The “Escuela de Violería” offers long-term courses for the training of luthiers in the following specialties:
- Spanish guitar.
- Late-Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque plucked instruments: vihuela de mano, iberian lutes, baroque guitar.
- Late-Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque bowed string instruments: rabels, bowed vihuelas, violas da gamba, Iberian violones.
- Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque harps.
Content of training
We are interested in recovering period techniques as much as possible, or at least come as close as possible to them as a means of a more coherent approach to the personality and response of those delicate and fascinating instruments. In that quest we involve students, inviting them to explore the enormous possibilities that we can achieve through learning how to manage art, understanding, tact and sensitivity, all part of a coded language with centuries of history. Not surprisingly, musical instruments have been vehicles of multiculturalism at the same level as books or pictures. They emerged as a complex artistic product, the result of the union of beauty with functionality; the fusion of nature with human aesthetic aspirations.
We participate in the European project “Delyramus”, Creative Europe, coordinated by the Rey Ardid Foundation, together with other Spanish, Italian and Portuguese partners. Our task within this project is the reconstruction of a good number of Late Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque Aragonese, Italian and Protuguese instruments, as well as the investigation of the materials and processes that made them possible.
Skills acquired at the end of the training.
Our training is aimed at anyone interested in acquiring the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for the construction of stringed musical instruments. We also welcome already qualified students or professional luthiers who wish to specialize or expand their theoretical and practical knowledge in the arts of instrument making. Thus, during the first four years of activity of our school, along with students of a more basic level, graduates of prestigious schools such as Mirecourt (France), Luthiery School of Bogotá (Fundación Salvi, Colombia), School of Luthiery of Querétaro (National Institute of Fine Arts of Mexico), and Kask Instrumentenbouw of Ghent (Belgium) have also attended our school.
The lessons are taught at all levels and students receive personalized attention. We do not require a prior level of knowledge, and the contents are adapted to each of the individual cases. Although our training is aimed primarily at people interested in becoming professionalized, we also accept anyone who was unable to have the opportunity to learn the craft and is able to now, regardless of age, and participate in this singular artistic experience.
We cover a vacant space left by official state education, which currently does not offer any officially recognized degree in this field. This circumstance allows us greater freedom, allowing us to personalize the training, adapting it to individual aspirations.
Students interested in more theoretical training are introduced to research techniques, developing tutored analysis of iconographic and documentary sources that may later be published in renowed specialized journals.
Career opportunities are diverse in this feild. Building quality musical instruments can be approached from the perspective of the total craftsman who knows and controls all processes, including the techniques of the old masters, but that also allows for specialization. There will be those who prefer to receive sufficient training to work as an assistant within an established workshop, and those who wish to open their own workshop. There are also those who specialize in very specific processes such as varnishing, woodturning, the manufacture of gut strings for period instruments, repair, restoration, adjustment, conservation of collections or museum instruments, etc.
Regarding more theoretical aspects, our teachings help those who are undergoing doctorate or postgraduate courses related to any subject having to do with the world of musical instruments and also to those who are looking for complementary quality training that can apply to carrers in cultural centers, museums, concert halls, theaters or centers for the restoration of historical assets.
Diploma or certificate at the end of the training.
We cover an area not filled by official state education, although we do collaborate with several Spanish universities in the investigation of the Iberian organological heritage. Our function is not limited to mere training in artisan techniques of luthiery, but also participate in different processes of investigation and recovery of the cultural heritage that constitute musical instruments. Our training is not aimed only at those who want to professionalize themselves as luthiers or guitar builders, but also extends to other disciplines such as organology, musicology, art history, artistic heritage, and cultural history.
Duration of the course
The time slots for different specialties and modalities are organized within a broad schedule:
- Monday and Tuesday: 9:00 to 13:30 and from 16:00 to 20:00 hours.
- Wednesday and Thursday from 9:00 to 14:00 hours.
At the time of pre-enrollment, each student will present a proposed schedule, with their availability of times and the chosen modality. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays (16 to 20 hours) and Friday mornings (9 to 14 hours), students can do practical work outside of regular school hours.
There are two modalites:
- (A) consisits of 800 hours per year
- (B) of 400 hours per year.
Material to be provided by the trainee
The Escuela de Violería occupies three classrooms of the Arsenio Jimeno Training Center, of UGT-Aragón, located in Arsenio Jimeno street, s / n, corner with Rosalía de Castro street. We have individual work benches, personal lockers, cabinets and “lumberyard”. We provide students with tools, a specialized library and plans. The center allows us occasionally to use meeting rooms, a large auditorium and a space for temporary exhibitions.
Contact person: Javier Martínez
Email: vihuela.com@gmail.com
Web site: www.escueladevioleros.com