An Interview With Jake Frankel
Keep looking at the great masters of the past.’ They are beautiful to look at and there is a reason why players love to play on them. If someone had told me when I began that ‘Good sculptural form makes good sound.’ That would have been of help. Certainly, I believe that now.
Books have the power to shape, influence, and change our lives. Why is that so? What goes into a book that can shape lives? To address this we are interviewing people who can share a story about a book that changed their life, and why. As a part of our series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Kearns.
Michael is a violin maker and restorer, and one of three partners at Oxford Violins in the UK. Other interests include writing, and painting, having published one novel, Clinkerstone, and produced about thirty oil paintings. His next novel, Airthief is due to come out in February, with another, Parallel With Nature, to follow after that.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory” and how you grew up?
I grew up on the Canadian Prairies. After finishing high school and considering a place at university, I took the decision to head north to work in a nickel mine. It was hard going but I managed to get through the winter, spent the summer travelling western Canada and the following autumn I decided to go to Europe.
While in England, entirely by chance, I met an Oxford don and his family, and he must have seen something in this seemingly lost soul, for he encouraged me to come back to Oxford once I’d finished my travels. Some months later, I took up the offer and was subsequently introduced into a world of literature and classical music. Going to concerts and lectures continued to raise my interest, along with coming upon a very fine collection of stringed instruments at the Ashmolean Museum. Following this, I acquired a reader’s card at the Bodleian Library and began to educate myself on the history of the Violin.
Let’s talk about what you are doing now, and how you achieved the success that you currently enjoy. Can you tell our readers a bit about the work you are doing?
After finishing my degree at the Newark School of Violin Making in Nottinghamshire, I was fortunate to get a job with a maker near Oxford and following this a job with a large music shop nearby. It is here that I met my two colleagues and together we set up Oxford Violins, where we continue to work today. Essentially, we make new instruments and do repairs and restorations on violins, violas, cellos and their respective bows, looking after the needs for both amateur and professional players.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?
In truth I don’t consider myself a leader. As for my success. . . Someone somewhere once said. “Enthusiasm goes a long way.” And I would also add a bit of good fortune is also in the mix. To put it another way, you need a deep interest in your work. Obviously, you must have a certain dexterity, but I feel that unless you are completely ham-fisted this will take care of itself if the passion is there.
Also, I think it helps to be able to put yourself in another’s shoes. For example, the musician who comes in with a sound problem. You must keep in mind that they live with that instrument, in the case of a professional, practically every day, so they know when it is not performing up to par. Sometimes they will blame themselves, but in my experience, more often than not, it is a problem with the instrument. Given that violins are made of several different types of wood they are affected by changes in humidity and temperature which can in turn effect the way they sound.
Another useful trait is perseverance, together with trying to keep an open mind. Thinking about it, I suppose this applies to the whole of life.
Can you please share a story or example for each?
What’s the WHY behind the work that you do? Please share a story about this if you can.
I think the why probably goes back to a desire to contribute of this great tradition of musicmaking, that as regards to the violin family dates back five hundred years. It is incredibly rich and we are constantly reminded of this when a fine musician comes into the shop and plays. These people are talented, sometimes unusually gifted and they are the living embodiment of what the composers from both the past and the present have created.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
One story comes to mind that perhaps sums up my friend David’s help, the Oxford don I spoke of earlier. When I first came to Oxford as a young man of nineteen, with no experience in classical music, he sat me down in his library, and through his high-quality stereo system, put on Dvorak’s New World Symphony — something I will never forget and looking back, perhaps this was a kind of turning point for what I would do with my life. Naturally this piece holds a special place for me, and it has crossed my mind that he may have chosen this particular symphony, because the young man sitting in his library came from the New World.
Awesome! Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. I’m an author and I believe that books have the power to change lives. Can you please tell our readers about “The Book That Changed Your Life”? Can you share a story about how it impacted you?
Along with making and restoring violins, I also write. The desire began in my thirties, initially as a response to everyday occurrences which for some reason remained, bubbling away inside. And from these tentative scribblings, I eventually wanted to try my hand at something more substantial. I work in both prose and screenplay form, and I must say although it can be hard work, I find the whole process of where the trail may lead mysterious and irresistible.
Now to get to your question, I have just turned to the bookshelf and pulled out the volume that I have in mind, the one that has most influenced my life. Opening it up, my eye rests on the dedication.
For Michael,
“So the darkness shall be the light and the still ness the dancing.”
Oxford,
March 1973. from David
The book, well used, is The Complete Poems and Plays of T.S. Eliot. And if I were to narrow down this formidable subject, the predominate work that has and continues to have an impact on my life is his Four Quartets.
It is a piece of writing that endures, never failing to draw me in. It activates my mind, makes me think, echoing the mystery of ones very existence. And that’s not to say I comprehend it all, but even the half-understood inklings of a certain passage can set me off. Like a kind of literary food and I for one am deeply indebted to Mr. Eliot for creating it.
What was the moment or series of events that made you decide that you wanted to take a specific course of action based on the inspiration from the book? Can you share a story about that?
It’s not so much a specific moment or at least not one that I can recall. Nor, even a series of events. This said, there are various phrases in Four Quartets or other poems by Eliot which ring an inner bell and I often use or keep these in mind while working on a story. For example, for my book Clinkerstone — “Home is where you start from”, Or . . “pray for those who were in ships. Who ended their voyage on the sand. In the seas lips.’ Or this rather haunting, dream ridden image from the end of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock — “We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”
Can you articulate why you think books in particular have the power to create movements, revolutions, and true change?
This I feel might well be above my paygrade. Certainly, they are a fundamental form of communication and in some circumstances can offer meaning in a person’s life. As we know, some books such as the Bible for example, represent whole religious movements and we don’t have to look very far to see how the Christian religion influenced western culture. Language, spoken or written is obviously a seriously powerful phenomenon. And of course, we know it can be used of ill or good. Manipulated to tell blatant lies, soften uncomfortable truths, inspire, humor or attempt to express the previously inexpressible. And I feel sure, either way, its use can have far reaching and unpredictable consequences.
A book has many aspects, of course. For example, you have the writing style, the narrative tense, the topic, the genre, the design, the cover, the size, etc. In your opinion, what are the main, essential ingredients needed to create a book that can change lives?
I suppose that no matter what size or style, or what form or topic, be it political, practical or artistic, surely it has to be offering something that is life affirming or in some way revelatory. In my experience, this engenders energy and perhaps even creativity. In the case of T. S. Eliot, I think it is fair to say that he pushed the boundaries of the English language, and given his genius was able to communicate aspects of the human condition in a lucid and far-reaching manner. For some reason all this brings to mind the saying. . . ‘Right action is Freedom.’
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started My Career” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
I’m not sure I’m able to answer the question in these terms. In my career as a violin maker/restorer, one learns through the experience of working on instruments and tackling their various problems. Of course, I had the benefit of having teachers to begin with, and one continually picks up insight and techniques from colleagues along the way. I suppose one golden rule I would pass on is ‘Keep looking at the great masters of the past.’ They are beautiful to look at and there is a reason why players love to play on them. If someone had told me when I began that ‘Good sculptural form makes good sound.’ That would have been of help. Certainly, I believe that now.
As regards to writing. . . I tell myself. . . ‘If something feels interesting, just keep following your nose and see where it leads.’
The world, of course, needs progress in many areas. What movement do you hope someone (or you!) starts next? Can you explain why that is so important?
In my experience listening to music can be a very rich and mysterious experience. It can lift the human spirit and perhaps in these troubled times, this is needed more than ever. This in turn makes me recall the 2008 economic near meltdown, when many schools in the UK had to cut back, and music was the one that seemed to be first on the list. I think that was a mistake, for this form of expression is not an add-on, but something that is part and parcel of what makes us human. And I fear much talent has been missed because of this attitude. Access to music making should be given a serious re-boot, for we need musicians and the music minded to help keep us in good health.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
The easiest, for both the violin making and the writing, etc. is to go to www.michael-kearns.net and www.oxfordviolins.com
Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us and our readers. We know that it will make a tremendous difference and impact thousands of lives. We are excited to connect further and we wish you so much joy in your next success.
Michael Kearns On The Book That Changed His Life was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.