Even the regular tasks have a rhythm about them. Take the carving of a violin’s head as an example. The wood is selected, then two faces are planed square and flat. The maker lays out the outline and saws it out, then hollows the pegbox and begin the turns of the volute. Carving large chips first, then smaller ones until he scrapes the gouge marks away...and moves on to the next job. Over and over he does these things, thinking about each push of the tool while imagining the finished instrument, even while parts of it are still under the bench. Real makers dream of violins that are still standing out in the forest. Perhaps they dream of the violins others will make after their passing.
At times the men spoke quietly and the work continued. The bright chips continued to hit the floor . At times the conversational silence was broken by the little noises the scraper made when pulled along the edge of an instrument. These workmen were so proficient, so well practiced, that even when talking about things which concerned them, their attention never wandered far from the job at hand.
Whisp.......whisp.........tap-tap.....the shuffling of a foot....it was just another day in the shop.
From "THE VIOLINMAKER'S APPRENTICE", Keith Davis, Release Pending.
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