I have long thought about building a lira da braccio, an instrument that served as a transition to the violin from medieval and Arabic instruments.
Opus 812, Lira da Braccio “Linarol”
Matching Fiddles with Players
The Northern Roots Festival is a one-day hometown event in Brattleboro, Vermont every January. Local traditional musicians and some from out of town gather for performances, workshops and sessions, with a sold-out evening concert. It’s produced by the Brattleboro Music…
Viola Pomposa
About this instrument The violin family tree has many branches, some short and stubby like the 6-string Arpeggione, for which Schubert wrote his famous sonata now played by cellists. Another early branch was the Viola Pomposa, or five-string viola. J.S.…
#802 A&H Amati Violin
The violin that caught my attention was an A & H Amati grand pattern instrument. Its simple elegance and refined taste made me feel at home with it, and the one-piece slab back was just like a batch of wood I cut in 1983.
Vermont’s Working Landscape
The experience and evolution of Vermont’s Working Landscape has been in my thinking recently, particularly as our communities work on issues of solar arrays, wind towers and discuss zoning for views and landscaping. In my personal life I struggle with…
#777 Gaspar da Salò Violin
This violin started with the back wood. David Meyer, a colleague of mine, showed me a beautiful piece of curly basswood that had been cut near his studio north of Mt Mansfield. A woodcutter who was interested in how it would work for fiddles had given it to him and David was not getting to working it.