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WATCH: Making Sweet Musical Instruments

PVD musician and violin maker Armand Aromin takes us through his process

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Armand Aromin’s path to being a violinmaker was not a straight line. “The way I came to where I am now is bizarre,” he says with a smile. “It all started with Tai Chi.” Making violins wasn’t the end game he had in mind in high school when he noticed the other classes being offered where he went for martial arts. “I saw a poster that said ‘we also offer lessons in...’ and it was this huge list and one of the things was violin lessons.”

It wasn’t too long after picking up the violin that he met Dennis McCarten, owner of McCarten Violins at Hope Artiste Village. A few years back the two reconnected and McCarten encouraged him to apply to the violin-making program at Boston’s North Bennet Street School. Though possessing a natural talent for the violin, what Armand didn’t have was any prior woodworking experience. Where some may have thrown their hands up in defeat, Armand decided to get clever with his portfolio.“Prior to that my only experience with hands on stuff was playing violin and origami. I thought if I made up some cool models and folded my best stuff it could showcase that I’m really attentive to detail.”

Some rather elaborate pieces of origami, three years and seven instruments later and Armand finds himself at a studio space Anchor on Rice St. in Providence. Each instrument takes him about four months to complete and to make it all work he rounds out his days with regular pub gigs, teaching lessons and, he’s hoping, a bartending job. The guy’s busy, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I knew that if I did that program I’d be doing the thing I want to do everyday. It’s like a full time job, but the best job possible.”  42 Rice St Providence. 226-5737.

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