Strings

CARLEEN HUTCHINS MAY 24,1911/ August 7, 2009

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Carleen Hutchins was an innovative Violin maker, who died at the age of 98. She built a new Violin family, instruments proportional in size and pitch. She helped to reimagine what a violin could be.

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She used technology to build instruments to rival the work of 17th and 18th Century masters. She designed and built an entire family of violins, that became known as the "new violin family", or the "violin octet". It not only extended the range of the traditional violin family, but also corrected acoustic imbalance. She was internationally known for her work.

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The cellist Yo-Yo Ma recorded Bartok's Viola concerto using one of Hutchin's alto violins. Her work was the subject of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from 2002/2003.

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As a teacher at a private girls school in NYC, she was invited to join a faculty chamber music group. She bought a viola for $75., became frustrated with its limitations. As an accomplished woodworker, she built a better one for herself. This was the beginning of her dedication. She began her studies with several master violin makers.

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Unveiled in the mid-1960's, the new violin family ranged from a tiny treble violin, an octive higher than a conventional violin, to a 7 foot-tall contrabass.

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In 1963 she founded the "Catgut Acoustical Society", dedicated to the study of musical acoustics.