Charles Harman, Violinmaker
My love of the violin was documented early on in life by a composition I wrote when I was seven years old titled, “I loves me violin.” My mother had a lovely soprano voice, played the piano and was an enthusiastic and very supportive listener. I had started violin lessons at the National Institute of Music and Arts in Los Angeles and later took private lessons from Mr. Katzman. When I was 11 years old I played Brahm’s Hungarian Dance #5 at the Wilshire Ebel Theatre. As a child I also loved to make airplane models and whittle with wood, later taking a wood shop course in Junior High school.
In 1961 I purchased a cello and viola from Rembert Wurlitzer and started taking cello lessons from Styra Avins and playing viola – Mozart Duo I, K.423, Allegro, Elza Reed, violin and Dr. Charles Harman, viola. Since this time I had developed a keen interest in music therapy along with my medical studies and experiences in psychiatry and neurology. When we moved to Brookings twenty years later, I met Eugene Andrie, a retired professor of music from The University of Montana. Gene was a great violinist, teacher and conductor who had started the Missoula Symphony Orchestra, and the oldest Youth Symphony in the U.S. I helped him with others to start the Brookings Friends of Music and the Curry Del Norte Orchestra (both of which remain active now 25 – 27 years later).
In 1985 I began to learn violinmaking from Victor Gardener and from the classic books of the Hill Brothers, Sacconi, Weisshaar and Goodkind; as well as publications and advice from Robert Cauer. I had enjoyed a trip to Italy sponsored by Strings Magazine. Robert Cauer and Rene Sharp were very important for my cello making.
My love of the viola and viola making was enhanced at the 1989 International Viola Congress and other Congresses sponsored by the American Viola Society. I continued to learn new things by reading over and over The History of the Viola Volumes I and II by Maurice Riley. There followed my latest book The Standard Viola, 2006. I have made violins again since 2009. I am the author, and publisher of books on politics 1995, history 2002, law 2002, and neurology/psychiatry 2003.
Charles Harman, P.O. Box 4031, Brookings, OR, 97415, phone – 541 469-6658, [email protected]
In 1961 I purchased a cello and viola from Rembert Wurlitzer and started taking cello lessons from Styra Avins and playing viola – Mozart Duo I, K.423, Allegro, Elza Reed, violin and Dr. Charles Harman, viola. Since this time I had developed a keen interest in music therapy along with my medical studies and experiences in psychiatry and neurology. When we moved to Brookings twenty years later, I met Eugene Andrie, a retired professor of music from The University of Montana. Gene was a great violinist, teacher and conductor who had started the Missoula Symphony Orchestra, and the oldest Youth Symphony in the U.S. I helped him with others to start the Brookings Friends of Music and the Curry Del Norte Orchestra (both of which remain active now 25 – 27 years later).
In 1985 I began to learn violinmaking from Victor Gardener and from the classic books of the Hill Brothers, Sacconi, Weisshaar and Goodkind; as well as publications and advice from Robert Cauer. I had enjoyed a trip to Italy sponsored by Strings Magazine. Robert Cauer and Rene Sharp were very important for my cello making.
My love of the viola and viola making was enhanced at the 1989 International Viola Congress and other Congresses sponsored by the American Viola Society. I continued to learn new things by reading over and over The History of the Viola Volumes I and II by Maurice Riley. There followed my latest book The Standard Viola, 2006. I have made violins again since 2009. I am the author, and publisher of books on politics 1995, history 2002, law 2002, and neurology/psychiatry 2003.
Charles Harman, P.O. Box 4031, Brookings, OR, 97415, phone – 541 469-6658, [email protected]
