Award-winning composer and recording artist Steve Schuch first met Roger Johnson through a chance visit to the store while recording in Boston fifteen years ago. He has been a loyal customer ever since, and we take pride in having played a small part in his successful and varied career as a professional musician.
Steve’s innovative violin work blends baroque and classical styles with Celtic, gypsy and jazz influences. These are featured on his best selling recordings with The Night Heron Consort and several PBS soundtracks. Steve finds that when a piece has multiple string parts, using a different instrument to record each part results in a “richer voice.” The “gutsy edge” that he wanted for a solo piece like “The Phantom Gypsy” differs greatly from the “more delicate” 2nd violin part of “Buttercup’s Aire.” Consequently, on his album Crossing the Waters, Steve recorded these two pieces with different violins, one of which was purchased from Johnson String Instrument!
Over the years, Steve has purchased numerous instruments from JSI, including a Karl Mueller violin, a Grubaugh & Seifert 1993 Guarneri copy violin, and a Wladek Stopka viola. His most recent acquisition is a viola made for Johnson String Instrument by David Polstein and Chris White, both members of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers. Steve's viola was awarded a silver medal for tone at the 2006 Violin Society of America competition, and he describes it as a "dynamite instrument when you want the sound you just can't get from a violin."
One of Steve's largest and most comprehensive projects to date is his children's book A Symphony of Whales. This perennial JSI bestseller, written by Steve and illustrated by Peter Sylvada, explores the power of music and its connection to people and animals. Steve set the entire book to music and created an interactive presentation that, when performed with an orchestra, is what he calls a "whale spin-off of Fantasia," complete with a darkened stage and pictures from the book projected onto a wide screen.
Through this and other workshops and performances, Steve inspires audiences of all ages to experience music in new ways. He says that while kids today can “watch hundreds of television channels and download thousands of songs,” seeing a live performance
can “turn a passive watcher into an active learner.” He believes music is “a doorway to the imagination, and a powerful force to develop minds that can think with nuance and creativity.” For more information on Steve’s performances, workshops, and recordings, or to find out how Steve can visit a school near you, check out his Web site at www.NightHeron.com.
