History Of Violin

Harts' Kirk named to Civil War commission

HARTS - A native Lincoln Countian has been named as one of the members of the new members of the West Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, according to an announcement.

Brandon Kirk, son of Harry and Phyllis Kirk of Harts, was among five members named last week by the governor, according to the announcement. Each of the new members replaces individuals who were already on the commission, the announcement said. In all, there are 13 members of the commission.

Kirk is a published author and instructor of history, specializing in Appalachian and Southern history and culture at Southern West Virginia Community and Technology. He will serve as a citizen member.

Kirk received his bachelor and master's degrees from Marshall University after graduating in 1990 from the former Harts High School. He is the Blake Scholar at MU. He was a member of a Harts High Class A state championship basketball team and was named a member of the all-tournament team. He graduated with honors.

The new appointee has published dozens of articles and other publications and has taught at Southern since 2010. Prior to that, he was a history teacher at Chapmanville Regional High School from 2007 until 2010. He taught at the former Chapmanville High School during the 2006-07 school term. He was a teacher of history and science at Harts High from 2002 to 2006. He worked for Hartford Music, Inc. from 1998 to 2001.

Kirk was also a violin tutor in 1995 and 1996. He taught history and physical education at Harts High from 1995 to 1998. He has limited experience in studying and teaching French and Italian.

His memberships include Phi Alpha Theta, the Harts Cemetery Preservation Committee, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Kappa Delta Pi, as well as the Boone, Lincoln and Logan County genealogical societies.

Kirk said he became interested in the Civil War as a student at Harts High �due to the teaching of Ms. Gwen Ramey and Mr. Bill O�Connell. Both of these history teachers inspired me to appreciate the Civil War, especially Mr. O�Connell, who invited me to tour the Civil War sites in the Richmond, Virginia area the summer after my junior year of high school. I missed a family vacation to the beach to travel with Mr. O�Connell.

History of West country violins | violin bow

This article is designed to help you understand the very complex subject of French violin bows from around 1880 until the 1980s. Unlike violins which are normally either made by a particular maker and labelled or branded as such or are workshop instruments which are also often labelled as being “of the atelier” or “finished and sold by”, bows are much more complicated.

A very large percentage of bows made by a particular maker will carry the brand of someone else. Sometimes this brand will be of another bow maker but more often than not it will be a violin maker, a dealer or sometimes a fictitious model name. This situation may lead you to think that once you know who the bow maker supplied you would consequently know which brands would appear on his bows! Alas it is not that easy as several bow makers would supply the same buyer! Perhaps before we go further an example might help:

One of the best and most prolific makers was Charles Louis Bazin. He made bows for at least 16 violin makers including Paul Buescher, Albert Deblaye and Roger & Max Millant. It just so happens that Morizot Frères also made bows for the above three violin makers.  In each case the violin making firm would purchase the bows without stamps and then apply their own: this is why there is so much confusion as to actual provenance. As you can see from the above example, a bow stamped Paul Buescher could have been made by either C.L.Bazin or Morizot Frères or one of the lesser known makers all of whom were supplying bows at the time.

The actual maker of the bow is ascertained by careful examination of certain features, such as the shape of the head, length of stick, dimensions of the frog and then finer details which help to establish as to whether the bow is a workshop bow made by assistants or made by the master himself. These include such details as the type of joint used in the heel plate (is it bent from one piece or is it joined at the angle), the number of pins in the heel plate and in the underslide. The diameter of pearl eyes and rings, the number and dimensions of the winder rings, type of thread used and so on. As you can see it takes considerable knowledge, comprehensive reference books and a feel for the bows of the period.

Which bow should you buy?

The old French mid priced bows can be very good value for money and are usually genuine. No one is going to bother to fake a J.T.L. bow or L.Morizot for example.

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