Summertime's Coming - Music Camps and Festivals

Written by: Amy Tobin, violinist and manager, Fein Violins

For a lot of people, summer is a time for lazing by the pool, taking it easy, and being away from all of the more 'intellectual' activities of school, study, or work. Even if you still work, there is something different about summer that makes you take things a little more easy and be a little more laid back.

For a lot of musicians, however, the summer can be a bit treacherous. When it comes to playing an instrument, taking 3 months off can be a real hinderance to progress, if not set you back a bit entirely. For that reason, many younger musicians tend to take advantage of the opportunity to focus entirely on their instrument, without having to split time between practicing and studying and the other things that can compete for time and attention.

If you are new to the idea of summer music camps or festivals, I am going to outline some of the different options for you. Some of these I have been to, some of these I have had other colleagues attend, and others I have only a passing knowledge of. It's certainly not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it will open you up for discovery of different options for the summer months. Whatever your interests, however, there should be something here to catch your eye!

1. Interlochen National Music Camp

Interlochen Music School's Kresge Auditorium

I have to start with Interlochen since it is so near and dear to me. I attended the summer program here for two years, and it was AMAZING! The program itself

Orch. Dork Vacations, Part II - Europe: Strads, Guarneris, Amatis, Oh My!

Royal Spanish Stradivarius violin

Written by Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins

The back of the 'Messiah' Stradivarius violin

 If you think of anywhere in Europe associated with violins, you probably think of Cremona, Italy. You might assume that would be my recommendation for the first place to stop on our Orch Dork tour. But it's not.

Orch. Dork Vacations - Where to Travel to See Stradivaris, Guarneris & Amatis. Part 1- U.S.

Written by Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins

A violin by Nicola Amati, Cremona 1669, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

For hundreds of years, the best violins makers have been making exquisite works of art, and Music Geeks around the world can fully appreciate every detail of these fine masterpieces. But where are the best places in the world for us Orch. Dorks to gather and learn more about the finest violins ever made? There are fantastic violin museums all over the world.

The first place I would recommend is the The National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota.

Why Do Instruments Have Names?

By Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins,
and Ben Schuneman

Sometime in the year 1827, Luigi Tarisio acquired a violin from the late Count Cozio di Salabue and added it to his private collection. Both men were avid collectors of prized violins, and Salabue was well known for buying a large quantity of Stradivarius instruments.

                                                                                    The back of 'The Messiah' 1716 Stradivarius violin

In fact, the instrument was in such good repair and such high quality, that Tarisio would refuse to bring it out of his collection to show anyone, and instead just preferred to boast about it whenever given the chance. In fact, Tarisio was so well known for this perplexing habit, and he played the game for so long, that the famous French violinist Delphin Alard had joked, "Your violin is like the Messiah...One always waits for him, but he never appears!"

Stanley Steamers, X-Rays, and Violins! Huh?

Written by Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins
 and Kevin Berdine

A long time ago, an elderly woman brought in a violin she wanted to sell. Like many old violins, this one had a story. When she was a girl, her family had owned movie theaters during the silent movie era. They hired musicians to play music during the movie. One musician, a violinist, stayed with her family until about 1933. One day in 1933, he just disappeared. He took almost all his belongings, but he left this violin under his bed. Since that day, no one had played the violin. I opened up the case and there was a beautifully made violin with a wonderful varnish. It was made by F.O. Stanley in Newton, Massachusetts in the year 1889. The top was made from Spruce that looked very similar to Spruce on Cremonese instruments from the same era. The Maple on the back, though, reminded me of European Maple I had seen on the dashboard of an early automobile, a "Stanley Steamer". Strange, but this is a strange business.

A Stanley Steamer Automobile