Tuning up the new violins
為新小提琴調音
Chicago Sun-Times 1992
Jeremy Sharp, 9, of Downstate Bushnell plays Bach on a $50,000 cello made by Carl Becker and Son of Chicago.
照片：9 歲的傑里米・夏普 來自 Downstate Bushnell，用芝加哥貝克父子製作價值 50,000 美元的大提琴演奏巴赫。
Report Brown (right), a repairman with Carl Becker an answers questions from violin admirers during Sunday’s e of new instruments at the Chicago Cultural Center.
右照片：羅伯特・布朗（右）和卡爾・貝克一起擔任修理工，在周日芝加哥文化中心舉辦的新樂器展覽會上回答了小提琴崇拜者的提問。
Nine-year-old Jeremy Sharp tried out a Bach suite on an out-sized – for him – cello made by Carl Becker and Son Violin Makers, Restorers and Experts.
“It’s OK, but being two sizes too big, I have a lot to stretch,” he explained as he extended his fingers. “That varnish certainly beats the veneer on mine. It doesn’t buzz, it doesn’t sound like plywood.”
Sharp, who’s been playing for 5 1/2 years, had heard about Becker instruments and jumped at the chance to check them out Sunday at an exhibition of new instruments at the Chicago Cultural Center.
“This is a sneaky way to get him to practice,” said his mother, Elaine Bennett sharp, who brought her son from Downstate Bushnell to play at a Flossmoor fine arts festival Saturday.
The Sunday exhibition attracted about 100 local musicians, students, instructors and enthusiasts, who played everything from scales to Beethoven on violins, violas and cellos. They brought a classical sound and feel to the third-floor exhibition hall.
The American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers sponsored the exhibitions, which included 43 instrument and bow makers, including four from the Chicago area, to stress that when it comes to violin, older is not always better.
“A good new violin is a lot better than a bad old violin,” said the federation’s president, Boyd Poulsen.
Advantages include lower cost, durability and greater reliability, he said. Prices of violins at the exhibition ranged from $5000 to $25,000; the bows cost an average of $2000, he said.
“American violinmaking has grown so much in the last 20 years. A lot of us are trained in repair and restoration of fine instrument, and by studying the old master instruments, we got to learn all about the techniques and the little secrets of the ancient masters of the 17th and 18th centuries,” said member Charles Rufino.
“The old instruments are getting so expensive,” said Paul Becker of Chicago-based Carl Becker and Son.
“Students who think older is better come with what they think is a lot of money and they find it’s four times more than they have,” he said. “So they pick up an instrument that’s old just because it has the name. We are trying to end that myth.”
Becker’s new violins cost $18,000; its cellos are about double that. Becker spends about two years crafting them. Old violins can cost as much as hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars.
“If you get a violin that’s $100,000 or $1 million, you’re not going to want to take it out on the road,” Poulsen said.
Minette McGhee 報導
九歲的傑里米・夏普（Jeremy Sharp）試奏了巴赫的大提琴組曲，一把對他來說尺寸過大的大提琴由提琴製作修復專家卡爾・貝克爾父子製作（Carl Becker and Son）。
「沒關係，但由於體型大了兩個尺寸，我需要做很大的伸展，」他一邊伸出手指一邊解釋道。 「那種琴漆肯定勝過我的提琴面板。它沒有嗡嗡聲，不像是膠合板面板會有的。」
夏普已經學琴五年半時間，聽說過貝克（Becker）樂器，這個星期天他抓緊機會在芝加哥文化中心的新樂器展覽會中鑑賞它們。
「這是讓他不知不覺學習的方式，」他的母親 Elaine Bennett Sharp 說，她帶著她的兒子從 Downstate Bushnell 週六參加 Flossmoor 藝術節。
週日的展覽吸引了大約 100 名當地音樂家、學生、教師和愛好者，他們用小提琴、中提琴和大提琴演奏了從音階到貝多芬的各種音樂。他們為這棟三樓層的展廳帶來了古典的聲音和氛圍。
美國提琴和琴弓製作協會贊助了這一場展覽，其中包括 43 名樂器和琴弓製造商，其中 4 名來自芝加哥地區，他們強調在小提琴比較時，越老的琴並不總是代表越好。
「一把好的新小提琴比一把衰弱的舊小提琴好得多，」該協會主席博伊德・波爾森（Boyd Poulsen）說。他說，新琴的優勢包括成本更低、耐用性和可靠性更高。展會上的小提琴價格從 5000 美元到 25,000 美元不等；他說這些弓的平均售價為 2000 美元。
「在過去的 20 年裡，美國的小提琴製造業取得了長足的發展。我們中的很多人都接受過維修和修復古董名琴的訓練，透過研究古典大師名琴，我們了解了 17 世紀和 18 世紀古典大師的技術和秘密，」協會成員查爾斯・魯菲諾 (Charles Rufino) 說。
「古樂器變得如此昂貴，」總部位於芝加哥的貝克父子提琴公司（ Carl Becker and Son）的保羅・貝克（Paul Becker）說：
「那些音樂學生認為年紀越古老琴較好，但他們會發現價格是比他們預想多四倍。」 「所以他們趨於選擇一把老琴，只是因為它有個名牌的迷思。我們正在努力改變這個迷思。」
貝克的新小提琴售價 18,000 美元；它的大提琴大約是它的兩倍。貝克花了大約兩年的時間來製作它們。一把古董提琴的價格可能高達數十萬，甚至數百萬美元。
「如果你得到一把價值 100,000 美元或 100 萬美元的小提琴，你不會想把它帶上路，」Poulsen 說。
Jeremy Sharp, 9, of Downstate Bushnell plays Bach on a $50,000 cello made by Carl Becker and Son of Chicago.
照片：9 歲的傑里米・夏普 來自 Downstate Bushnell，用芝加哥貝克父子製作價值 50,000 美元的大提琴演奏巴赫。
Report Brown (right), a repairman with Carl Becker an answers questions from violin admirers during Sunday’s e of new instruments at the Chicago Cultural Center.
右照片：羅伯特・布朗（右）和卡爾・貝克一起擔任修理工，在周日芝加哥文化中心舉辦的新樂器展覽會上回答了小提琴崇拜者的提問。
Old not always better, maker say
By Minette McGhee
Nine-year-old Jeremy Sharp tried out a Bach suite on an out-sized – for him – cello made by Carl Becker and Son Violin Makers, Restorers and Experts.
“It’s OK, but being two sizes too big, I have a lot to stretch,” he explained as he extended his fingers. “That varnish certainly beats the veneer on mine. It doesn’t buzz, it doesn’t sound like plywood.”
Sharp, who’s been playing for 5 1/2 years, had heard about Becker instruments and jumped at the chance to check them out Sunday at an exhibition of new instruments at the Chicago Cultural Center.
“This is a sneaky way to get him to practice,” said his mother, Elaine Bennett sharp, who brought her son from Downstate Bushnell to play at a Flossmoor fine arts festival Saturday.
The Sunday exhibition attracted about 100 local musicians, students, instructors and enthusiasts, who played everything from scales to Beethoven on violins, violas and cellos. They brought a classical sound and feel to the third-floor exhibition hall.
The American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers sponsored the exhibitions, which included 43 instrument and bow makers, including four from the Chicago area, to stress that when it comes to violin, older is not always better.
“A good new violin is a lot better than a bad old violin,” said the federation’s president, Boyd Poulsen.
Advantages include lower cost, durability and greater reliability, he said. Prices of violins at the exhibition ranged from $5000 to $25,000; the bows cost an average of $2000, he said.
“American violinmaking has grown so much in the last 20 years. A lot of us are trained in repair and restoration of fine instrument, and by studying the old master instruments, we got to learn all about the techniques and the little secrets of the ancient masters of the 17th and 18th centuries,” said member Charles Rufino.
“The old instruments are getting so expensive,” said Paul Becker of Chicago-based Carl Becker and Son.
“Students who think older is better come with what they think is a lot of money and they find it’s four times more than they have,” he said. “So they pick up an instrument that’s old just because it has the name. We are trying to end that myth.”
Becker’s new violins cost $18,000; its cellos are about double that. Becker spends about two years crafting them. Old violins can cost as much as hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars.
“If you get a violin that’s $100,000 or $1 million, you’re not going to want to take it out on the road,” Poulsen said.
舊琴並不總是較好的，製琴師說
Minette McGhee 報導
九歲的傑里米・夏普（Jeremy Sharp）試奏了巴赫的大提琴組曲，一把對他來說尺寸過大的大提琴由提琴製作修復專家卡爾・貝克爾父子製作（Carl Becker and Son）。
「沒關係，但由於體型大了兩個尺寸，我需要做很大的伸展，」他一邊伸出手指一邊解釋道。 「那種琴漆肯定勝過我的提琴面板。它沒有嗡嗡聲，不像是膠合板面板會有的。」
夏普已經學琴五年半時間，聽說過貝克（Becker）樂器，這個星期天他抓緊機會在芝加哥文化中心的新樂器展覽會中鑑賞它們。
「這是讓他不知不覺學習的方式，」他的母親 Elaine Bennett Sharp 說，她帶著她的兒子從 Downstate Bushnell 週六參加 Flossmoor 藝術節。
週日的展覽吸引了大約 100 名當地音樂家、學生、教師和愛好者，他們用小提琴、中提琴和大提琴演奏了從音階到貝多芬的各種音樂。他們為這棟三樓層的展廳帶來了古典的聲音和氛圍。
美國提琴和琴弓製作協會贊助了這一場展覽，其中包括 43 名樂器和琴弓製造商，其中 4 名來自芝加哥地區，他們強調在小提琴比較時，越老的琴並不總是代表越好。
「一把好的新小提琴比一把衰弱的舊小提琴好得多，」該協會主席博伊德・波爾森（Boyd Poulsen）說。他說，新琴的優勢包括成本更低、耐用性和可靠性更高。展會上的小提琴價格從 5000 美元到 25,000 美元不等；他說這些弓的平均售價為 2000 美元。
「在過去的 20 年裡，美國的小提琴製造業取得了長足的發展。我們中的很多人都接受過維修和修復古董名琴的訓練，透過研究古典大師名琴，我們了解了 17 世紀和 18 世紀古典大師的技術和秘密，」協會成員查爾斯・魯菲諾 (Charles Rufino) 說。
「古樂器變得如此昂貴，」總部位於芝加哥的貝克父子提琴公司（ Carl Becker and Son）的保羅・貝克（Paul Becker）說：
「那些音樂學生認為年紀越古老琴較好，但他們會發現價格是比他們預想多四倍。」 「所以他們趨於選擇一把老琴，只是因為它有個名牌的迷思。我們正在努力改變這個迷思。」
貝克的新小提琴售價 18,000 美元；它的大提琴大約是它的兩倍。貝克花了大約兩年的時間來製作它們。一把古董提琴的價格可能高達數十萬，甚至數百萬美元。
「如果你得到一把價值 100,000 美元或 100 萬美元的小提琴，你不會想把它帶上路，」Poulsen 說。
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