January 2011 — Music students and their parents quickly realize that they must master an arcane jargon for parts of each instrument, for the lengths of notes, for the sprightliness of melodies, etc., etc.

Once we were welcomed into the musical community of Michaele Benedict — known to many of her friends as Mikie — and Charles Calvert, we learned vast new troves of words for the techniques and materials used to make musical instruments.

These two local musicians live their music — they play instruments and teach others to play. Calvert takes it another step — he makes bows for cellos and varnishes for stringed instruments. Any time you chat for even a few minutes with Benedict or Calvert, you gain some new musical insight.

But when you talk with Calvert, who is a self-styled “varnish nerd,” you quickly learn the vocabulary of musical alchemy. All of a sudden, phrases like “Italian Ground” — a mixture of an abrasive called Tripoli compound, rosin, mastic, and linseed oil — come tripping off your tongue and for a few minutes you catch a glimpse into a mind focused on the technology of stringed instruments.

One of the words that Calvert’s friends hear early on is “pernambuco.” In fact, says Benedict, “Charles is a little obsessed with pernambuco.”

“Pernambuco,” Calvert tells us, “is a very special strain of wood in the Brazilwood family. It is very hard to come by. It is illegal to cut down the trees that pernambuco comes from.”

Calvert is obsessed with pernambuco because one of his hobbies is making really good cello bows. “Pernambuco has thin straight grain and is very heavy. It will sink in a glass of water like a piece of lead. It is extremely springable because it spring backs to its original shape the instant after it is flexed. Suffice to say that bowmakers who have been able to squirrel away caches of pernambuco don’t like to part with a single stick. Nothing matches the complex subtlety of a good pernambuco bow,” he says. A piece of pernambuco 38 inches long and half an inch square might cost $500.

Calvert, a cellist, says, “A good bow has a balance that fits the player. I have bows that used to work for me as a young man. But the balance is wrong for me at my age. If I play with it for more than a half an hour, they are going to hurt my back. A good bow vibrates along with the string of the instrument.”

Calvert has spent years learning to make good varnish for stringed instruments and perfecting techniques for making good bows. He has created 11 cello bows to date. Most were made from brazilwood, which comes from a less desirable portion of the same tree that pernambuco comes from. “I consider three of my bows pretty good — good enough for an advanced student,” he told us.

Calvert said that after his first several attempts at making bows — without training, or any idea about how to match the measurements of the bow to the material he was working with — a friend insisted it was time for him to take a class by Lynn Hannings, America’s premier bow teacher.

Many years later, it’s more than training that makes Calvert a brilliant cello player and a wonderful bow maker. It is keen intelligence, a great ear, focused, patient work, and skillful, hardworking hands.

Upcoming Performances in 2011

January 29: Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church,  Menlo Park

January 30: Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra at Los Altos Community United Methodist Church

February 5: Trio Cabrillo with Coastside Community Orchestra at Community United Methodist Church, Half Moon Bay, Robert Smith conducting. Trio: Bruce Yu, violin; Charles Calvert, cello; Robert Shultz, piano.

March 12: Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra at (Portola) Valley Presbyterian Church

March 13: Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra at Los Altos Community United Methodist Church

April 30: Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra at Valley Presbyterian Church

May 1: Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra at Los Altos Community United Methodist Church

June 4: Coastside Chorale at Ted Adcock Community Center

Coastside Community Orchestra spring concert dates to be announced: Sara Lomax conducting a Schubert mass with the Skyline College Choir under the direction of Jude Navari. Probable performances at Skyline and in Half Moon Bay.