Crumhorn Building

Derived from the German Krumhorn  meaning bent horn it is a Renaissance woodwind instrument played with a double reed. Now what does that have to do with us is a very good question. If you recall in a previous blog post I spoke a bit about Steve being a musical instrument technician prior to becoming a full-fledged woodturner / woodcarver. He graduated from Five Towns College which at the time was one of the few musical instrument repair colleges in NY. Steve worked for a couple of well known music shops on Long Island and even owning his own store at one point. When moving to VA the plan was to leave most of that life in the back room so to speak. Of course that was until we met Karen and Mel Lee. Karen is an artist friend of ours from OASIS Fine Art & Craft Gallery and together with her husband Mel they formed the group Nonesuch with a couple of other musicians.

Mel and Karen were over to the studio one day as we had often chatted about all of the instruments that we brought from NY to VA. One of the talks led to building a Crumhorn. Steve said yes and Mel ordered the kit from England. Many weeks later, after much sanding, carefully cutting tone holes at the right angles and staining and polishing it was finished. Now the rest was up to Mel. Learn and have some fun with this new old world instrument.

We think that he and the group are having some enjoyable times coaxing smooth notes from it. I hear that they have already toured a young student recorder class with it. If you are in the area plan to attend the "Raid at Ft. Harrison, Dayton, Virginia" on May 19th where you will be able to hear the heavenly sounds of a crumhorn.  

 So until next we meet…Play the right branch