Southern Violin Association
association of violin makers in the Western Hemisphere

Bulletins

BULLETIN - JANUARY 2021

ANNOUNCING THE 3RD BIENNIAL

VIOLIN MAKERS' COMPETITION

SPRING 2021


****WITH LIVE STREAMING****


PREPARE YOUR ENTRIES FOR OUR THIRD BIENNIAL

OPEN INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN MAKERS COMPETITION

OUR TARGET DATE IS FIRST OF MAY, 2021, IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A.

THE SOUTHERN VIOLIN ASSOCIATION IS PREPARING TO HOST ITS THIRD COMPETITION AROUND THE FIRST OF MAY 2021. IT WILL BE HELD IN THE CITY OF ATLANTA.


WE ARE CURRENTLY PLANNING TO LIVE STREAM MOST OF THE COMPETITION WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO DISCUSS THE PROCESS WITH MEMBERS AS THE JUDGES GO THROUGH THEIR ROUTINES.



ALL ENTRIES WILL NEED TO BE DELIVERED NOT LATER THAN FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE CONFERENCE. THIS COMPLIES WITH RECOMMENDED COVID-19 GUIDELINES FOR THE LIFESPAN OF THE VIRUS ON WOOD AND MOST RELATED OBJECTS. THIS ALLOWS THE JUDGES TO HANDLE THE INSTRUMENTS.


  1. THIS WILL BE VIOLINS AND VIOLAS ONLY

  2. INSTRUMENTS MUST BE LESS THAN 2 YEARS OLD

  3. A MAXIMUM OF TWO INSTRUMENTS MAY BE ENTERED IN THE COMPETITION. THEY MAY BE IN THE SAME CATEGORY (I.E. TWO VIOLINS OR TWO VIOLA) OR SPLIT - ONE VIOLIN AND ONE VIOLA.

  4. OTHERWISE RULES FROM LAST COMPETITION REMAIN THE SAME,

  5. INSTRUMENTS MUST BE OWNER-INSURED. WE WILL HANDLE THEM WITH THE SAME CARE WE WOULD DEVOTE TO OUR OWN INSTRUMENTS, HOWEVER THE ASSOCIATION TAKES NO LIABILITY FOR INSTRUMENTS LOST, DAMAGED, OR DESTROYED.


IN ADDITION TO FIRST, SECOND, THIRD PLACE AWARDS IN BOTH WORKMANSHIP AND TONE, WE WILL ALSO AWARD A NOVICE AWARD TO THE HIGHEST RATED VIOLIN AND VIOLA SUBMITTED BY A "NOVICE" MAKER (HAVING COMPLETED NO MORE THAN TEN INSTRUMENTS AT THE TIME OF THE COMPETITION.)


THERE WILL BE A SOUTHERN MAKER AWARD GIVEN TO THE HIGHEST RATED VIOLIN AND VIOLA SUBMITTED BY A SOUTHERN MAKER (SEE RULES).


SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE IN THE COMING WEEKS, BUT YOU SHOULD BE PREPARED TO HAVE YOUR ENTRIES COMPLETED BY EARLY APRIL.


JUDGES FOR WORKMANSHIP WILL INCLUDE JAIME GONZALES OF MEXICO, FIRST PLACE WINNER IN OUR 2019 COMPETITION. TONE JUDGES WILL COME FROM THE ATLANTA SYMPHONY, AND WILL LIKELY INCLUDE OUR OLD FRIEND, JUAN RAMIREZ, TONE JUDGE FOR OUR PREVIOUS TWO COMPETITIONS. WE ARE STILL WORKING ON VENUE AND JUDGING STAFF.


LET US KNOW IF YOU INTEND TO SUBMIT ENTRIES BY NUMBER AND TYPE -- PLEASE EMAIL THE COMPETITION COMMITTEE. THIS WILL HELP US WITH OUR PLANNING.


We will post updates and more information over the coming months on our webpage. Click here for Website

BULLETIN #21

BIG TURNOUT FOR FIRST COMPETITION

In the village of Little Switzerland, high in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the Southern Violin Association held its first Biennial Violin Makers’ Competition. Held at the Wildacres Retreat, a non-profit facility dedicated to the arts and crafts of the region, more than 40 makers from all over the USA gathered for two days and three evenings.

1 st Prize Workmanship Alvaro Corrochano New York City

1 st Prize Tone Jack Rasmussen Arlington, Texas

The event was organized by David Chandler, President of the Association. He was aided by an award-winning judging staff that included Chris Germain of Philadelphia, Kelvin Scott of Knoxville (pictured right), and John Montgomery of Raleigh, in the Workmanship category. These three represent some of America’s finest violin makers and restorers.

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Atlanta Symphony’s Juan Ramirez assisted board member Pablo Alfaro in judging the Tone category, and they played the winning violins for us. Cameron Robertson, a member of the Association’s board, was instrumental in selling more than $600 in raffle tickets, and acted as co-coordinator of the event, and deserves a special note.

Presentations during the event included

  • Joe Thrift’s “Antiquing Techniques” which he had presented several years back, and was so well received so he was asked to present this once again.
  • William Howery gave us some great ideas on how to take advantage of social media and the internet with minimum investment in both time and cost. Those that attended will remember to be the “squirrel” that gets the attention.
  • Chris Germain and John Montgomery presented their insights into the expansion of violin making from Europe into America, and used illustrations from their new book “The American Violin” to illustrate the discussion. Later, they inscribed a copy of the book which they donated as a raffle prize, and helped generate a lot of enthusiasm for our event.
  • Pablo Alfaro (pictured right) took time away from judging to give us some great ideas on how to pull the most sound from our instruments, with some great ideas on bridge trimming and other adjustments.
  • Kelvin Scott, John Montgomery and Chris Germain conducted a round table discussion that covered pretty much the entire field of violin-making and what judges look for.
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EVENINGS WERE JUST AS SPECIAL

“And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares, that infest the day, Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, and silently steal away.”

Longfellow

Pictured are Joe Thrift and Russel McCumber from nearby Mt Airy, NC, jamming in the Canteen after hours.

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HERE ARE THE COMPLETE RESULTS

Workmanship:

  • 1 st Alvaro Corrochano ---- New York City, NY
  • 2nd Cameron Robertson -----Atlanta, GA
  • 3rd Jennifer Halenar -------Nashville
  • Certificate of MERIT Ed Byler -------- Bonners Ferry, ID ( violin "D”)
  • Honorable Mention Ed Byler
  • Honorable Mention Joe Thrift ------ Elkin, NC
  • Honorable Mention Greg Tracy ------- Raleigh, NC

Tone:

  • 1st Jack Rasmussen -- Arlington, Texas
  • 2nd Ed Byler ----- Bonners Ferry, ID
  • 3rd Ivan Bonev -------Arlingon Texas
  • Cert of Merit Ray Leicht ----- Tuscaloose, AL ( violin “BB”)
  • Hon Mention Ray Leight
  • Hon Mention Jennifer Halenar, Nashville, TN
  • Hon Mention team of Adam Goltry/Dustin Fagg/Greg Tracy ------ Raleigh NC

OPEN MIC NIGHT:

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Lenny Ski on violin, Frank Pascarella on guitar, and David Wascher on the mandolin. Lenny Ski was a wonderful entertainer, and kept us going for quite a bit into the evening. Frank great guitar and sang wonderfully while Dave enthusiastically joined in, and played a pretty darn good mandolin.

 

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

Metropolitan Music, Howard Core Company, and International Violin Company all contributed store credits to be distributed to our 1,2,3 winners, items for our raffle, and help distributing our competition flyer with their outgoing shipments. We really appreciate their support, and all three are companies that our organization certainly endorses. Thanks to all.

THE AMERICAN VIOLIN -- Chris Germain and John Montgomers, two of the principals in the creation of a very serious examination of “The American Violn”, a creation which will likely be a significant resource for future researchers and aficionados of American Violins. Their donation of an inscribed copy to our raffle event, helped greatly in generating donations at our conference. Thank you both!

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RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERS:

From Metropolitan Music, a complete set of 18 year old tonewood (back, ribs, neck and top) was donated and won in the raffle by Kevin Rilling. Also donated were various books, bass bar clamping frame and what-not and won by various attendees.

Howard Core Company provided several nice sets of accessories for violin, along with a number of other items like Teller Royal Deluxe briges, books, etc.

“THE AMERICAN VIOLIN” -- Perhaps the highlight of the evening’s prizes was the book co-authored by two of our judges, Chris Germain, and John Montgomery, and that was won by Ray Leicht.

MORE….

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(left) Event organizer, and President of the Association, David Chandler (L) presents 2 nd place in workmanship to Cameron Robertson of the Atlanta area.

(below) the patio at Wildacres Retreat, and venue for a lot of evening jam sessions or just sitting outside and enjoying the wonderful mountain air! This photo was taken Thursday while waiting for our attendees to start checking in.

What they said:

“I felt like I got a college degree’s worth of education, especially from the generosity of the judges. YOU KNOCKED THIS EVENT OUT OF THE BALLPARK…” Jim Clinton, Clinton Violins, Taylors, South Carolina

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“Congratulations on a successful meeting and especially competition” Jerry Pasewicz, Triangle Strings, Raleigh, North Carolina

“The SVA conference was one of the highlights of our year! It has been many years since we were able to relax as we did during this conference. I think much of our enjoyment was due to your impressive organizing, planning, and managing skills. Karen and I look forward to future SVA events.” Ray and Karen Leicht, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

“Many thanks for all your work organizing the SVA competition. I thought (and everyone I spoke with agreed) that it was a terrific success and a wonderful event.” Nick Lampo,

AND FROM THE JUDGES:

“Impressive -- When word gets out, you’ll likely have an even greater turnout next time” (above) an award waiting to go home with someone.

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(right) Taken Thursday morning April 21, about 2 miles from the retreat.

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR, SAME PLACE AND TIME.

Thanks for your support!

 

David Chandler,

President, Southern Violin Association

davidwchandler@outlook.com

828-675-0449

201 Riverlinks Drive, Burnsville, NC 28714

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