Carleen Hutchins
Carleen Hutchins | |
---|---|
Born | May 5, 1911 |
Died | August 7, 2009 Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, United States | (aged 98)
Occupation(s) | acoustician, violinmaker and researcher |
Carleen Maley Hutchins (May 24, 1911 – August 7, 2009) was an American high school science teacher, violinmaker and researcher, best known for her creation, in the 1950s/60s, of a family of eight proportionally-sized violins now known as the
Hutchins’ greatest innovation, still used by many violinmakers, was a technique known as free-plate tuning. When not attached to a violin, the top and back are called free plates. Her technique gives makers a precise way to refine these plates before a violin is assembled.
From 2002 to 2003, Hutchins’s octet was the subject of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Titled “The New Violin Family: Augmenting the String Section.” Hutchins was the founder of the New Violin Family Association,[1]
creator-in-chief of the
The Hutchins Consort, named after Hutchins, is a California ensemble featuring all eight instruments.[3]
In 1974, Hutchins and Daniel W. Haines, using materials supplied by the Hercules Materials Company, Inc. (Allegany Ballistics Laboratory) of Cumberland, Maryland, developed a graphite-epoxy composite top that was determined to be a successful alternative to the traditional use of spruce for the violin belly.[4]
In popular culture
In Cormac McCarthy's novel Stella Maris, the main character, Alicia, talks about corresponding with Hutchins.[5]
References and notes
- ^ "The Carleen Hutchins Collection and Archive". Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ O’Brien, Elle (2019-11-19). "Carleen Maley Hutchins - Historical Biographies in Acoustics". Acoustics Today. Archived from the original on 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2021-11-28.
- ^ "The Hutchins Consort". Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ "Graphite-Epoxy Violin by Carleen Hutchins". Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ISBN 9780307269003.
External links
- The Carleen Hutchins Collection/Archive
- The Hutchins Consort
- "Carleen Hutchins, Innovative Violin Maker, Is Dead at 98," New York Times, August 8, 2009
Further reading
American Luthier: Carleen Hutchins—the Art and Science of the Violin by Quincy Whitney, Foredge, 2016,