Viola with Vigor

This week I met with Violist Logan Butt, and he granted me access into the life of a violist: no-nonsense, Brahms-loving, heroic, human pincushions. Take a look at the video, where I team up with The Destroyer and we embark on a mission to conquer the quintessential song of a beginning musician. You should also scroll through my interview questions with Logan, and learn why string players should wear eye protection.

Interview

Tashina: How would you describe the sound of the viola? What does the viola provide that the violin or cello can’t?

Logan: Well, the viola is considered to have a very mellow and smooth sound, so in terms of range it is pretty similar to the violin, but it doesn’t have that natural screechiness—or it doesn’t pierce your ears like a violin would. And then compared to the cello, they are very different—they are not really on the same terms when it comes to the sound they produce. The cello is more like the human voice sound, that’s how it’s seen. Whereas the viola is more like an extension of the violin into the lower registers, but it’s more pleasant.

Tashina: How did you first start playing viola?

Logan: In high school, I joined orchestra as the piano player, so I was just going to accompany the orchestra. But then we didn’t have a lot of piano songs, and so my teacher suggested that I learn a string instrument. So she gave me a viola and she started giving me 5-minute lessons at the start of every day. And then I started getting private lessons a little bit later.

Tashina: Were you pleased that she had chosen that you play the viola, or had you preferred something else?

Logan: I had thought about what instruments I wanted to play among the string instruments, and the viola was actually last, because it has a different clef. And so I know treble clef, I know bass clef, so violin… cello… bass wouldn’t be a problem, so I was actually a little disappointed that she picked the viola.

Tashina: Looking back on it now, how do you feel about having the viola forced on you?

Logan: I feel great.

Tashina: Which symphonic composer loves violas the most?

Logan: The first thing that jumped out, especially from my private teacher and other violists I have talked to, is Brahms. He wrote a lot of really good chamber music. He was one of the first guys to write really important viola sonatas. And also viola quintets, which would be two violins, two violas, and a cello. And even some string sextets, which also have two violas. He didn’t write any concertos though. There’s Bartok, who has probably the most famous viola concerto. And so the violas love Bartok. They also like Telemann a lot, but I don’t know of him personally.

Tashina: Which composer gives you the crappiest parts, which composer hates violas?

Logan: The further back you go, the worse the viola parts. Because back then they didn’t care. It was more of a chore or something. Mozart is bad. Bach is bad. They’re all bad back then. But also, it’s kinda the opposite. In general, modern music produces good viola parts. The more modern, the more viola attention. But it is probably more for novelty value than anything. Still, we don’t complain.

Tashina: What I’m scared about when I think about playing with string instruments, is that everyone has a stick that they are flying around... someone is bound to get their eye poked out. So, have you ever witnessed, or yourself personally, been stabbed by a stand partner?

Logan: Oh yeah, many times. It happens a lot.

Tashina: That’s not comforting.

Logan: Yeah, well, clarinets can pass out if they hold their breath too long. We all have things we have to deal with. But usually the guy sitting on left gets stabbed, because he’s the one who gets the bow pointed toward him, and it is angled upward towards his face, so that’s usually a problem. But at the same time, when you hold the viola, you kinda have your right arm up, protecting your face, so if you do get stabbed, you’ll be stabbed in the side or in the arm. Unless you have a measure of rests and they don’t, which would be weird anyway.

Tashina: And what’s the proper reaction if you’re stabbed?

Logan: There is no proper reaction, you just have to live with it. And then offer to sit on the right next time and get him back. But I used to kick my brother when we were playing, if he missed an entrance or something. He used to play violin, and I would play viola, and we were right in the middle, so we were sitting right next to each other. I could kick him if he stabbed me or if he missed an entrance.

Tashina: You and I have spoken before about ‘viola mentality,’ could you elaborate on this?

Logan: Yes, basically the first thing is that in the viola section, we split the people up into two groups: In the first one, they’re the people who aren’t really happy to be there. They just kinda want to blend-in and not do anything. So they see themselves as an overlooked instrument, that doesn’t get any good parts, that’s not important, that’s pretty much an inferior version of the violin... And that’s really common—kinda the default mentality. And the “viola mentality” is what keeps people from ending up like that. It’s the thought that the viola is actually a more important instrument than the others. Which is very true, because the viola gets these parts that, even though they are not very flashy or exciting by themselves, they have a much bigger impact than other overrated things—like melody and stuff. Because we usually get off-beats and we don’t get a lot of melodies. But what we do get are usually the thirds of the chord, or important notes in the middle. And if you have a weak section, then the piece becomes tonally ambiguous at times. So we convince ourselves that that’s why we’re so important—to prevent that. And also, we get a lot of quarter notes and eighth notes, so we’re kinda like the timekeepers. Viola mentality is kinda a no-nonsense attitude. It’s “we’re not like the violins, we don’t squeak, we’re not drama queens, we just do what we need to do, and we’re the heroes of the orchestra, that no one notices.”

Tashina: And you prescribe to that mentality?

Logan: Very much so.

Tashina: What’s worse: a beginning violist or a beginning violinist?

Logan: Being a beginning violinist is much worse. The instruments are pretty much the same, so when it comes to the technical issues when you’re just starting, it’s pretty similar in terms of how you begin and the things that you learn. The only difference is that the violin sounds really bad until it starts to sound good. Whereas the viola—it always sounds like a viola. But the beginning violins… they squeak, they make a lot of terrible noises, they’re at the higher pitches and more intense registers. So if you’re going to be practicing the same thing, you might as well do it on the viola.

Tashina: You are a pianist, what’s going on with piano these days?

Logan: I am in a trio, with you!

Tashina: That’s true.

Logan: And I’m also doing a Shostakovitch quintet. And then at the end of February, I’m performing in the Halversen Concerto concert with the Orchestra of Southern Utah.

Tashina: When is that performance?

Logan: February 24th, at 7:00, in the Heritage Center.

Tashina: I very much look forward to that. I’ve been hearing good things.

Logan: Oh yeah, well, they’re accurate :)