As most of you know by now, 2013 is going to be full of many exciting things for me. Lot's of traveling, adventures, playing good music, being with good people.
2012 has been fine. A huge upgrade from 2011, for sure, but 2012 has been full of just waiting. Half killing time, half keeping as busy as possible, all while counting down to things that are not going to arrive for several months still. So here's what's on the horizon:
Official Countdowns:
25 days until my beautiful Nicole gets married! I'm a bridesmaid. (Nashville)
60 days (two months from today!!) until I fly to England and hop on a ship for a couple weeks!
(England, Paris, Cherbourg, Ponta Delgada, transatlantic, Ft. Lauderdale, San Juan, St. Thomas, Antilles, St. Kitts) Don't worry, I'll post pictures.
119 days until Christmas! (I'm throwing this one into the countdown list because when I was little I would start counting the days til christmas, sometimes as early as august - christmastime is my favorite!)
123 days until my Sarah gets married. I'm the maid of honor! (Fairhope, Alabama)
197 days until my 25th birthday. A quarter of a century is a pretty big deal, right? I'm not at all where I thought I'd be at 25, but I'm definitely not complaining. This is better than I expected.
203 days - this news isnt public yet, so I don't want to post it. But just know that it's big.
207 days until my baby brother gets married... and I'm a bridesmaid in that one, too. (Annapolis)
223 days - Life changes completely! New adventures.
8.27.2012
8.06.2012
Take your Blog to Work Day
Let's talk about what I do for a living. Whenever people ask me what I do, I always hesitate for a second because I don't know what to say first. The most concise explanation I usually answer with is, "I play the violin and I fix them." ("and I teach violin and I make bows and I travel a lot and I do whatever else I can to pay my bills") People are usually/always boggled when they find out that I am a luthier. The fact that something like that exists as a career is such a funny small corner of music, people just don't think of it.
But, that's what I do. And it's pretty fun. It has its ups and downs, like any job.
The biggest part of my job is rehairing bows. I usually compare it to getting your oil changed in your car. It has to be done every few months (or years, depending on how frequently you play). I think there's an official number of playing hours on horse hair, but it's really up to the player if they feel that they need some new hair. Or every 10 months. Whichever comes first.
FAQ:
So it's actually real horsehair?
Yes. They have not come up with anything that is better than the real thing. The best hair is off of living horses, it apparently makes a huge difference. My shop gets the best hair that is available! (and you might be surprised at how much it costs, but think of all the sorting that has to be done to get a whole pound of good hair with no kinks or blemishes or bugs)
Where do you even go to learn something like this?
I started out at the Minnesota State College Southeast Technical String Instrument Repair Program, which is where I learned to rehair, but there wasn't much focus on bow repairs, and I knew I was coming back to a job being a bow luthier, so for further study I went to the bow repair workshop with Lynn Hannings and George Rubino, and later studied bowmaking with Lynn.
And you actually make a living doing this?
Well, I also teach violin, which is really helpful, and I gig around town doing weddings and playing with bands and other stuff. So between everything, I usually get my bills paid. :)
Doing the same thing over and over, don't you get bored?
Yes. Actually, rehairs are a funny thing, and not many luthiers like to do them. It's a bad combination of hard to do, easy to mess up, and very repetitive. So once you're good at them, it's no big deal, but I have to say after 400 or so, you start to want to do other things with your life.
The biggest part of my job is rehairing bows. I usually compare it to getting your oil changed in your car. It has to be done every few months (or years, depending on how frequently you play). I think there's an official number of playing hours on horse hair, but it's really up to the player if they feel that they need some new hair. Or every 10 months. Whichever comes first.
FAQ:
So it's actually real horsehair?
Yes. They have not come up with anything that is better than the real thing. The best hair is off of living horses, it apparently makes a huge difference. My shop gets the best hair that is available! (and you might be surprised at how much it costs, but think of all the sorting that has to be done to get a whole pound of good hair with no kinks or blemishes or bugs)
Where do you even go to learn something like this?
I started out at the Minnesota State College Southeast Technical String Instrument Repair Program, which is where I learned to rehair, but there wasn't much focus on bow repairs, and I knew I was coming back to a job being a bow luthier, so for further study I went to the bow repair workshop with Lynn Hannings and George Rubino, and later studied bowmaking with Lynn.
And you actually make a living doing this?
Well, I also teach violin, which is really helpful, and I gig around town doing weddings and playing with bands and other stuff. So between everything, I usually get my bills paid. :)
Doing the same thing over and over, don't you get bored?
Yes. Actually, rehairs are a funny thing, and not many luthiers like to do them. It's a bad combination of hard to do, easy to mess up, and very repetitive. So once you're good at them, it's no big deal, but I have to say after 400 or so, you start to want to do other things with your life.
8.01.2012
end of blogging haitus
I'm back in Nashville after a month of rambling.
I ain't never gonna change, I've got a gypsy soul to blame and I was born for leaving.
I like to do a grand New England tour at least once a year to see as many friends and family as I can in one trip, but the point of this trip was to go study bowmaking up in New Hampshire. It was my third time at this particular workshop (last year for bow repair) I made one violin bow. It turned out well enough, for learning in five days what is a four year program in France. I could do better, and I will, on future bows. Fortunately, plenty went wrong on my first one, so I learned a lot of what not to do next time, or at least how to fix many different things that go wrong. It was a very informative and fun week! And I got a whole slew of new tools to play with.
On our way south after New Hampshire, we stopped in Boston for a night to visit one of my dearest friends. I wish we'd had time to stay longer, since I love Boston a lot. It's one of my favorite cities, which I don't say lightly, because I am very persnickety about some cities, and I would totally live in Boston someday if I could ever afford to.
I had ten whole days in Maryland to catch up with everyone. It was so much fun! I spent time with my family, we went to the beach, got my usual sunburn and then our usual family go-karting, where I won (as usual), then walked down the ocean city boardwalk to the kite store, stopping for greasy pizza on the way, as usual. I met my new nephew (or newphew, if you will), I went to some great live music (Cole Cash, and the NSO Zelda concert), played some great music with my fabulous string trio, caught up with some friends from high school and pulled out some old photos from our high school orchestra trip to France, played some violin for the church I grew up in (which I haven't done since two christmases ago), and many other delightful endeavors.
It was a great trip, but I am so glad to be home, in my own bed, driving my own car, sitting on my porch again, and having a great roommate who made me peach blackberry crumble for breakfast this morning as a welcome home :)
Life is unbelievably good, and it keeps getting better. I'm going to try to write here more often, and I will hopefully have more things to write about. New adventures on the horizon! Don't stop me now, cause I'm having a good time.
I ain't never gonna change, I've got a gypsy soul to blame and I was born for leaving.
Places I've been in the last three weeks:
Annapolis, Maryland
Durham, New Hampshire
Boston, Massachusetts
Dover, Delaware
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Ocean City, Maryland
Greenbelt, Maryland
Vienna, Virginia
and back to Nashville, Tennessee.
I like to do a grand New England tour at least once a year to see as many friends and family as I can in one trip, but the point of this trip was to go study bowmaking up in New Hampshire. It was my third time at this particular workshop (last year for bow repair) I made one violin bow. It turned out well enough, for learning in five days what is a four year program in France. I could do better, and I will, on future bows. Fortunately, plenty went wrong on my first one, so I learned a lot of what not to do next time, or at least how to fix many different things that go wrong. It was a very informative and fun week! And I got a whole slew of new tools to play with.
On our way south after New Hampshire, we stopped in Boston for a night to visit one of my dearest friends. I wish we'd had time to stay longer, since I love Boston a lot. It's one of my favorite cities, which I don't say lightly, because I am very persnickety about some cities, and I would totally live in Boston someday if I could ever afford to.
I had ten whole days in Maryland to catch up with everyone. It was so much fun! I spent time with my family, we went to the beach, got my usual sunburn and then our usual family go-karting, where I won (as usual), then walked down the ocean city boardwalk to the kite store, stopping for greasy pizza on the way, as usual. I met my new nephew (or newphew, if you will), I went to some great live music (Cole Cash, and the NSO Zelda concert), played some great music with my fabulous string trio, caught up with some friends from high school and pulled out some old photos from our high school orchestra trip to France, played some violin for the church I grew up in (which I haven't done since two christmases ago), and many other delightful endeavors.
It was a great trip, but I am so glad to be home, in my own bed, driving my own car, sitting on my porch again, and having a great roommate who made me peach blackberry crumble for breakfast this morning as a welcome home :)
Life is unbelievably good, and it keeps getting better. I'm going to try to write here more often, and I will hopefully have more things to write about. New adventures on the horizon! Don't stop me now, cause I'm having a good time.
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