Essentially do you have to warm up stringed instruments??
Because, you can warm your fingers up etc.... and get them moving.
But by actually playing, do you warm up your instrument - e.g violin?
My theory is that the vibrations of the string warm up the instrument, and warm the air in the body of the violin, and makes it easier for the sound to travel through.
I find that my violin does sound better once i've played on it for about 1 or 2 hours... And was just curious as to why?

(Attaches physics head to shoulders)The temperature increase from the strings vibrating would amount to millikelvin. If temperature rise was greater than that then the strings, bridge and instrument would continue heating until you could feel infra-red radiation (heat) coming off of it.

The temperature within the body of the instrument will be at ambient to surroundings, give or take 0.5 C, given that the instrument is in close proximity of your body.

The real reason your instrument sounds better after you've played it for some time is that you've 'warmed up' - arms, hands and ears - and are therefore physically more in-tune (for want of a better phrase) with the violin, as opposed to the instrument warming up. The longer you play the better your hands respond, the more flexible they feel and the better contact you are feeling with the bow on the strings.

For reasons which are not fully understood, string instruments do however benefit from regular playing. Instruments left lying in a case for several years lack an openess of tone when first played.

I do find that if pupils arrive with a violin that is cold (possibly from having been in the boot of mum/dad's car for most of the day) that the sound is never as good as a room temperature instrument. I've often wondered if this is something to do with the actual physical coldness (eg strings and/or wood being colder therefore more inert therefore not vibrating as freely) or just the natural and human response of a player touching and having to play something cold?

I always feel sorry for my violin if it gets stuck out in the cold. Sudden extremes of temperature doesn't do any instrument any good and in an ideal world it should be left in the case with the lid shut, until the case has reached the ambient temperature of the room. Clearly this is impractical in most instances, but it's worth remembering should you have the time to allow proper aclimatisation. Repeated thermal shocks are often the cause of cracks in wood and other maladies that musical instruments suffer.

Try explaining that one to busy parents running around after a few kids...

I've tried the 'shrinking glue leading to cracks leading to repair bills' in both hot and cold weather but the message doesn't always sink in.

Any suggestions?

This may sound odd, but I always find that if (after I've tuned up) I play the open strings very loudly and vigorously, it makes a better sound afterwards. It feels to me as if it gets the bow and strings sort of introduced to each other, ready to make the nicest sound they can together

When I take my violin out of its case it never seems to make a very pleasant sound straight away, but I have no idea whether this is to do with me or the instrument needing to "warm up". Probably me

Yes, it is you

Seriously, it really is the player that needs the warming up, not the instrument. It takes a while for you to physically and mentally adjust and really immerse yourself in what you are doing. Regaining the touch and sensitivity.

If you played for six hours everyday you'd find it less of an issue.... not that I'm suggesting that's what people should do.

Hi, I wish I had more time for forums as there is some really interesting stuff on here. I hope this story interests you as it might be food for thought if you are convinced instruments are inanimate objects. I 've just had a luthier make me a classical guitar modelled on Segovia's '37 Hauser. The top is spruce and the back and sides are indian rosewood, very traditional really but a real quality instrument, I've called her 'Fidelina'. I took delivery two days before Xmas having previously played three of the luthier's guitars in summer and then placed an order. For the first two days the basses were as I remember but the trebles didn't sustain well and they sounded weak. I had been told to expect this. I played pretty much 12 hours a day for two days! I have no responsibilities, family etc. and no pupils because it was Xmas. On the third day the guitar had overnight become a different instrument , the tebles had started to 'open up' as we guitarists say. Then on the fifth day there was a similar improvement, then again after two weeks. For the first two months the guitar has gradually become louder overall. The trebles are still improving and I am reliably informed new spruce guitars 'open up' for the first two years.
I think it was Sharon Isbin who said a new guitar needs to be taught it is no longer a tree! I know what she means, over the last week or so the sun has been shining and the temperature overall has crept up, again my guitar responded. My 'theory' on all this is that the cells in the wood are somehow minutely altered by vibration and temperature, you will probably laugh but I think there is something in this. Perhaps different instruments respond differently too. The sounboard of a concert guitar is quite large and thin, very responsive in fact, whereas a violin's soundboard is tiny in comparison. Anyway I just wanted to share that it's 2.30 AM and I'm off to bed!

I think this makes a clear case for the fact that new instruments need to be played in, which is something entirely different to what people have described as warming up an older well-played-in instrument.

An example here is that I do know of string players who seem to be able to take a violin (for example) from its case and blast straight into a violin concerto, with the instrument sounding just as good at that moment as it will when they go onto the platform to perform the work. They themselves (the player) don't need to warm up either.

The majority of players do need at least 15 minutes to 'warm up their own act', so to speak. I was certainly hopeless at music college if I had to go straight into a lesson without having managed to warm up my own playing first. I certainly wouldn't have had the cheek to blame the violin and say that the instrument needed warming up, because there were other students who could sound great from the moment the bow first touched the strings.

On a string instrument that has already received plenty of years of playing in (maybe even several hundred!!) and is still played regularly, it is the player who needs the warming up, not the instrument.

Yes, it's logical to assume there is a big difference between old instruments and new ones and I agree with all you say about getting warmed up for most players and then feeling 'at one ' with the instrument. The oldest instrument I have owned was only thirty years old so so I have no personal experience of living with an older instrument so sorry if I'm a little off topic. I only need a few bars to warm up generally but I find the guitar is behing me in producing its best tone. I'd be hard pushed to say whether it was me that warms to the task or the guitar becomes more responsive though as I play more. A hard thing to prove either way.

For sure I know that when I take my violin from the case it is me who needs the warm up. My violin is (if you'll pardon the pun) as fit as a fiddle and needs no introduction to the fact that it is going to be played.

The violin is ready at all times, it's me who isn't.

People are always ready to blame their first few (sour) notes of the day on the fact that the instrument hasn't warmed up. Bad workmen always blame their tools.

The exception is wind instruments, they really do need to aclimatise to the increased temperature and humidity from the players breath.