Newark College
RAB Trust Award 2023:
In her final year at Newark Hanna has maintained her interest in restoration and repairs, and the RAB Trust have awarded funding for repair tools, strings and fittings for cello and violin, plus donated repair clamps and the Weishaar book.
Education Services Award 2022: Funding for set up tools, strings and viola wood
RAB Award 2022: As Hanna has a particular interest in restoration and also in bows, she was exceptionally awarded two work experience placements. The first took place at Philip Brown Violins in Newbury:
I have played the violin violin since I was a child. And I always thought the violin was fascinating, but never gave much thought to that stick that was so difficult to hold. Through the course in Newark and my last work placement I figured that stick is a lot more complex than I had guessed. It is a bow! I am highly fascinated by how different materials, the player, the instrument, the kind of music, the physics and a lot more seem to merge. Thanks to the RAB Trust I had the chance of learning from a professional. Working next to a professional and in a shop gave me the possibility to deepen my understanding of the craft and at the same time get a feeling of what it means to work on bows in a shop. I am grateful for the week I spent with Philip. Asking all the stupid questions that came to mind and focussing on bows within the ´real world´ of a shop gave me insight on more than one level.
Hanna’s second placement was in September:
I spent a week at the J.P. Guivier workshop. There I could dive into the world of a busy workshop in the middle of London. Being in my final year it was good to see how working in such a place would be, what is expected and what I am capable of doing already now. I learned how to assess my way of working and make it more efficient, more methodical. It was a great way to see where I am aspiring my work to get to. Thanks to J.P. Guivier and the RAB Trust I can start my final year knowing there is a lot to learn and there is a lot that routine work will do for the quality of my work.
RAB Award 2021: Work placement with bow maker and repairer Stephen Thompson. Hanna sent us feedback on her placement:
I went into this work experience not knowing anything about bows, but being generally interested in them. In three days I saw how an independent bow maker works and gained a basic understanding and feeling for bows. I learned how to rehair a bow properly with some little tricks to adjust the tension of the hair nicely. I rehaired a cello bow and a violin bow and learned how to make a new thumb grip and do a lapping.
As well as learning these basic skills I had advice on how to treat customers, how to find jobs and how to run a business.
Stephen is a kind and patient mentor who explained things as often as needed. I am grateful to the RAB Trust for this experience, as I would not have found Stephen and contacted him for a placement without their help. I now have a mentor who is willing to help with bow questions in the future and I am thankful to Stephen for all his time.