FIDDLE TREEOF OTIS TOMAS

The

P h o t o s b y W A LT E R H O D G E S a n d O T I S T O M A S

S t o r y b y T E N & T W O S T A F F

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(Previous page) A close up of the arch from the back of a new fiddle as it is takingshape in the workshop of Otis Tomas. (Above) A fiddle scroll in the first stages of beingcarved. (Facing page) Otis Tomas with three friends and neighbors at the door of hisstudio in the Highlands of Cape Breton Island.

OOTIS. The name fits him. A fiddle maker should have aname like Otis. He should be a big guy with a beard wholives in the woods up Goose Cove on St. Ann’s Bay, wherethe hardwoods own the hillsides that in turn birth the high-lands of Cape Breton Island.

Celtic music brought him to island in 75. He had made his first musical instru-ment (a dulcimer) from wood when he was 18 and Cape Breton had lots of materialto work with. He thought he would make guitars, but fiddle making became his lifeforce. About 16 years ago, he was wandering the woods when he came upon a sugarmaple he guessed to be 250 years old. The possibilities became impossible to ignore.

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(Previous page) Otis Tomas at his workbench using a gouge and mallet to make thefirst chips on a maple violin back. After the gouge, it will be finished with small planesand scrapers. (Facing page top) This group of instruments shows a violin, viola, cello,guitar, harp and mandolin that were all made from the wood of the Fiddle Tree cutdown by Otis 16 years ago. (Facing page bottom) Some of the rough pieces of mapleand spruce that will become a violin, along with a compass, straightedge drawing ofthe instrument, template for the body and the mold upon which the ribs and blocksare assembled. (Following page) Otis Tomas in his woodshop with the tools of thistrade and a completed fiddle, made from The Fiddle Tree. (Last page) A close up of thedetailed work involved in creating a fiddle.

“I AM A VIOLIN MAKER, and so ofcourse it wasn’t long before my thoughtsturned to the possibilities held deepwithin this tree and the voices that mightcome forth were I to turn my hand to thetransformation of this giant of the for-est. But a magnificent creature as old andvenerable as this ancient king—who wasI to presume to end its life and turn it tomy own purposes?”

As he speaks about it now, you canhear the old anguish in his voice, as wellas the purity and certainty of his pur-pose. “I debated within myself for wellover a year before deciding to claim thismajestic giant. Before I ventured to takethe saw to it, I visited it with my youngson and played a tune that I had com-posed for it on the fiddle. If it could havetaken any notice of us, I wonder what itwould have made of the strange soundswe were sending it, and if it would haveunderstood that someday it, too, wouldlearn to play that same wonderful music.”

Today, he uses “The Fiddle Tree” andmakes fiddles, guitars, cellos and harps,and every single chip of wood has a pieceof his soul attached to it.

“In ending the life of this tree inOctober of 1994, and taking commandover its silent history, I couldn’t help but

be struck with the sense of responsibilitythat comes with such an act of killing. Iwill remember that day every time I takea chisel to a piece of this wood. I made apromise to myself and to the tree that Iwill always handle it with care, bringingto it the respect it deserves and makingan effort to use my art to bring new lifefrom old.”

The Fiddle Tree is a testament to thepassage of time and Otis knows the natureof time as well as its relationship themusic of the island. “More than anyother of the arts, music is made of time;yet paradoxically, it gives us an escapefrom time. When we listen to music, weenter into the flow of time itself, ratherthan watching it move past us. It’s a con-nection to the past and the future. Is thisnot the voice that musicians and violinmakers alike ultimately seek to connectwith—that magical enchantment thatcan stop time and let us return to thatuniversal harmony of Nature deep withinus?”

Fiddle Treehttp://www.fiddletree.com

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