|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| MANUFACTURER |
|
 |
|
| TRADER |
|
|
|
| SERVICE PROVIDER |
|
|
|
|
|
|
STUDIO 49 Musikinstrumentenbau GmbH
Lochhamer Schlag 2
82166 Gräfelfing
Germany
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
In order to save this favorite you must be a registered user and logged in. Please login or register.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The beginning of
It was still a long way from this "Kaffir-Piano" the the xylophone, and even further to the development of other barred percussion instruments.
Before the second World War, Carl Orff and his friend Karl Maendler - a harpsichord maker - had built the first xylophone that became indispensable for teaching at the Güntherschule and for the development of Orff's Schulwerk. After 1948, the Schulwerk, with its foundations already laid way back in the 1920's, suddenly became popular. The Bavarian Broadcasting Company had aired some Schulwerk programs and started a deluge of questions about where to get these "Orff instruments". This is exactly what was missing, especially since Karl Maendler had retired from building instruments after the war. One of Orff's students, Paul Müller, introduced Orff to Klaus Becker-Ehmck, a young mechanical engineering student who actually felt more drawn toward the non-luctrative art of music - certainly no breadwinner as his carrer. This first meeting with the composer Carl Orff developed into a close personal friendship that became a long lasting partnership. Klaus Becker-Ehmck built, for example, a lithophone entirely from the ideas and wishes of Carl Orff, and also a chromatic xylophone shaped like a cradle for the premier of Orff's first Greek drama, "Antigone".
These instruments were made in the house of Klaus Becker-Ehmck's parents. A few months later our firm was founded.
Our first years were pressed with difficulties trying to find available and suitable materials with which to build the instruments, especially the barred percussion. A phase then followed in which the instrumentarium was expanded to comply with the ideas and wishes of Carl Orff. The demand for these instruments came very quickly and finally led to the laying of the cornerstone of our own factory in the autumn of 1956. We had departments and rooms for carpentry, metal work, lacquering, assembling, storage and business offices. Because of our experience making xylophones and other barred instruments, it was possible in 1961 for us to establish a department for the manufacture of professional orchestral instruments such as vibraphones, marimbas, concert xylophones and tubular chimes.
The continuing development of instruments, the growing variety of instruments plus a steadily climbing export business led us to a new building in 1968 in which we are housed today. In our original quarters located Am Kirchenhölzl with our 40 workers, we were pushed to the limits of our space.
A few years after setting up this new working facility its founder Klaus Becker-Ehmck died. His wife who had contributed substantiallyduring the development of the firm, carried on the traditions of the company. This family inheritance - which by this time had grown to include a personnel of ober 70 people, a world-wide market and an all-encompassing program of instruments from early childhood music education to professional orchestras - is being carried on today by the second generation, the founder's son, Bernd Becker-Ehmck.
The challenge of capable hand-craftsmanship was present at the geginning, and today 50 years later - in spite of all the technical advances that have been made - still remains the basis for the finest quality of instrument.
|
|
|
|
|
