Sep

Josh Humphrey: Making Music with Reclaimed Wood

by Janine Boylan on September 2, 2013

Luthier Josh Humphrey in his workshop where his creative process turns into handmade guitars. (Image © Josh Humphrey)

Josh Humphrey in his shop
© Josh Humphrey

A Luthier’s Creative Process

Creative handmade guitar, crafted from reclaimed redwood, is the result of Josh Humphrey's creative process. (Image © Josh Humphrey)

Guitar, made from reclaimed redwood
© Josh Humphrey

In Josh Humphrey‘s hands, a weathered piece of redwood from a dilapidated shack is transformed into the caramel-colored face of a one-of-a-kind guitar.

Humphrey is a luthier, a craftsman who makes stringed instruments.

The 20-string Raja guitar, pictured on the right, is one of the many unique pieces he has crafted from reclaimed and other local woods.

How did he become a luthier? It took his dad’s business, heavy rock music, and an apple tree, with several Oh, I see moments along the way.

Dad’s Business

During his teenage years, Humphrey’s dad owned a wood and tool shop. Humphrey was set free to do what he wanted there. It was, as he says, his “play area with power tools.”

Heavy Rock Music

At fourteen, Humphrey started playing the electric guitar. Rock band was a blast—everyone played equally poorly, and they all were having loads of fun. He studied and played experimental heavy metal music throughout undergraduate and graduate school.

And then, after earning his master’s degree in electro-musical composition, Humphrey had an Oh, I see moment: he was done with computerized music. He wanted to focus on raw, unplugged, acoustical music.

Creative handmade banjo, made from apple wood, is the result of Josh Humphrey's creative process. (Image © Josh Humphrey)

Back of a banjo, made from apple wood
© Josh Humphrey

During college, Humphrey had read about musicians who had made their own instruments. He decided to try it. He read some books, talked to some friends, and started cutting.

He had another Oh, I see moment during the creative process of that first handmade guitar. He says he finally felt “like a duck in water” because instrument-making brought together his two passions: music and woodworking.

The Apple Tree

Not long after that, as a friend was helping him clear a dying one-hundred-year-old apple tree from his backyard, Humphrey said “Oh, I see” again. The apple wood was so unique—he realized he needed to use it to build his instruments.

There was enough wood from that tree to fill a truck. Humphrey has used it in five or six instruments so far, including the banjo on the right. And it inspired him to seek out local and reclaimed wood for his other pieces.

A Mahogany Table

As his business grew, Humphrey received more and more commissions. A musician offered him a dusty old mahogany tabletop he had in his basement.

Humphrey went and looked at the piece. He quickly saw past the glass ring stains on its surface and realized that this three-inch-thick piece of wood was a real treasure.

So he brought it back to his shop and included it in the banjola he was making for the man.

“Mahogany,” he explains, “is a rich brown. On that banjola, right where you put your thumb, there was a streak of color—a crimson swirl. Mahogany is never streaked, so it was a miraculous color.”

He continues, “With reclaimed wood, you never know what you are going to get.”

His Creative Process

Creative handmade oud, made from reclaimed wood. (Image © Josh Humphrey)

Oud, made from the apple tree
© Josh Humphrey

This self-taught luthier isn’t just satisfied with making typical instruments. Instead, he meticulously constructs bowl-shaped ouds, round-faced koras, nautialtas with side sound holes, and many more unique stringed instruments.

“My favorite instrument,” Humphrey shares, “is anything that is new and different—like a piece I can create with an extra neck with extra strings.”

Humphrey says he was trained by the best possible method—doing repairs. While, at first, he was reluctant to repair pieces others had made, he soon realized what an opportunity it was.

He shares, “Every time I repair an oud, I use a mirror to look inside and see how it was constructed. I measure all the parts to learn how it was put together.” Then he uses what he learns in his own pieces.

Putting the Pieces Together

It takes about five years for a freshly-cut tree to dry before it can be crafted. One advantage to working with reclaimed wood, Humphrey explains, is that “it was a beam in a building for years, so it is dry.” Nevertheless, once he cuts the reclaimed wood, he still has to wait a few months more for it to dry before he can work with it.

The video below shows Humphrey at work, both in the wood shop and playing the background music. This instrument was constructed over four weeks.

If the video does not display, watch it here.

For seven years now, Josh Humphrey has been crafting handmade guitars and other pieces. He says he has found his calling, and, he adds with absolute certainty, “I want to spend my time doing this.”

Josh Humphrey’s work was on display at the Portland International Airport in the spring of 2013 and will be on display at Urban Lumber Gallery in downtown Eugene in October 2013. You can also see his work on his Facebook page.

Humphrey is a member of the Guild of American Luthiers and Mandolin Cafe, where you can learn more about the luthier craft.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Janine Boylan 3 Comments

The World's Music

Aug

Marching on Washington and Toward the MLK Dream

by Sheron Long on August 29, 2013

Lincoln Memorial, site of the MLK dream speech and where people spoke up for civil rights during the March on Washington and others began to pay it forward.

When will Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream come true?
© Thinkstock

For All Those Who Spoke Up, Who Will Pay It Forward?

Friends help friends, sometimes in silence but more significantly by speaking up for their dreams.

1963: The March on Washington

Fifty years ago, a crowd of at least 250,000 people gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to raise their voices for jobs and freedom.

Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. About ten minutes into his address, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, called out:

Tell ’em about the dream, Martin.

And that was the point when King departed from his prepared speech and delivered the words we remember 50 years later:

Martin Luther King, Jr., giving the "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington. (Photo from the National Archives and Records Administration)

King giving his “I Have a Dream” speech, originally titled “Normalcy, Never Again”
(National Archives and Records Administration)

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

—from video (17:29)

Had Mahalia Jackson not called out to her friend, would the course of history be different? Who knows? But we do know, after her words, Dr. King spoke up about the dream.

This idea of speaking up as a way to thank someone else for speaking up is what’s known as paying it forward. The crowd paid King’s gift forward, too. Many went back to their homes, spoke up tirelessly for civil rights, and caused change.

Changed Lives

The impact of the experience on that sweltering August day in D.C. transformed people, black and white.

Martin Luther King, Jr., who inspired the crowd at the March on Washington to pay it forward.

Martin Luther King, Jr., greets the crowd from the Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963.
(National Archives and Records Administration)

Joan Justiss Tynes was 16 then. She reflects:

. . . after that day I understood that there were two Americas and that each of us had to do something to change the laws of this land. . . . my experience at the March on Washington helped me to understand what freedom means and what we have to do to keep the doors of opportunity open.

Through the next 50 years, Tynes participated in more marches. She spoke up, talking to young black Americans about self-esteem and living the dream through education and community involvement.

Joannie Weisberger was 21 and, in her words, felt like “one tiny dot in a beautiful tapestry of humanity.” She did her part, through community advocacy and teaching in Central Harlem. She advocated for students for over 30 years, but says now:

Our work is far from done.

Two views of the National Mall in Washington D.C., the inset by Warren K. Leffler at the 1963 March on Washington and the composite by Jason E. Powell. On this site Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke up for civil rights and inspired people to pay it forward. (With appreciation to the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, U.S. News & World Report Magazine Collection for the historical photo)

Not enough change has come between the dates of these photos taken of the Mall in Washington D.C.
(Inset photo by Warren K. Leffler at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963,
and composite photo by Jason E. Powell on July 10, 2012)

Charles Dumas was a teenager, not yet eligible to vote. He remembers:

I felt called to do my part. The bombing of the Birmingham church a week later and the assassination of President Kennedy a few months after only intensified the tempest that was storming inside me. By late Spring of the following year, 1964, I was in Mississippi, one of the hundreds of civil rights workers, who had come to register people for the Freedom Democratic Party, many of us were jailed for their efforts, some were killed.

For the full text of these reflections and others, visit “I Was There.” For interviews by Michael Fletcher with the leaders and organizers of the 1963 March, visit The Smithsonian.

2013: The 50th Anniversary March on Washington

Many ordinary Americans as well as the leaders and organizers of the 1963 March attended the 50th Anniversary March yesterday and the bell-ringing ceremony by MLKDream50.

From the events, two questions ring loud:

How far have we come in 50 years?
How far do we still need to march to redeem the dream?

Conclusions will differ, but before you answer, take a minute to find your “Oh, I see” moments in this infographic from the Huffington Post.

If one of those moments inspires you to speak up—for justice in law enforcement and courtrooms, for opportunities in classrooms and workplaces, or for fairness and respect among people—you’ll be paying forward a gift from those who spoke up at the two Marches on Washington and the 50 years in between.

♥

The King Center offers a digital archive of over one million documents related to King’s life and is a repository for over 4,000 dreams submitted to the site. Add your own!

The Warren Leffler photograph resides in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, U.S. News & World Report Magazine Collection.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Sheron Long 1 Comment

Language & Culture/Making a Difference/USA

Aug

Back-to-School Transition: As Easy as ABC?

by Janine Boylan on August 26, 2013

Teens during the back-to-school transition

Rushing back to class
© Thinkstock

Parent + Student = Different Perspectives

Children and parents around the country are preparing for the grand upheaval known as back to school.

While children shudder as the careless summer evaporates, a collective parental sigh of relief greets the dawning of a regular school schedule.

Students preparing to go back to school will face:

the elation of finally seeing friends again
the misery of making sack lunches
the challenge of getting supplies organized
and the ultimate struggle: getting up early.

How do their perspectives on the above compare to their parents’?

Friends

One student declared, “What I love about school is that I get to see my friends and enjoy every day with them. I haven’t seen them all summer!”

Her parent’s perspective was a little different. “Seems like there was a lot of seeing friends this summer. Sure, it was online through Instagram, Vine, Twitter, and Facebook, but they were connected.”

Kids, who talk with friends over the summer, have an easier back-to-school transition. (Image © Janine Boylan)

The facts: Teens are very connected. A 2013 Pew Research Center report notes:

95% of teens use the internet
81% of those online teens use some kind of social media (SM)
77% of online teens use Facebook; 24% of online teens use Twitter
the typical teen Facebook user has 300 friends
42% of teen SM users visit their sites multiple times per day

How will this translate to school?

Cal State Dominguez Hills professor Dr. Larry D. Rosen shares that those students who check their SM once every fifteen minutes, not surprisingly, will be negatively affected by the distraction.

But, he says, research shows that social media helps shy students to become more outgoing. And SM can provide tools to engage students in learning.

School Lunches

Another student laments, “I don’t like having to make my lunch every day. It’s boring to have the same thing over and over.”

Her parent shrugs, “How fun can a sandwich be?”

Confused sandwich, illustrating different perspectives of the back-to-school transition. (Image © Mark Northeast/Funky Lunch)

Spider sandwich, illustrating different perspectives on the back-to-school transition. (Image © Mark Northeast/Funky Lunch)

Inspiration: Mark Northeast found that his son Oscar was bored by his lunches, too. Northeast decided to do something about it, and the first Funky Lunch was born.

Of course, it helps that Northeast has the creative ability to look at a slice of ham, some bread, and a cucumber and see a comical cartoon.

He says the sandwiches take him 10–15 minutes to make. Might take the rest of us a bit longer.

Piano sandwich, illustrating different perspectives on the back-to-school transition. (Image © Mark Northeast/Funky Lunch)

Getting Organized

A student admits, “Organization is not really my thing. That’s what’s so hard about school—getting my stuff together.”

The parental response: “You’ve got that right. By Thanksgiving, I’ll be afraid to look in your backpack.”

Stuffed backpack, an object of different perspectives during the back to school transition. (Image © Janine Boylan)

Some expert ideas: Psychology professor, Dr. Nancy Darling emphasizes that parents should focus on the process and logistics of homework rather than just the content. Parents should encourage students to:

organize school work in a single place, like an accordion folder, so assignments don’t get left in a locker.
use an assignment book. Students should write down work on the day it is assigned. If the task isn’t completed in one day, they should rewrite it in their assignment books on the next day and so on until it is done.
put a bright colored sticky note or paperclip on work that is due so they don’t forget to turn it in. No one gets credit for work left in a backpack.

Waking Up

“Summer is great because you don’t have to do anything, and you can get up any time you want,” a student shares. “But I’m still fine with getting up and going to school every morning. That doesn’t affect me that much.”

The parent’s perspective: “Last year, I had to go into his room five times every morning just to try to get him up. I guess it didn’t affect him. It affected me!”

Extreme solution: Look into building this bed. (Fast forward to about 47 seconds.)