As a master luthier, I believe it is my calling to create instruments that give the violinist, violist or cellist his or her own voice. No matter how the musician desires to shape the sound (including dynamics, tonal colors, projection and power), the resonances of the instrument must provide the necessary acoustic foundation. This is the work of the violinmaker. The actual artwork is not the visible wooden shape that is seen. It is the tonal sculpture that is heard. This is a product of the encounter between the musician and the resonances which the musician “plays” in a musical way.
- Palette reflecting the artistic ambitions of my youth © Martin Schleske
For acoustic reasons, I like to compare the mystery of the violin’s sound to the painter's palette. In this spectral analogy, the resonances are comparable to the different nuances of color which the painter mixes. I believe it is my job as a violinmaker to provide these “colors” on a palette for the musician to use. The palette is the resonance profile which I create in all of the vibration patterns. The mixability of these colors corresponds to the musical flexibility and modulability of the sound. The artist communicates through the colors like the violinist does with the instrument's resonances. The spectrum of tonal colors which the musician uses in his or her creative process is rooted in the resonance profile.
Today, my artistic passion is driven by a desire to transform tone wood into resonances. My investigation into wood and how to refine it, my varnish formulas and material compositions, my prototype work and thickness graduations as well as my ongoing advancement of the radiant power and dynamics of my instruments all serve a single objective: The creation of resonances. This is the only way to make an instrument that is a strong partner. The resonance profile embodies the instrument’s acoustic subtlety and diversity, its power and its radiance: The breathing Helmholtz resonance in the lower range. It gives the sound its softness and warmth, the openness of singing vocal formants, the radiating corpus resonances, the brilliance and projection, the core of the tone and the necessary radiancy as well as the high plate resonances with their diverse “islands of vibration” and node lines. The deeper I probe in my acoustic investigation of the violin, the more I gain a sense of reverence for its mystery.
This is my website’s sound center where you can discover some of the musical colors and motifs of my instruments: