Maybe Music is the Proper Language...

woodworking through a different lens

[Charles Thompson and I co-teach a stick chair class in mid-November here at my shop in Waldoboro, ME. We have two open seats if anyone would like to join us. Send me a note with any questions or if you’d like a spot.]

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Last week, I shared an incomplete thought on tool choices and finish work on a chair (or really, any piece of furniture). It’s incomplete because it likely cannot be fully explained, or if it can, it needs to come from someone more considerate than me.

Lance Patterson and I built this music stand together in 2010. If my memory holds, we built it for The Furniture Society in a Mentor/Apprentice program. It’s Lance’s design, made of birdseye maple and walnut. Photo also by Lance Patterson.

After that last post, a few comments from readers helped put things in a better light. It’s possible, when considering the process of furniture making, to think of things in terms of music. Both from the perspective of listening to music, and as the musician playing. There’s overlap when making, as in, “how do I want to perform this piece?” Or, related, “how would I like to create this chair?”

David commented about a group of musicians who needed to adjust their instruments to play their music properly…to create and share the right sound. Being perfectly in tune wasn’t making the right music. That makes sense to me as it relates to furniture making as well.

Maybe I’m the only one hung up on this, but I have ingrained within me a training (or maybe an instinct) to move from a coarser tool to a tool that does more precise work. Which is great, if I want precision. But that’s not always the target.

Another commentor, John, mentioned how 17th century designs look true with hand tools and less “refinement.” I’m in total agreement. In musical terms, I think “great tune, wrong key” when I see 17th century designs made with modern power equipment. Something is off. Something is out of harmony.

I like the music comparison because it’s familiar, just as furniture is familiar. I seek out live musical performances to hear how my favorite band plays their music on that specific night, in that hall, for that audience. Is it spirited, jazzy, melancholy, angry, technically precise (like the studio album), or have they reimagined the music to share it in a different way? Was the performace moving, or was something off that night? [I’m made chairs before that were “off-that-night.”]