DAVE SUTOR The (Johnstown) Tribune-Democrat, via AP
Violin-maker Robert Gordon, of Belsano, Pa., performs âFaded Love Songâ on one of his violins on Monday, March 22.
Todd Berkey/The Tribune-Democrat via AP
BELSANO, Pa. Robert Gordon III can hear, and even see, the music inside a piece of wood before he transforms it into a finished violin.
To demonstrate how, Gordon, a second-generation luthier, twisted a Douglas fir top to a violin made based on a Guarneri mold that was handed down to him from his father.
The wood moved like a wave.
He then tapped it about two dozen times.
A look at a Black teaching artist residency s inaugural musicians
It’s a kind of open secret: Very few artists make a living solely from their creative work. The vast majority of painters, poets, dancers, and actors hold down day jobs. The same goes for most musicians – and perhaps especially Black composers and musicians, who often lack the institutional support given to their white peers.
Kendra Ross, of ACT3 Consulting, co-created the residency program.
Credit Denele D. Biggs
That s the problem the Black Teaching Artist-in-Residence Program hopes to address. In February, this initiative of the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit UniSound – a collaborative of some three dozen area organizations that helps kids create music – welcomed its inaugural class of two artists.
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BELSANO, Pa. (AP) â
Robert Gordon III can hear, and even see, the music inside a piece of wood before he transforms it into a finished violin.
To demonstrate how, Gordon, a second-generation luthier, twisted a Douglas fir top to a violin made based on a Guarneri mold that was handed down to him from his father.
The wood moved like a wave.
He then tapped it about two dozen times.
âThe resonance coming off of it, how light it is, how stiff it is,â Gordon said.
âFor instance, a lot of it is, see how flexible that top is? Youâre trying to get the lateral flexibility, as well as the longitudinal. Instruments are really thin. This is down to 2.5 millimeter. Youâre looking at that thin. You can actually see through them when you hold them up to the light. You can kind of see what your arching is, and between the flexibility and the tap tone, so Iâm tapping right where the sound post would be, and thatâs kind of determining how itâs ringing