Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy of Miguel Gandert A violinist plays during a Matachines celebration for Our Lady of Guadlupe in the Village of Tortugas in Las Cruces in 1996.

The violin is a piece of New Mexican history brought to the state by Franciscan priests. And for years, the art of violin making and playing flourished in the state.





"In New Mexico, we used to have a tremendous tradition of violin making," said Peter White, professor of American Studies at UNM.

But over time, the number of violin players has diminished.

"The Hispanic folk music of New Mexico started to die away, because there was a lack of interest in it, and times changed," he said.

But next fall, UNM will offer a four-semester program on violin making, and White, a violinist, will teach the class. The class will hold only eight students each semester. White said he wants students to take the class who are interested in revitalizing the culture of New Mexico and the tradition of its violin music.

"I want to train full-time enrolled students in a four-semester course how to make and play these tunes," he said.

To make the violins, students will use digital images to reproduce replicas of world-famous violins to be used in the class, White said.

White's plan is that students will finish the class with a violin they will have built, as well as the skills needed to play it after four semesters, he said.

In addition to the course, White said he wants to take his students to Cremona, Italy, for the International Violin Makers Exhibition and Competition where he wants to make an impression on the international violin-playing community. "I want to go there as representatives of the first people to make violins in what is now the United States," he said.

White said he wants students to understand the program is an opportunity they can't get anywhere else.

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