Vermont Violins: A 30-Year Journey in Lutherie, Music, and Evolution

Vermont Violins was established in 1994 so this begins our thirtieth year of business.  It’s hard to imagine that Kathy and I have been doing this for so long…certainly makes us feel old.  When we started, Bill Clinton was in the middle of his first term.  Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa, PulpFiction hit the movie screens as Friends launched on TV.  Yahoo and Amazon got started in 1994 and kids everywhere waited in line for the first Playstations. And Al Gore was busily inventing the internet. Vermont Violins opened in a small atelier workshop/showroom way up on the third floor of a building in Montpelier, Vermont.

Since then, we’ve obviously seen so many changes….none more pronounced than the overall shrinking of the world. The internet, high speed communication and the ability to network not just nationally, but globally, has forever changed all aspects of our world and while I suspect every generation says this, the rate of this process seems only to accelerate. More has changed in the last 2-5 years than in the first two decades of our existence!  Or so it seems.

Many of these changes have been improvements. Today, students and professionals have access to more instruments made with higher quality at lower prices. The introduction of the CNC machine, computer assisted design, improved communications and resource sharing, have had the effect of improving quality and reducing costs. We see more and more young people entering the lutherie profession and among them a richer, more diverse, population of makers that represent more ethnicity and more women….the overall gene pool we draw from in our craft and trade has only brought more talent onto the field. Vermont Violins celebrates this diversity every day!

Comparing the rental student instruments we offer today to the ones we offered back in 1994 is a testimony to the improving nature of the trade. We still have some of the original instruments, but they are a pale shadow compared to what we offer today to our young and beginner players.  The Internet has widened the playing field immensely, but not all in a good way. The number of truly awful instruments has grown exponentially, but so has the number of fine instruments.  Instruments used to come primarily from Europe, now we get instruments from all over the globe. 

Curiously, the confusing melee of instruments from all over has allowed us to shine a spotlight on instruments we can make ourselves. With a deep reverence for the ancient traditions, we are able to incorporate modern design and materials into our own violin making and we can now create instruments that more and more people can actually afford. The playing field for students and their families is leveling: success (professional placements, conservatory acceptance, etc.) can be achieved more affordably now than ever before.

Two years ago, we celebrated Women in Lutherie with an exposition of great female work.  We shared the project with two other great shops and were able to have a wonderful dialogue with many of today’s finest makers’ about the changing world of lutherie…changing with expanded opportunities for women and recognition of their contributions to the field.   And as the population of makers expands, so to does the creative basis for our lutherie: more experimentation is allowed and more we are able to develop our craft into this new age.

But we are also seeing a heightened awareness of our the challenges to our craft from the environmental pressures.  Just a few short years ago, I wrote a blog about the impending changes to our world from the rising temperatures. It amazed me, depressed me, to think that global warming would be not only be something future generations would have to worry about, but it is a present tense problem.  Now, we see and feel the effects of global warming every day, and this puts pressure on us all to find ways to mitigate our impact.

We now look for local solutions. We seek woods for our instruments that do not have to travel from such far distances and are certified for their sustainable forestry. We avoid use of non-sustainable materials, like Pernambuco and Ebony…and the removal of these woods as options is forcing a very traditional and unchanging craft to evolve!

This year, as we prepare to celebrate our 30th birthday (November 20), Vermont Violins will be thinking about this ongoing journey we are on to help bring music into the world and to share our passion for strings with anyone who wants to participate. As we do so, we will continue to share our story so check back to read more. And of course, to those who have been with us on this journey, and have stories to tell, please share them with us and help us celebrate this milestone year!

Thanks for joining us! –Oren & Kathy