November 1 9 1965 NEWSLETTER MO. 4 THE CATCHUP ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY As announced in the last issue,, a concert was «ivan at thn vw vm« in New York City on.. May 20,1965 at. whi* the S/vioJin "~" all eight members was presented toj public^ r,"*>"tfa^iD%««-_-, "Consort the The for True Violins",,— compose d^anf^^ed by The music gave each of the instruments a real, HenlHr^t their work-out, cSISL musical potential in various combinations of parts a^d fSfm^from solo, duo, and trio to a thick texture of the entiri oatet? B 00t f lhe"fffS? ne'w^^iSfeed^?!!.^:^ -" ° **«»"« %&£*£*£ Leopold Stokowski was in the large audience, and was del igbtS'd He told Louis Condax that he would never forget the sound of thf viola in The New York Times' Howard Klein quoted Maestro Stokowski ?s "We need to revise all. the orchestral instruments. The strings have needed this treatment for a long time. Now the woodwinds nS! -1 Z _LXi^ o motIL- In his review of May 21 „ 1.Q65,. Mr. Klein went on to say- "The produced wonderful and rumblings, the sonorities of. the Mgher viol fes re m high registers. The resonance of the c.foodTh p .food middle rln^e lis M lnst ent3 > whe paying their lowest notes, soundfd tiLT or¥?J£&nasal, so "there is workf to be done. But a the major step toward rwSvat'n* strings for the first time in 200 years has been tLen?!f aSi bravo^ msiola 8 who Vl^* «» new weref * instruments in their premiere concert __ Max Pollikoff Treble vjolin Lrnestine Briemeister Soprano violin Lllla Ealman — Mezzo violin lll^L^yf —- (vertical viola) Peter Rosenfeld TenorA"?.^?violinl^ Joseph Tekula Baritone violin David Walter Bass violin Stuart Sankey G ontrabass viol in Many members of the Catgut Acoustical Sooiaty, who shared m the have actually work of developing these instruments over the past sev-n years, were in the audience. Interested musicians came from far and near One violinist, Marie Bond Riggenbach, flew all the way m from her home Monte Vista,^Colorado,^especially for the concert. We have received a great deal of other publicity as up-to-date well . To brino- what was reported in the last Newsletter % (1) Carleen Hutchins spoke to the Acoustical Society of America at its June meeting in Washington, B.C. This included a presentation new family of the of eight instruments. These were judged of particular inter- est to this group because they represent the first time in history t*at a consistent theory of acoustics has been successfully applied to a whole family of musical instruments,, ha-^, 2 (2) Publication in the American String Teacher of* (a) "The Catgut Acoustical Society Involved in Improving Stringed Instruments", Spring 19.65, John Schelleng (bj "The New Violin Family", Spring 1965,, Carleen Hutchins (c) "Three Firsts for the New Violin Family", Summer 1965, o. Hutchins (d) "The Hazards of Weather on the Violin", Fall 1965,Robert Fryxell (3) The Princeton University Press has expressed interest in a publish- ing program which would include (a) the original writings of Savart with translations by Donald Fletcher (as discussed in Newsletter N0.2) (b) Frederick Saunders published papers, and (c) other research, papers in this field. In addition they are interested in a book on violin research which would encompass all of the efforts of our Society members. John Schelleng and Carleen Hutchins are already involved in a start on this project. (4) Heinrich Roth, of Scherl Roth in Cleveland,, has already arranged to have six vertical violas made from Maxwell Kimball's drawings in the Roth shops in Germany. These are to be finished except for plate tuning, which will be done by Carleen Hutchins. As this is being written, she has just received the first instrument from. Mr. Roth. With all of this expanding activity and publicity, it is clear that we, as the Catgut Acoustical Society, both individually and collectively, are making our mark on the musical world. This brings with it an increasing responsibility which 'requires added efforts on the part of all of us, both in time and in financial, resources. As one example, previous Newsletters have been published in quantities of 150, nearly three times the number needed to satisfy our current membership; yet almost all copies have been sent out to others who have expressed interest and who are in a position to aid in furthering our objectives. The present issue will be published in a quantity of 250 in anticipation of the increasing number of interested musicians and scientists. Since we are "getting known",, your Executive Committee has drawn up the following "Requirements for Membership" with no intent to destroy our informal nature, but merely to codify what we believe is a reason- able minimum of regulations a sort of thing which any organization must have as it grows. This —statement, together with "Aims of the Catgut Acoustical Society" published in the last Newsletter, constitute our charter and is the information which will, be sent out to any who express interest in our activities. REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP To be eligible for membership in the Catgut Acoustical Society, a candidate must subscribe to the aims of the Society, as set forth in Newsletter N0.3, and express tangible interest therein. Suitable expression of such active interest may be either direct aid in carrying out musical and technical projects or a monetary contribution towards defraying expenses of printing, postage,, etc. Although both types of support are equally valued, and although there are no official dues,, it is hoped that members will find it possible to share in the latter way, if only modestly. Names will be removed from the membership list after three years of complete inactivity. This requirement goes into effect with this issue of the Newsletter and is not retroactive. Any member may sponsor a candidate for membership by sending name, address and qualifications to the Secretary: Carleen Hutchins, 112 Essex Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey. A list of proposed members will be y within six months of publication! ln good ate^i*S 8 he b< e ~ newsletterNewsletter are y1 «£^ ? T S li7t7d~"in the" last" b^« hereby elected to membership. They are- 11 Road Dr'Earll ?"£SJ» iVS"* New JerseyV «rpS^ , 00m Slkhart, Indiana 1 ll1 ?AMa i^" - nolia SrWT^!!" £ S Lane, Princeton, New "JerseyJersey , Dr. W. Lottermoser,' Braunschweig, Germany N V'Y riS/f^ 8011 111 Washingtol ' ' ' ' 2"WE laH^'^S aSL^*^Stitute of Cleveland, Ohio d Si?g? SS*? K&* $£» ont 2tS°i wM^ Sanitorium;London,Ont.- W a (in I le to'carl^Hutchins)^"! Sa krison t?ef SHd*' °°*oerts""-^in (State Washington last spring and on these *""" ° of) on the eacA of t^I ed a group of pieces viola*. I demonstrated ??»?+£»,c Conference at Educators National PortllSd in f^?i Mvl,o .^sic oom (Robert Whitcomb) hM written P^er-in-re Sidence and piano which { a'bXtif^ T* 1 01 n&^gS^^Tg^lay> falls m love with this v-ini^ t d iw ! P the audience* prod^e some. iS going to I oouid sell a hundred^? thefm Th ubll teaohers see at once the value nf * t P school music ?hs = ! 0 ment, and they would ° 11 instru" l^to have fplrt orcne stras. p q „„,„„! oS^raf AsL^"soon*as* violas are availahl t 8 t0 *Starti 8 the school « " 0US a West Coast olas s for public (inst^ttoS. A o e " 01 made by a ?" 7 R.Parramon of Barcelonaa rre-strung L 7=i i R^ (vertioal viola) ?g!£« "i" SMJS" ' Ced I T 6 fo lowin new S candidates are proposed for membership (ni} M i B rt 989 Memorial Drive, OxbridgecUUOXIa e MassJttass. On^^wContributedl^valuablef i?^»editorial assistance = » (2) Dr.Bernard 605 National Amateur. pickstein, Building, Flint I,ilChlsanMiahi«n' violinist and string instrument enthusiast Bassist,- helping to demonstrate the new instruments (4) Miss Mar jorie.Bram, 332 Vose Avenue, South Oran-e New Ter-^v Music", a group performing on a consort of viols V (5) and Mr. Mrs. Quincy Porter, Holderness, New Hampshire Composer, violinist, violist (6) Mr. David Schwartz, 26 Gurley Road, Stamford, Conn Violist, Yale School of Music 3 ■ 4 (7) ß P N Dyer II The L.C.L. C0rp., Park Interestedpr 230 Avenue, N.Y.C, !l°i ?in the new violin family; active in supporting following its progress. IIS andana (8) uthier Lodge", l46l. Rosecrans, Violinist,,Vi;i?S?3 violin San Diego 6, Cal. maker,, and president of Southeri Californiaoainornia Association of Violin Makers. TREASURERS REPORT: Balance reported in Newsletter N0.2 as of 9/20/64. $120.10 Four contributions 150.00 #2*70.10 Expenditures: Reprints, "Physics of the Violin" $20.00 Postage 25.00 Newsletter expenses 33! 00 Photographs for Newsletter lo.'oo Bank service charge, l2 months 8.60 YMHA Concert 5/20/65 82 6$ 179.22 Balance, 9/20/65 o "We are * 0 30 happy to record the anonymous gift of $100.00 from one ent v ia t:LO a*>°ut the advancement of of stringeda i^ £ ? S research in the family instruments. It is very likely that with the increatin- interest in the new instruments costs that will also increase # the requests for Newsletters far AlsS exceeds that of the memberb! Until' such a time as a grant will provide these costs, donations are sought from our earnestly members. There are no dues. May I urse that yyou contribute to this undisputedly worthy cause." * Sincerely, Virginia Apgar, Treasurer.