More bows and classical guitar

I tried out more bows today, during some free time I found while working at the shop. I'm trying less expensive bows, as I feel I am not advanced enough to make adequate use of the more expensive bows I was trying earlier, especially after listening to that dreadful recording I made of myself. Still, the ones I tried were around $1,000, about the same price as the refrigerator we are contemplating.

How can you compare these two things for $1,000: a bow and a refrigerator?! And my daughter is on the verge of buying her first used car at $600.

Then a young woman came in, wanting to learn to play an instrument. She once had a guitar, but gave it to a friend because the friend played it better than she did. She had recently returned from Colombia, where she had worked in an orphanage. A friend there played classical guitar. I showed her a violin and helped her play a few notes. The shop manager played classical guitar for her, coincidentally the very song her friend had played for her. In the end, she bought a classical guitar for $199 and a case for $39.

I looked at the $1,000 bow, and thought: wow, 4 classical guitars. With cases. And frets.

Bows and memory

Still trying out new bows and still struggling with memory. Last night, after about an hour and a half of practicing, mostly unsuccessfully trying to memorize a couple of pieces, I was putting away my cello, and suddenly realized that I should try comparing my inexpensive "loaner bow" (my regular bow is in for repairs) to the more expensive bows. With the loaner bow I was easily able to play both pieces from memory. I love this loaner bow (what the shop calls a "better rental bow," a wooden bow that is provided with the higher quality cello rentals).

My teacher says a bow cannot improve memory, that I played better with the inexpensive bow because I had just been practicing for an hour and a half, or that, with the loaner bow, I wasn't putting 90 percent of my energies into listening, but rather reserving some of my energies for memory. Could be. But I plan to buy the loaner and use as a backup bow. It has a nice loud, resonant sound. The more expensive bow is capable of a clearer tone, but I think the loaner bow will be great for fiddling: loud is good, in a sea of fiddles and banjos, and inexpensive is good, when you are playing outside.

I am going to keep trying out bows. I liked one of the three, but am not ready to make a decision yet.