practice that night. I got home with my new G string in hand, only to realize that I had accidentally purchased a C string. Again, this is the work of the curse, NOT my idiocy. I went back to the store, awkwardly purchased and actual G string this time from the same man who sold me the C, and returned home. An hour and thirty dollars later, the problem was solved and it seemed as if I had won against the curse, using the word “won” extremely loosely.

       But, alas, as I walked up the cement steps to enter practice that evening, I tripped and fell. Curse: 4.7. Me: maybe, like, 0.5. I don't know what I did to deserve this, honestly. Besides not changing my strings regularly, mistaking a C for a G, and being generally clumsy and careless, I'm a viola playing saint! But the curse of the G string haunts me still, paying no mind to my good acts.