Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Fig. 1: Anyoung An.Fig. 2: This image shows the process of carving the scroll (head) of a violin using a gouge. © Ayoung An.Fig. 3: A violin made by Ayoung An. © Ayoung An.Here’s a puzzle for you: What kind of professional trains for years in order to develop an extraordinarily high level of craft that uses expensive materials and tools in skillful ways so as to enable others to perform at high levels?F1,F2,F3 Hint: It’s not the team surgeon for your local professional football franchise. Well, actually, that probably also describes the team doc, but that’s not the professional I was thinking about. The professional I’ve got in mind practices in Cremona, Italy, which you may recognize as the city of Stradivarius. And, indeed, the professional I’m delighted to visit with this month is a luthier—a builder of stringed instruments—whose shop is located in the very spot in northern Italy where some of the world’s finest violins have been built for hundreds of years. And she’s not just any luthier. She is considered among the “finest violin makers of our generation” [3]. But she didn’t start out there. Ayoung An (whose nome d’arte is Anna Arietti) was born in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, about 35 miles south of Seoul (Fig. 1). And her childhood dream—now realized—was to make some of the world’s best violins, marrying the best historical approaches with modern materials and improvements. That dream took her from Seoul to the Chicago School of Violin Making (there were no such schools in Korea during her youth), whereupon she discovered that she could not enroll because she was a minor. Instead, she enrolled in a private high school to improve her English. During her time there, she learned about the Antonio Stradivari School of Violin Making in Cremona, and after graduating high school, Ms. An changed her plans and flew to Italy to study at the world-famous Stradivari school. Her violins have won many awards [1] and command prices in the USD 15,000 to 20,000 range for their beautiful voices [2, 4] and exquisite craftsmanship [5], which emulate that of the masters, going back to Amati, Guarneri, and Stradivari. Her place among the leading exponents of her profession is exceptional for a young woman, since her field—like our own—has been dominated by men from its origins, and still is today. No doubt, only a small subset of people reading this spend their free time in a wood shop (even as hobbyists), and fewer still have the woodworking chops to craft a stringed instrument. This conversation isn’t a tutorial on how to build a violin. We’re speaking with Ms. An because her views on craft can and ought to inform our own. When she succeeds—and she usually does—her skill enables another person to achieve something that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Her work has much in common with ours in other ways, as well, and I know that you’ll enjoy hearing her perspectives on her profession as much as I did. Please join me in the conversation that follows with Ayoung An (Anna Arietti), luthier. Seth S. Leopold MD:As you think about what you love about your profession, to what degree is it the process of building these spectacular instruments—these works of art—and to what degree is it the outcome (enabling a musician to do something magical) that most appeals to you? Or is it something else altogether? Ayoung An: I believe that it is a blend of all these factors. I take pleasure in the process of creating something with my own two hands and leaving a mark that someone will remember long after (Fig. 2). But since the ultimate purpose of a musical instrument is to be played, I feel especially satisfied when all these goals are achieved. Dr. Leopold:I recall a quote from a college football coach that went something like, “You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse.” While good surgeons and top-of-the-world luthiers all want to improve, it isn’t necessarily easy to find ways to do that. What suggestions do you have for people who are already very skillful? How should they think about continued improvement? What do you do to keep improving? Ms. An: One of the greatest advantages of working as a violinmaker here in Cremona is that there are many skilled violinmakers in the area. I can share experiences and knowledge with those around me, and I can also learn from them. I also believe that imitation is another way to develop. By imitating the working methods and techniques of others, one can reinterpret and absorb their style, ultimately gaining techniques and insights. The most important thing is to not become complacent or fear new challenges; you must keep trying new things. Dr. Leopold:In doing orthopaedic surgery, there’s often an interplay between knowing things (for example, how many screws or plates it takes to fix a fracture of a particular pattern securely) and having a level of “craft.” Some things aren’t taught in textbooks, but when we see them done, we can see that they were done well. Surgeons often even use words like “beautiful” when describing a result on an x-ray or even the process during surgery itself. How does this balance get expressed in your work? I suspect that is the difference between a beautiful violin that plays exquisitely and “just a violin.” Ms. An: In our work, there are standard dimensions and shapes. However, these are not absolute measurements or definitive “answers.” To produce better sound, we may modify dimensions or shapes and consider wood characteristics such as density. Additionally, we may adjust the dimensions and shapes according to the player's style or physique to ensure the musician feels more comfortable while playing. This is precisely the difference between “just a violin” and an instrument that meets a musician’s needs by addressing his or her preferences and comfort (Fig. 3). There may well be surgical analogies here. Dr. Leopold:What you do seems to involve a special relationship with the tools you use. It seems to call for a good balance of the right equipment, good hand-eye skills, and thoughtful planning. Of course, even the right equipment in ineffective hands can’t deliver the desired result. Can you comment a bit on your relationship with your tools? Ms. An: We use a wide variety of equipment and tools, and several tools may work for any particular task. For example, to adjust the thickness of wood, some makers use planes while others use scrapers. Each maker uses the tools they prefer and feel comfortable with, selecting tools according to the desired outcome. I am ambidextrous, but I primarily use my left hand. Therefore, I use tools that have been modified to fit my left hand for many tasks. I especially enjoy looking at other violinmakers' workbenches because, even though they achieve the same results, each maker has tools that have been modified to fit their hands. These tools, tailored to fit perfectly in the hands of the maker, help achieve the best results and also save time. Dr. Leopold:Some people describe a state of “flow,” where, let’s say, a difficult surgical procedure is going smoothly and efficiently—no wasted steps, precise movement, effective decision-making—even though it’s a challenging task. Some surgeons say that achieving this flow state more often depends on a combination of mental preparation, picturing the final product, and then rehearsing all the steps to get there. Do you find yourself in this kind of flow state when crafting your violins, and if so, what steps do you take to achieve “flow”more often? Ms. An: Yes, I do experience this, and I have a few routines that I perform before starting my day to achieve a “flow” state more frequently. After arriving at my workshop and before beginning my tasks, I write down a plan for the day's work. Then, to create an environment in which I can concentrate best, I set up music and lighting, and I prepare the tools—like sharpening my knives on a whetstone—for the day's tasks. As I sharpen my tools in my preferred environment, I mentally simulate the tasks I will perform that day. This process is like a form of meditation for me.
Author: Seth S. Leopold
Institution: Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research
Language: English
Subfield: Music
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4402735928