A Million Violins Singing Out Of The Boondocks

The violin is basically a sound box from which tones produced on the attached strings resonate. It is played with a bow and is a member of the violin family along with the viola, cello and double bass.

It sounds simple, but the violin is one product that derives profit more from value-added craftsmanship rather than from the material itself. Two sets of equally superior wood made into violins by two different persons, one a master craftsman and, the other, a master carpenter, respectively, will yield two totally different things – one a toy and, the other, a jewel. The cost of wood for a violin can be as low as ten percent of the total price or even less.

At the start, the product will just be the violin, but later on, the business will encompass all of the violin family. After all, they are also made of wood and fabricated with more or less the same tools and equipment. To illustrate, if I have a bandsaw just like in Taytay, I can cut small as well as big. And since I deal with wood, I can also make marimbas, xylophones and improved "angklungs" with three octaves (using hollowed out wood instead of bamboo). Anyone who hears "Banda Kawayan" or "Pangkat Kawayan" perform never fails to be captivated by the angklungs' heavenly sound.

I'm also thinking of developing a "new" violin, incorporating all the accumulated knowledge and technology in physics (acoustics and statics), engineering (materials science and structural design) and chemistry (finishes and adhesives). It will be called ad interim an "harmonic violin." One of the difficulties in playing the instrument is the physical obstruction posed by the violin body itself, so that the higher registers on the strings are very hard to reach. The new violin the author has in mind will do away with that problem.

Principally, the body of the violin has two types of wood: a "soft wood" for the top plate or belly and a "hard wood" for the back, ribs and neck. The Western standard wood are spruce (soft) and maple (hard). Given the right seasoning and craftsmanship, it is the delicate balance between a "soft wood" and a "hard wood," as against the scientific terms "softwood" and "hardwood," that makes a superior sounding violin.

For me, wood can be classified according to the way the bandsaw behaves during cutting. Based on the “toughness test” in Taytay which is measured by the frequency of blade breakage, local wood are of six types: 1) Soft Wood (SW), e.g., Mangga and Santol; 2) Moderate Wood (MW), e.g., Duhat and Langka; 3) Hard Wood (HW), e.g., Caimito and Sampaloc; 4) Extra Hard Wood (EHW), e.g., Saplungan, Magkuno, Dungon and Ibano; 5) Super Hard Wood (SHW), e.g., Madre Cacao or Kakauate and the inner cores of EHW; 6) Soft-but-Tough Wood (STW), e.g., Dilang Butike and Balete (wherein the blade often breaks as with the SHW).

The play of combinations of various wood in violin-making can prove to be a goldmine. Imagine, now the Philippines can produce violins, not just the light-colored ones (Caimito and Sampaloc), but also yellow (Langka), brown (Banaba), red (Tindalo), gray (Himbabao) and even black (Ibano) violins.

Until now, only the Langka wood is known to have been used for the violin by an unknown local hobbyist. According to persons who were able to hear a Langka violin, its distinctive nasal sound could make one cry.

The violin bow is another matter. Local wood comparable to the standard Brazilwood, called "Pernambuco," are Madre Cacao and most inner cores of SHW.

Tie-up with PIRASTRO GmbH of Germany or THOMASTIK-INFELD of Austria for a license to manufacture bowed strings is in the works. A Stradivarius violin will not give its distinctive sound if ordinary steel strings are used. The quality of the strings is important because they are the ones that principally vibrate and make the sound. So far the best strings for the violin, i.e., G, D and A, are made of gut wound with silver or aluminum alloy. E-string is always chrome steel alloy. But I leave it to Pirastro or Thomastik to determine the best strings for my violins.

There is one service I would like to go into which is related to violin-making. In the Philippines, there are many old imported violins which are broken because the glue gave way. I have seen not a few violins made of maple with tiger flames, just stashed in my friends' houses and badly needing repair. I can buy them cheap, repair them to sound like a Strad or a Guarnerius, and resell them. Mang Diding taught me how a China-made violin could sound great. I can offer violin repair as a service.

There is a growing market for small-sized violins among children. Some private schools include in their curriculum lessons in playing musical instruments, and one of the favorites is the violin.

Commercial China-made violins have fingerboards made of regular wood, stained black to resemble ebony. That is a blunder because the violin fingerboard has to be made of ironwood (dictionary term) against which the strings are pressed down. Bowing a note pressed down on a string against a soft wood will produce a muffled effect. The violin fingerboard is purposely made without frets to allow for vibrato.

To my mind, a child who wants to learn the violin needs a Mercedes-Benz type of instrument, for the violin is difficult to play to begin with. A child can only progress on the violin when his or her curiosity is stimulated by the clear, resonating sound it ought to produce. Hardly a child prodigy emerges who uses a dull violin.

Because my violins will not come cheap for at least the next three years, my marketing model will be Birds International, Inc. -- the biggest and most successful breeder of exotic birds in the world -- based in Quezon City, Philippines. The owner's son-in-law was a classmate of mine during my MBA days.

Birds International has 20,000 heads of exotic birds at any given time, mostly for export to Europe, Japan and the U.S. It has more number of rare Amazon species of macaws than in the Amazon itself. The birds are not cheap -- they are priced in dollars. One Scarlet Macaw, for example, costs US$5,000. A Blue-and-gold Macaw costs US$10,000. The rarest Spix's Macaw costs more than US$20,000. Although Birds International exports exotic birds, it also sells to local buyers, but they have to pay the peso equivalent.

It's hard to imagine that people will pay US$5,000 for a bird, but Birds International is thriving and its feathery pets are selling. And so are other high-end products, like Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Porsche, Rolex and Steinway.

However, the author believes that the best marketing strategy is by word of mouth. That is especially true with regard to signature violins. They will command a good price if violinists themselves can attest to their superior sound quality. Antonio Stradivarius may be famous for violins, but virtuoso violinists since the time of Niccolo Paganini up to Jascha Heifetz favor Giuseppe del Gesu (Guarnerius) violins, which today along with those made by the former fetch millions of dollars per. How to achieve that superior sound quality is a long kept secret. I'll start selling violins in my own country, and hopefully, make inroads abroad.

At the onset, I'll make representations with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and Peace Philharmonic Philippines (based in Cebu City). Some of them I know since my PYO days. A good number of them, especially violinists, are professionals -- accountants, engineers, bankers, dentists, etc. -- who can each afford to buy a second or another violin.

I'll also approach deans of music colleges in various universities in Metro Manila, like University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas and St. Scholastica's College, for them to endorse superior sounding locally-made violins among their students. As a promotional drive, I'll donate 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 4/4 sizes of my violins to each of the music departments. I'll include a stand-up cabinet with sliding glass front cover for students to have a chance to view and try the instruments.

I'll also tie up with the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (Presidential Proclamation 1173) based in the Cultural Center of the Philippines. I'll donate violins as prizes for winners in the district, provincial, regional and national levels. Not to worry though, for there are not a lot who participate in the violin category, fortunately. I'll also furnish the CCP with the display cabinet mentioned above as a permanent exhibit of locally-made violins.

I have relatives in the United States -- a sister and a brother plus uncles and aunts. They can act as sales agents for me. Or I'll directly contact reputable music schools in the US, like Juilliard School, and send them sample violins.

There is one notable violinmaker in the country by the name of Amador Tamayo, a cellist. But he uses imported woods, maple and spruce, while I will be using tropical woods. He trained in Germany and makes use of the conventional wooden block for violin mould. On my part I will make use of the more practical wrought metal mould that Mang Diding showed me for shaping the violin ribs in place. The thing is, a metal mould is harder to make than a wooden mould. But it can be done.

When Mang Diding was making the violin I commissioned him, it took him about two years to finish it. I checked on my violin once a week or every fortnight, and each time I went to his house, it was not yet done. I was a teenager then and he was in his twilight years. But the experience proved to be a blessing in disguise for me, because I came to know by heart every step of violinmaking along the way. I even asked him to do this and that for my violin with which he obliged. Our collaboration imbued me with the desire to make violins one day.

Actually, the story went like this. I asked him to repair my old imported violin with rare close tiger flames. Every time I checked on him, it was not yet finished. The repair went on for about a year. To my frustration, I just went back to him after a year, so that was two years already. When I returned, he told me that he thought I was not going back anymore for my violin, so he sold it. That was the reason he was forced to make a new violin for me which took him another two years.

Mang Diding was not the amicable type of person as you might have expected him to be. He was as tall as he was stubborn and opinionated, especially, with regard to the violin. But I was the type of guy, a teenager, who always bore with him. His sons, now in their advanced age, never followed in his footsteps.

The violins will be made using tropical woods hitherto unexplored for such purpose. Practically all violins in existence are made of temperate woods. The undertaking, which will also serve as a laboratory, can and will dispel myths about the instrument since Stradivarius' time.

Furthermore, the violins will be custom-made to suit the relatively small hands of Filipino or, for that matter, Asian users. Standard violins are tailor-fitted to European or Caucasian hands. By adjusting the length of the violin neck and fingerboard by, say, a couple of centimeters, the otherwise frustrated violinists can now play with relative ease bravura passages involving double-stops and chords in firsts (simultaneous bowing of the same notes on two adjacent strings) and tenths (spanning five-finger steps from the tip of the bent left-hand index finger to the tip of the outstretched little finger) which pervade the virtuoso violin works of Niccolo Paganini.

I'm an architect by training, a musician at heart, a poet by coincidence, an essayist by rude awakening and a chicken house builder by necessity.

I'm particularly fond of wood, admiring the beauty of its grain, texture and color. There is no better way to immortalize the beauty of Philippine wood than to showcase them in the form of violins for posterity. I want the younger generations to see how common wood such as Caimito, Duhat, Mangga, Sampaloc and Santol look like, and better yet, sound.

I have firsthand knowledge of most wood found in Rizal Province. I had them cut in Taytay, Rizal - pizza pie style for violin purposes - the way Stradivarius cut his maple and spruce. Most of the wood I collected are kept for seasoning.

Sympathetic resonance as applied to the violin means that to find the right intonation or pitch for a given note, a violin virtuoso has to find an open string that will vibrate in unison with it. For example, the virtuoso will know whether lower A (la), stopped by the left-hand index finger on the G-string, is in correct pitch when, while being bowed, the open A-string will vibrate. I said violin virtuoso because not all violinists know this or are aware of the phenomenon, and it is not something that is taught in violin methods. But I don't claim to be a virtuoso violinist.

The budding company can make the Philippines proud, for it will make world-class violins for export. Every violin will be a masterpiece, showcasing the beauty of local woods and the ingenuity of Filipino craftsmen.

Filipinos can then be aware of the value of local trees. They will care for them as they grow to maturity, knowing that the wood is valuable and can be made into violins. The company will be willing to pay P1,000 pesos for every year the tree has grown within at least 20 years. Hence, it will be worth P20,000 by then. If it is 25 years old, its value will be P25,000. From now on, they can start growing trees even in their own backyards.

As revenues from violin sales pour in, the company can set up a nursery for endangered rare species of Philippine trees. It can even put up large-scale industrial tree plantations in cooperation with the Forest Management Bureau. A million violins will then be singing out of the sustainable forest thus created. Later on, the company can form a symphony orchestra. It will be fittingly called Sierra Madre Symphony or Boondocks Philharmonic.

Violin-playing can be a deterrent to juvenile deliquency, especially drug addiction. Music, classical in particular, uplifts the spirit and fortifies the soul. It instills excellence and discipline. It is the belief of the author that every youth has genius, and if he or she cannot find outlet for its expression other than to articulate it, then problems associated with growing up will result.

The Filipino youth of today only know pop music. Local TV networks sensationalize pop music in singing competitions as if becoming a pop singer is the pinnacle of every youth's success. The effect is that the youth idolize local pop artists even to the point of wanting to become singers themselves so that they can go to Japan as entertainers or "Japayukis" someday. On account of so many Japayukis coming to Japan, the Diet Parliament raised the educational level for foreign entertainers. It is principally because of the fact that many Japanese are able to marry Japayukis, and the union produces, sad to say, lackluster children. The girls, especially, follow in their mothers' footsteps, and so we see second- and third-generation Japayukis. I should know because my brother married a Japayuki, whose sisters and nieces are all modern-day geishas, and her mother, now a mama-san. They have separated for good, luckily, and his ex-wife went back to her former ways. How can the Philippines industrialize with such sorry state of affairs?

With the violin, the youth will be exposed to nobler classical music, like those of Beethoven (Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor"), Mendelssohn (Symphony No. 4, "Italian"), Mozart (Piano Concerto Nos. 13 and 21) and Schubert (Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished"), and even the beautiful music of great violin virtuosos like Paganini (Violin Concerto No. 1), Wieniawski (Polonaise in A Major, the "theme song" of this business plan, as performed by Alexandra Yangel on YouTube), Sarasate (Introduction and Tarantella) and Vieuxtemps (Violin Concerto No. 5).

All industrialized countries and even newly-industrializing ones (e.g., South Korea) appreciate classical music. It is the music of great leaders who run nations, corporations and organizations -- Presidents, CEOs, scientists and other intellectuals. It is the sound-track to critical thinking essential in development. Without it, intellectuals will go nuts. A case in point is the last president of the now defunct Urban Bank in the Philippines, the late Teodoro C. Borlongan, in whose memory this business plan is humbly dedicated. If he only knew classical music, he could not have committed suicide.