The Fiddletree: Otis Tomas

In a world where speed means everything -- drive-throughs, twitter and tweets, and highspeed everything, and time is money -- Otis Tomas, a friend and neighbour, violin maker, composer and musician, decided to embark on a project that ended up taking 16 years to complete. In his travels through the woods near his home on the Meadow Road, he found an ancient sugar maple and that's where Otis's story begins. He writes: "I am a violin maker, and so of course it wasn't long before my thoughts turned to possibilities held deep within this tree, and of the voices that might come forth were I to turn my hand to the transformation and domestication of this giant of the forest." And turn his hand he did.

On Saturday, Otis launched his book The Fiddletree, the beautifully arranged, photographed and narrated story of what happens when an artist has a dream that he then makes reality. We are given the back history of the maple tree, its cutting into sections that would allow the manufacture of various sized instruments, the long wait for the wood to cure, the manufacture of violins, a cello, a harp, guitars and a mandolin and the story of the musicians who bought the instruments. His chronicle is lyrical, loving, philosophical, personal, touching, technical and entertaining.

Next begins the story of calling together the musicians who owned the instruments to make and record music with their exquisite possessions, and the music they recorded were tunes that Otis had composed. The book includes a CD of original compositions played by the Fiddletree ensemble: Otis Tomas and Sarah McFadyen (from the island of Hoy in the Orkneys, Scotland) playing violins, Mairi Campbell (from Edinburgh, Scotland) on viola, Abby Newton (from New York via Colorado) playing cello, Laoise Kelly (County Mayo, Ireland) on harp, Paul MacDonald (Sydney, Cape Breton) on guitar and Claudine Langille playing mandolin. Special guests on the recording are Paul Cranford, Sarah Beck, David Papazian and Deanie Cox (Otis's wife), who with Otis and Paul MacDonald are the musicians in the group Rocky Shore, who play locally.

This a the kind of book you rarely encounter, a story of love: for home, for wood, for craftsmanship, for music and for family and friends. In an age where people strive to eat a hundred mile diet -- foods grown within their own geographic area -- this is real homegrown music, from tree to instrument to recording and listening, all of it is near perfection, and produced within less than hundred miles of Otis's (and my) home.

You can view Otis's web page at:

www.fiddletree.com

Along with viewing some lovely photos of Otis's instruments, you will find a link that tells you how to buy this gorgeous book with its unique and beautifully told story.