The Pursuit of the Old Sound: Harnessing the UV Spectrum to Age and Harden Varnish

The Pursuit of the Old Sound: Harnessing the UV Spectrum to Age and Harden Varnish

Nikolai Rogich
One of the persistent questions in violin and guitar making is how to approximate the condition of an instrument that has lived for centuries. Beyond the wood itself, the varnish...
Heredity, Humanism and Violin Making

Heredity, Humanism and Violin Making

Nikolai Rogich
     Among the varied wonders of hyperconnected tele-society, none has proven so enigmatic as the controversial social media post. So vexing was my recent experience of this kind that...
Orality, Writing, and the Fate of Musical Vitality

Orality, Writing, and the Fate of Musical Vitality

Nikolai Rogich
1. The Oral Roots of Musical Life Before notation became the axis of European musical culture, music lived primarily as an oral, embodied, and communal practice. Medieval and Renaissance practice: chant, folk...
Protein Folding, Creative Evolution, and the Future of the Violin

Protein Folding, Creative Evolution, and the Future of the Violin

Nikolai Rogich
Protein Folding, Creative Evolution, and the Future of the Violin For more than two centuries, the violin has been both the most cherished and the most paradoxically frozen instrument in...