Artist's Statement The sound of my violins is inspired by how the greatest 18th century violin makers built their sound and how the greatest artists of the past thought about the making of art. The two most important mottoes (the originals were in Latin) which guided the thoughts of the artists from that age were: Art is nothing without Science. and Art imitates Nature. hence, I have adopted these mottos for myself. Since every human action arises from an attitude, by intuiting the attitudes from the great violins of the 18th century which are still playable today, one can observe the following using these two mottoes as a guide. Further, these observations can be divided into two groups, one being Science related and the other being Art related. Art The human voice is the greatest of all instruments, therefore all instruments should seek to emulate the sound and behavior of the human voice as much as and in every way as far as possible. Every decision in the making of an instrument must reflect an understanding of how the soul of the perceiver responds. The musical qualities of expression of the human voice must be the standard by which an instrument must be judged for how it sounds and plays. Integrity of aesthetic effect means that the sound, the appearance, and the play or feel of an instrument all have to agree. Naturalness was the most important aesthetic value of the ancients. Anything which violated this value was deemed inferior. Naturalness is the result of applying natural principles intelligently. Inamicable to naturalness are sameness (unvaried repetition), uniformity, or equality, a lack of freedom, a lack of intention, a self-conscious focus on flawlessness, and an absence of fixed principles or a specific feeling. Human beings love experiences that are multi-dimensional. Quality is the result of the universal principles having been applied. Anything of quality is multi-dimensional. Love and paying attention are one and the same thing. Anything which increases attention paying, up to but not including the point of obviousness, is good. Paradox creates abiding interest...the appearance of animation or "soul" in inanimate objects, for instance. Art imitates nature when interest and beauty are in perfect balance. Beauty satisfies the mind; while interest satisfies the senses. Beauty without interest feels cloying and dull. Interest without beauty seems both prurient and irrelevant. True judgment, like good taste, reflects an appreciation for the real and the essential in everything. The best judge rejects everything that is false and superficial. Every work comes from the soul of its maker. Therefore, improve your soul to improve your art or your science. A violin, made without a working knowledge of the Sceince of Acoustics, is nothing more than fancy box with strings on it and is worth no more than the lowest price such objects fetch on the open market. Science This is foundation of the Science of Acoustics: One, the Musical Ratios as determined by Pythagoras around 600 BC ... Two, Sound understood as a form of energy, like the motions of wind, water, earth and fire, which behaves in predictable ways that can be managed, formed, controlled and refined to produce the best result possible... And Three, Fixed principles are the basis of the production of everything good. That which is not good was produced without any fixed principles. The greatest violin makers worked strictly using fixed principles. Each principle is the cause of some good effect. Through careful observations, linking causes with effects, one can control the causes to produce the desired effects. Mastery in any craft is apparent when work is neat, seems easy or appears effortlessly done, and is right the first time. The ancients seem to have hated the self consciousness of a fussy perfectionistic attitude in any aesthetic experience. In a great work of art, little is left to chance. On a great violin, everything contributes to the acoustical result. Judging a thing is best done when the judge focuses on essentials...not on superficials. Flexibility of behavior and strength or intensity of structure create naturalness in musical instruments, in music and in musical performances. Nature and true artists always find this balance. The science of the art of violin making is partly the science of aesthetics and partly the science of acoustics. There are no secrets to the sciences of acoustics and aesthetics if one takes the trouble to learn those sciences. This brings me to my third and fourth mottos, adopted from Johann Sebastian Bach, the greatest musical mind, I believe, ever to have existed. "Anyone who works as hard as I can do the same." [ J.S. Bach...when asked about his abilities] and "All things must be possible." These are the values and attitudes that are at the heart of each instrument I make. The complex methods and processes I use to make a violin are based on these simple observations and guided by these mottos. Each violin I produce is the result of spruce and flamed maple, wood that is selected for its musical structure and qualities, acoustically processed and seasoned, then carefully crafted, musically proportioned and acoustically adjusted to create the tone and timbre of a human voice, and finally, varnished using a varnish recipe that achieves the same acoustical, physical, and visual properties as the antique Italian varnishes (under UV light they fluoresce exactly the same colors), which is then polished and readied for playing. Each instrument is played in to further refine its set up to create a finished work of acoustical art and to make sure that it is ready to be used to play in concert. The differences between each of my instruments result from the natural differences in the woods used in each instrument and from the pattern or model on which the specific instrument is based. Every effort is taken to optimize the acoustics of each instrument without sacrificing the individuality contributed by the wood itself. Hence, every instrument sounds as different from another in the same way each of the instruments of a great 18th century violinmaker sound different from each other as well as from the violins of his contemporaries. My object is not to create a Hill sound; rather, it is to create a violin that has a voice and personality as unique as each human being. Beyond that it is to create the highest quality sound for that voice as is humanly possible. Any success in achieving that aim must be judged by practicing musicians. I certify each instrument when it is purchased. It is then given the name of the player who purchased it, and that name is duly recorded on the certificate. Furthermore, each instrument has an opus number recorded in the order in which I made it. Since I also make a fair number of harpsichords and fortepianos, the numbers for the violins will not necessarily run in consecutive order. Finally, my signature can be found on my label in every violin. Each Keith Hill violin is built to possess the following 33 properties and characteristics, all of which are shared with the greatest violins made in the 18th century: Carrying Power - enough to completely fill a very large hall Projection of tone - the sound goes out to the listener Great Volume - to play concertos with a large ensemble Ease of Response - ready to sound at the will of the player Balance of sound across the strings Evenness of sound up and down the fingerboard Depth of tone - to create the effect of Paradox Intense Resonance - to fully support the softest sound produced Clarity of tone - to be easily heard in a complex texture Directness of sound - to create the feeling of immediacy in the sound Penetration of tone over large distances without loss of quality Breadth of tone - to surround the ears of each listener Flexibility of response -reflects the bow's slightest motion Subtlety of tone - mirrors the soul of the player Brilliance - designed to excite or stir the listener Color - conveys every timbre and affect intended by the player Tonal Reserve - a sound that keeps on giving, never caving in Strong Sensation of Pitch - makes playing in-tune easy Ringing tone - gives the effect that the instrument is singing Intensity of tone - creates a feeling that the instrument is alive Sweetness of tone - to gratify the player as well as the listener Focused or Centered tone - creates a solid core to the sound Buoyancy of tone - a lightness of effect...the sound floats Resiliency of tone - sound appears to bounce, when needed Stability of tone - the tone holds steady on long bow strokes Fullness of tone - the ears and mind are filled with the sound Personality - the voice of the instrument feels human Strength of timbre - the sound color is clear and powerful Ease of producing harmonics Velvetiness - the effect that the sound is integrated and smoothly blended Distortion Resistance - strings resist being distorted Powerful Upper Register - imitating the high notes of a singer Each note begins with a Cercare dela Nota (pronounced: chair-car-eeh - a 17th century Italian technique in which a lower note rises suddenly and silently to a main note) Overglow-the effect of the sound continuing to sound into the next note creating a seamless gesture of notes...otherwise known as legato in music. The degree to which each Hill instrument exhibits these qualities, is the degree to which each maybe considered successful. If you are interested to have a sampler CD of the sounds of several of my violins compared to some fine antique violins using the same piece, email me with your request. If you are interested to try out one of my fiddles, email me and let me know where you live and I can send you to one of my agents.