Peter White's violin-making class teaches UNM students craft, music and tradition

Student Ben Wild double-checks the measurements on his violin. Professor Peter White said it takes most students close to three years to craft a violin in the course. (Juan Lebreche/Daily Lobo)

(Features story, originally published in the Daily Lobo)
One week before spring classes started, Klarissa Petti sat in the corner of a classroom in the Communication and Journalism building, whittling away at her handmade cello. As Petti smoothed out a deep curve in the thin piece of wood, she thought of the first piece of music she would play on the hand-carved instrument.

“Bach, his cello suites, they’re some of the greatest music ever written for a cello, or any instrument,” Petti said. “I think Bach is a kind of spiritual experience, it’s so perfect. To play it really takes your entire life experience.”

Petti is a student in professor Peter White’s New Mexico Musical Heritage Project, a cultural preservation course taught at UNM.

The course, which began in 2009, tries to bring back the once-thriving New Mexican violin-making culture. Students must apply to take the course, and interested students should contact the professor at plwhite@unm.edu.

In the 17th century, when European settlers first reached what would become New Mexico, Franciscan priests and Mexican artisans taught Pueblo people how to make violins, White said. The first European violin ever crafted in America was made by Pueblo New Mexicans, White said. From that point forward, violins were integrated into American-Indian culture, and Matachines dances were accompanied with violins.

“This program is to teach more New Mexicans how to make violins, particularly Hispanics and Native-American students, and how to play the folk music of their culture, to keep it alive,” he said. “Most of the musicians and violin makers are dead, but it used to be a big thing in New Mexico.”

White said his career as a violin maker began when he was a graduate student in the late ’70s and the craft caught his eye at a nearby arts and crafts fair.

“I was a grad student and I used to see Pennsylvania woodworkers and instrument workers, and I thought ‘My dad has a fiddle, I’m going to go fix that up and go play fiddle tunes as a hippy,’” he said.

White sold his first handmade violin shortly thereafter for $35 — his violins today cost on average $10,000. White went on to work as an apprentice in Poland in 1980.

The apprenticeship shapes how White teaches his classes today. His students use traditional European tools to craft their instruments, including a number of chisels, knives, scrapers and dividers. There’s no course fee for the class, and every tool students use was donated to the class.

White, called “Doc” by his students, said the course takes an average of three years to complete. Students work for years crafting their own violin while also learning how to play Native American, Spanish and Appalachian tunes.

Petti, who has played the cello for eight years, said she first heard of White’s course when searching for a university to attend. Petti said her past work with her father, a house painter, helped influence her decision to take the course.

“The thing I most enjoy is making a product of my own, especially of my own cello that I get to play,” she said. “It’s so satisfying to work hard and look back at what you’ve done. This cello is something I’m going to use for the rest of my life.”

Student Sam Irons said he decided to take the course after taking a history class from White.

“Doc told me I could leave college not just with a piece of paper but with an instrument,” Irons said.

Irons graduated last fall and decided to re-enroll to continue his work with White. Irons is working on his second violin, and said he plans on pursuing an apprenticeship in Poland similar to the one White did.

“I love the idea that you have to work with your hands to truly understand things. You have to engage both your physical body and mental abilities to actually learn,” he said.

Senior Giselle Montoya said her years of work in the course led to an award last fall for her first completed violin. Montoya entered the competition held by Violin Makers Association of Arizona International last October and received fourth place in tone.

Montoya, who is from the Santa Domingo Pueblo, said the course has helped her connect with her cultural roots.

“Since it’s with my heritage and we still do the Matachines dances in the pueblo, I get to take that back to my home. Actually I don’t think there’s anyone who’s made a violin in my pueblo, so as Doc said, I’m the first violin maker for the pueblos,” she said.