Carleen Maley Hutchins (May 24, 1911 – August 7, 2009) was an American high school science teacher, violin-maker and researcher, best known for her creation, in the 1950s/60s, of a family of eight proportionally sized violins now known as the
violin octet (e.g., the
vertical viola) and for a considerable body of research into the
acoustics of violins. She was born in
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...
and worked at her home in
Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...
.
Early life and education
Carleen Hutchins spent her childhood in New Jersey exploring the outdoors and her interests in entomology and woodworking; she was an active participant in her local
Girl Scouts of the USA
Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad.
It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, a year after she ...
troop. In 6th grade, she took shop class instead of home economics and further developed her interest in wood-working during the 1920s. When she was 8 years old Hutchins learned to play the bugle and in high school she played trumpet in the band and the orchestra. She pursued her interest in entomology by obtaining a B.A. in biology from Cornell University in 1933. From 1931-1942, during the summers was an instructor at Camp Edith Macy, the National Girl Scout Leaders' Training School. Hutchins hoped to attend medical school to become a doctor, and went so far as being accepted by Duke University, however the expense of medical school and difficulty of being a woman in the medical field dissuaded her.
Career
Hutchins taught science (and occasionally woodworking) in private elementary schools in New York City from 1934-1949. She left teaching to raise her family. Hutchins started to play viola in her free time and in 1947, frustrated by the sound of her instrument, she decided to build her own. In 1949 she completed her viola and showed it to Swiss luthier Karl A. Berger; over the next six years, Hutchins studied with Berger, building about 30 different instruments, mostly violas. During that same time period Hutchins also studied under
Frederick A. Saunders, exploring the way the structure of instruments changed the acoustics by studying
Chladni patterns. In 1962 she published her first article in the
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
"The Physics of Violins" and attended her first
Acoustical Society of America
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary org ...
meeting in 1963. The day after the close of the meeting, Hutchins co-founded the Catgut Acoustical Society, which develops scientific insights into the construction of new and conventional instruments of the violin family.
Achievements
Hutchins’ greatest innovation, still used by many violin-makers, was a technique known as free-plate tuning. When not attached to a violin, the top and back are called free plates. Her technique gives makers a precise way to refine these plates before a violin is assembled.
From 2002 to 2003, Hutchins's octet was the subject of an exhibition at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
in New York. Titled “The New Violin Family: Augmenting the String Section.” Hutchins was the founder of the New Violin Family Association,
creator-in-chief of the ''
Violin Octet'', author of more than 100 technical publications, editor of two volumes of collected papers in violin acoustics, four grants from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, recipient of two
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
s, an Honorary Fellowship from the
Acoustical Society of America
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary org ...
(ASA), and four honorary doctorates. In 1981, Hutchins also received the
ASA Silver Medal in Musical Acoustics.
The Hutchins Consort, named after Hutchins, is a California ensemble featuring all eight instruments.
In 1974, Hutchins and Daniel W. Haines, using materials supplied by the Hercules Materials Company, Inc. (
Allegany Ballistics Laboratory
Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) located in Rocket Center, West Virginia, is a diverse factory, industrial complex employing some 1,000 people across . The facility is a member of the Federal Laboratory Consortium and is operated by Northr ...
) of Cumberland, Maryland, developed a graphite-epoxy composite top that was determined to be a successful alternative to the traditional use of spruce for the violin belly.
In popular culture
In
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr.; July 20, 1933 – June 13, 2023) was an American author who wrote twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays, and three short stories, spanning the Western, post-apocalyptic, and Southern Got ...
's novel ''
Stella Maris'', the main character, Alicia, talks about corresponding with Hutchins.
References
Notes
Further reading
''American Luthier: Carleen Hutchins—the Art and Science of the Violin'' by Quincy Whitney, Foredge, 2016,
External links
The Carleen Hutchins Collection/Archive*
Chris Waltham; ''American Luthier: Carleen Hutchins—the Art and Science of the Violin''. ''Physics Today'' 1 February 2017; 70 (2): 60. https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3468Quincy Whitney; American Luthier: The Art and Science of Carleen Hutchins. Acoustics Today Spring 2020; 16 (1)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchins, Carleen
1911 births
2009 deaths
American luthiers
People from Springfield, Massachusetts
People from Essex County, New Jersey
People from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire
20th-century American inventors
Cornell University alumni
Women instrument makers
American scientists