A Strad Inspired Violin - Log 3/22/2010

Monday March 22, 2010
GNOYO Office and Instrument Donations

Monday morning after my stay with the Montes family I returned to the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra office, 170 Broadway, so I could take the photos I missed the night before when I delivered the instruments from Indianapolis.

Dr Montes family is seen below with from left to right Jaz, Sarah and Soley.

Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to capture a shot of Dr. Montes.  However Meriwether McGee forwarded the photo below of Dr. Montes with GNOYO board president, Katherine Cain and the beautiful "Dr. Samuel W. Siurua" memorial violin.

The GNOYO office sign is seen here.
















The violin in Sam's memory was earlier presented to the administrator, Meriwether McGee with case and Jon Paul Bravo Carbon fiber bow seen below.

In this room the instruments from Indianapolis are being stored before inventoring and final packing.

In the next room inventoried, packed instruments await the trip to Florida from where they will be flown to Haiti.

GNOYO had 20 instruments inventoried and packed.  The 15 from Indianapolis brought the total on hand to 35.  Another shipment of possible a dozen or so should have arrived Friday and did not.  If it arrives in time it will be added to the 35 on hand to go to Florda  Otherwise it will need to wait for a later trip. 


Monday Afternoon
On to Pascagoula, Moss Point, Kreole, and Pecan

I left the GNOYO office and headed directly to Mississippi on I-10.  I wanted to meet with Renee Gautier-Hague of the Genealogy Department at the Pascagoula Public Library. 

She assisted me earlier by sending an electronic file of the Jackson county, MS. Siurua family history page which Sam had written and submitted to the library some years before.  I had previously sent her an uneditable electronic copy of Sam's biographical sketches but wanted to download a fully editable version with additions since his passing.  That would allow them to utilize any materials including photos independently.  Renee was extremely helpful providing references, maps and directions to try to locate Kreole and Pecan sites.

As I had driven into town I was elated to see that the Pascagoula  train station was still standing.  I had found a picture of Sam standing in front of it ready to head off to college in Chicago and wanted to see the building for myself.  It is now the location of the Singing River Art Association and owned by the city.  It is no longer serving Amtrak trains.

Thank you to Scotty Montague (left) and John Lynn (right) at the Moss Point Fire Station who provided excellent directions over to Kreole and Pecan after I lost my way the first time in Moss Point.  Scotty, I forgot to mention that Sam graduated from Moss Point High School in the 1930's.

Below are photos of the Kreole Finnish Luthern Church and Cemetery which I finally located on the opposite side of Highway 90 from where I had been searching. I located them only after Scotty gave me assistance.

Below is bayou near Pecan similar to that Sam said he had to cross to reach the gulf coast.

Sam's grandfather planted the Pecan grove pictured below behind their property when he moved there before Sam was born. Although overgrown, trees are still living.

Sam's home still stands but not for long.  It changed hands several times after Ada's death and now is apparently Federal property to be leveled as part of an Army Corps of Engineers improvement project.  I am still trying to determine details but Scotty believes it is part of a plan to reduce flooding in the area.

I am holding several branches from a rosebud azalea bush standing at the side of the house next to the porch.  It was so sad and disappointing to see the old homestead deserted, neglected and doomed for demolition.  I was so pleased to notice the beautiful blooming bush and pick the blooms to photograph and bring back as a remembrance.  Sam and his mother Ada so loved beautiful flowers.

A Strad Inspired Violin - log 3/21/2010

Sunday,March 21, 2010
Trip to New Orleans  

Leaving Indy at 5:54 AM, by the time we crossed the Ohio river on I 65 heading to Louisville, KY. we were already making good.

Here at dawn you can still see Louisville city lights in this photo I shot with my camera phone.

12 hours later after a safe  825 mile (pleasantly uneventful) trip down I 65 to Birmingham, AL and across I 59 and I 10 into New Orleans I reached the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra office where volunteers helped unload.

This photo shows my approach to New Orleans over the I 10 cause way.

A Strad Inspired Violin - Log 3/20/2010

Saturday, March 20, 2010 

Ready for Pick Up

I arrived at Indianapolis Violins a few minutes after 10:00 AM and found Ben sealing the bridge ready for Chris to put on the violin’s strings.  Shortly we were tuning it, playing it and photographing it. 

This new violin is just as great as other instruments Ben has made from scratch, finished or set up. It is a lovely sounding, resonant instrument, even across the strings and positions, and easy to play.  It was as if my left ear was listening through a key hole into a concert hall.  Below Benjamin Parrott makes the formal presentation of Dr. Samuel Siurua’s Memorial Violin to me, Jerry Allen.

Below I make the formal presentation of Dr. Samuel Siurua’s Memorial Violin to the primary donor who made it possible, Diantha De Graw.  In the right foreground my sidekick Noble had to get in the picture.

Below on the left clearly visible through the bass side F hole is the label dedicating this commissioned Indianapolis Violins violin in the memory of Dr. Samuel W. Siurua.  On the right Donna Lively Clark kneels behind Sam’s instrument and two lovely violas while most of the other donated violins are displayed to her right.

A Strad Inspired Violin - Log 3/18/2010

Friday March 12, 2010 

In Memory of Dr. Samuel Wasson Siurua

In early February after the earthquake in Haiti Donna Lively Clark forwarded an e-mail to me regarding a project to replace instruments and other music materials lost by Holy Trinity Music School and Port au Prince, Haiti.  The e-mail was from Dr. Jean Montes of Loyola University and the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra.

Below is an image of the plea from the website of the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra

In Dr. Montes' own words:

Dear Friends,

Words are not enough to thank you for the level of kindness

you have expressed toward Haiti in the past few weeks. This

enormous tragedy exposed the fragility of our human

existence. It has also helped us reassess the true meaning

of our own lives.

Today, I am reaching out to you and your friends to make a

contribution to the future of Haiti.

The Holy Trinity School of Music, the most well-established

music school in Haiti, which gave me and many others the

foundation we needed to be musicians and become valuable

contributors on the world stage, lies in ruin. But the

spirit of the school lives on. Now, more than ever, we can

work together to make a positive impact in the lives of

Haiti’s young musicians.

While we are making efforts to rebuild the school, which was

a cultural center for the performing arts in Haiti, we need

to do something immediately to save lives and heal wounded

souls through the power of music.

Therefore, in this first phase of our efforts and with the

generous support of the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra

(a 501.c3 nonprofit organization), I am organizing a massive

effort to collect music instruments, as many as possible,

for the music students in Haiti who have lost everything.

We will be giving these students something tangible to hold

on to so they can continue to keep music in their lives.

Their new instruments will bring them comfort and support in

the wake of the earthquake in which most instruments and

supplies were lost.

In eight weeks, I will travel with a small group of

volunteers to Haiti for a three-day trip during which these

instruments will be distributed to the music students who

have survived the tragedy.

If, in the corner of your room or in your attic you have an

instrument that you would love to share with these children,

please send it to the GNOYO address on the attached flyer.

Place a legal-sized envelope with your name and address

inside the instrument’s case. We will take pictures of

each student with their new instrument and send the picture

to you.

The values and lessons I learned while growing up in Haiti

have made me the man, conductor, musician, and teacher I am

today. I have always been dedicated to giving back and

instilling hope in the youth of my homeland and I truly

understand the needs and struggles that the young people

encounter in the country. I believe that our efforts will

bring hope, joy, and relief to these students and will make

a valuable contribution toward a brighter future for the

people of Haiti.

Please share this with anyone you know who might be

interested in making a donation and help us spread the word

in various media outlets, such as the newspaper, radio, TV,

and the internet.

Thank you so much for your help. I will keep all of you

updated with the progress of our efforts.

 Sincerely,

****************

Dr. Jean Montes

Director of Orchestral Studies and Coordinator of Strings

Associate Professor of Music

Loyola University New Orleans

College of Music & Fine Arts

6363 St. Charles Avenue

Campus Box 8

New Orleans, LA 70118

504-865-2167

Fax: 504-856-2852

jmontes@loyno.edu

With the passing of Dr Samuel W. Siurua on February 21, 2010 it seemed only fitting to assist this relief effort by donating a violin in his memory.  A number of Sam's friends and my own including Diantha Degraw, Charles Hewitt, Leslie Kenny, and Joie Kipka contributed funds to this end.  Luthier Benjamin Parrott agreed to quickly finish a good quality violin in the white and set it up with appropriate fittings under the auspices of Indianapolis Violins at cost.  The deadline for delivery to New Orleans, March 22nd now rapidly approaches.

Below are pictures of Ben and the violin with the ground coats of varnish dried and the next coat being applied on March 12th.

G.

Thursday, March 18, 2010


Work Progresses on Local Haitian Youth Music Relief Collections and Sam's Violin


Donna Lively Clark, an Indianapolis based professional violist and teacher, has coordinated the collection of instruments in central Indiana for the Haitian Youth Music Relief effort.  Donna  has taught at the Holy Trinity Music School in Port au Prince on a regular basis and has a number of students who were impacted by the earthquake.   This afternoon I picked up the last 2 of the 7 K. Holtz Model 30 Carbon Composite viola and violin bows from Frank's Violins.

Mark Kurkowski, General Manager, ordered the bows through Eastman Strings who deep discounted them because they were for the Haitian project.  Mark passed along the hugh savings so that we could stretch our tight budget as far as possible.  Unfortunately, 7 of the 12 violins and violas donated came without bows which were as essential to the students receiving them as the instruments themselves.

Below Mark is shown holding a purple K. Holtz Model 30 Viola bow just received at his new location, 6450 West 10th Street, Suite 6.

After thanking Mark I headed downtown to Indianapolis Violins to check on Ben's progress with Sam's violin.

As I mentioned before Benjamin is working with Ted Skreko and Chris Ulbricht who founded the Indianapolis Violins shop.

Below Ted and Chris stand holding the Jon Paul carbon fiber bow to go with Sam's violin which they generously provided at cost. Ted rehaired and restored this previously owned bow to near new condition.

I was delighted to see Ben's progress on Sam's violin today.  Here you can see the violin with the clamps still in place holding on the finger board he had glued this morning.

Below now with the clamps removed Ben stands showing on the left  the beautiful one piece maple back and on the right the fine spruce top.  Ben says that he may be pulling an all-nighter tonight so that he can fine tune the finger board and finish and setup the bridge, sound post, the end post and pegs as well as stringing it up, all by tomorrow morning's deadline.