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Helen Violin Maker

modern violin maker

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Helen’s Blog

This is where I write about some of the broader ideas and events from the workshop and the world of violin making, including conferences I visit, interactions with other violin makers and musical events. Anything I think might be interesting to read.

Newark students’ HOPE project

27th January 2019

I keep in close contact with the college where I studied, Newark School of Violin Making, and in my role as chair of the RAB Trust www.rabtrust.org I host students for work experience and do whatever I can to keep in touch and help. I was delighted to hear last year about a fantastic inititative …read more

Viola heaven at the Southbank Centre

1st June 2018

On Tuesday 29 May I went to a concert at the newly refurbished Purcell Room, the smallest venue at London’s Southbank Centre. The concert marked the life of a patron of contemporary music, Leo Hepner, who himself played the viola. As well as the Arditti Quartet there was music for solo viola; the world premiere …read more

String trials for small violas

7th May 2018

I had wanted to test some different strings on my smaller violas. The string company D’Addario makes several types of string for small violas, and they generously sent me some sample sets to try. The viola player Lucy Nolan kindly agreed to play the violas with the different strings. Lucy teaches at the RNCM in …read more

Work experience placement

3rd March 2018

Every year I offer a work experience placement to a violin making student through the scheme run by the RAB Trust. During one of the coldest and snowiest weeks of the year, Marion Pollart came to the workshop. She is from Belgium, fully trained as a conference interpreter, but having chosen a big career change, …read more

Vintage violin blanket

24th February 2018

One of my colleagues gave me this wreck of a violin blanket recently. It was in a nineteenth century violin case. It’s hand embroidered, probably on a silk/cotton fabric. The warp threads are intact but the weft threads, probably the silk, have almost totally disintegrated, held together only by the embroidery. This blanket is a …read more

BVMA Makers Day 2018

7th February 2018

  Every year the British Violin Making Association (BVMA) hosts the Makers’ Day, a one-day fair of violin makers and traders. On 4 February we all converged on Kings Place, the fine new(ish) concert hall and arts venue which is one of the keystones of the redevelopment of the Kings Cross area in London. This …read more

Winterising your instrument

18th November 2017

I’m just back from a holiday in Japan where they take preparations for winter seriously. I’d been particularly keen to see some of the gardens, and was intrigued to find that the gardeners spend a huge amount of time and effort tying tall posts into the pine trees, from which they suspend ropes to support …read more

Stradivari’s ‘Messiah’: BVMA conference

20th September 2017

Last weekend I was in Oxford for a conference of the British Violin Making Association. The title of the conference was Messiah 301, focussing on one of the most famous and notorious Stradivari violins, nicknamed the Messiah, which is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The violin was made 301 years ago. By …read more

40 years on

8th September 2017

Forty years ago, as a somewhat timid 18 year old, I started my training at the Newark School of Violin Making. We were the first intake in the new building, the old Westminster Bank building on Kirkgate, Newark. In those days the school was much smaller than it is now – an intake of twelve …read more

Violin making training in the UK

18th August 2017

I’m sometimes asked about how you train to be a violin maker. These days the old apprenticeship system has all but died out, and instead the training is done in a college setting. The students are typically a hugely mixed bunch of all ages and nationalities. People come from very diverse backgrounds; some are skilled …read more

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1A Grasmere Road
Sale
Manchester
M33 3QU
UK

helen@helenviolinmaker.com
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0161 972 0839
0044 161 972 0839

Latest from Helen

339: Violin based on Antonio Stradivari 1734 ‘Habeneck’ 2023

I've made this violin model regularly over the last few years; it reliably produces a powerful and … Read More...

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