After attending a concert of the Kronos Quartet in NYC with my husband, I started thinking about the wood that was vibrating and delivering such delicious sounds to my ears. Music, it seemed, was yet another gift we owed to the trees.

Not being a musician myself, I needed to turn to someone with greater expertise to understand this relationship between trees (or wood) and music better. The first person who came to mind was my friend Brian Skarstad, a world-class violin maker, who makes violins by had, the same way they’ve been made for hundreds of years.

As you might guess, wood, for violin makers, is key – the type of wood, the particular tree it comes from, the grain and weft of the wood, how it is aged.

We listened to the sounds different pieces of wood make when you tap on them. We looked at the first violin made by his son, Will Skarstad, who is following in his father’s footsteps. (Brian says that his son is even better than he is. He calls him “an elite violin maker.”) And talked about all the tiny details that influence sound and differentiate one violin from another.

Brian talked to me about differences between old and new and the many lessons he learns from the violins that pass through his studio. He’s handled all sorts of violins, including several Strativari. (Listen to the podcast for the story of Skarstad’s encounter with the Red Violin, for instance.)

A few notes and links – here’s a video by Martha Stewart that shows Brian in action. Here’s an interview of Will Skarstad’s black metal band, in which he talks about growing up with artist parents (his mother, Louise Beach, is a composer).

In the episode, I mention some books on trees, notably this one and this one. If you would like an introduction to botany, I recommend this book.