Airs and Graces performances always take time to feature each instrument separately so that the audience may experience, in detail, the unique qualities that are characteristic of these period instruments.

Greer writes, "I have a very special instrument. It is a copy of a 1755 Cahusac British flute built of IVORY by Rod Cameron in 1986. The ivory is from an elephant killed while poaching on farm land in South Africa. This flute is not possible to buy new anymore since the ivory embargo. I play this instrument with much reverence and thanksgiving to the animal that bore this beautiful tusk of ivory. If my bones would sound so wonderful as this ivory flute does, then may everyone of them be used for music after I am no longer. I feel tremendously blessed to be able to share this instrument with the music of the masters and the wonderful musicians with which I perform and especially with the audiences that Airs and Graces is so fortunate to have."

Katherine Button's violin was patterned after Stradivarius and was made about 1850 by an anonymous German violin maker. It was "baroqued" by John Pringle, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1984. Her baroque bow was made by Daniel Latour, Paris, in 1982.

The main difference between the baroque violin and one played in modern orchestras is probably that there is less tension on the strings of the baroque violin. The neck of a baroque violin is set at a straighter angle to the body than a modern violin's, and baroque players tune to a lower pitch (A=415 rather than A=440, or about one half step lower). Modern strings are gut or synthetic string wound (wrapped) with metal, producing a loud, brilliant sound. Strings of the Baroque period were made of plain gut, producing a softer, sweeter sound.

The bow also makes a tremendous difference, and is more obviously different than the modern bow. The "modern bow" was developed to play the more sustained, lush sounds of the Romantic period -- composers like Brahms and Tschaikowsky. It curves inward toward the hair and is heavier and longer than the baroque bow. It also uses a wider strip of hair. The baroque bow curves outward and is lighter and shorter. Yes, there is a "Classical" or "transitional" bow used in the Classical period for composers like Haydn and Mozart. As you might imagine, it is slightly heavier and longer than the baroque bow and begins to curve inward.

The bow maker, Daniel Latour writes:

"The bow is a copy of the model '1468 - Museum of Bruxelles'. It is a French, anonymous model of bow : at that time the bow makers did not sign their bows. I believe that it was most probably made mid- 18TH. I, for myself, think that it was made in 'Mirecourt', the famous french town, by TOURTE senior."