Early on, a question posed by many enthusiasts of our work concerned access to both instruments and music. In 2014, Arcomusical began developing a near-decade-long collaboration with woodworker and luthier David “Snappy” White. The result was an incredible, unique, hand-crafted, tunable musical bow that Arcomusical continues to perform exclusively in our performances and on our recordings. These instruments, lovingly referred to as “Snappy-Baus” or “Arcomusical” are available for purchase through the Arcomusical online store. By making both available on the Arcomusical website, we are delivering a service that will allow bow music culture to grow in the United States and abroad.
The Snappy-Bau brings unique elements of design and a level of craftmanship that are perfect for Arcomusical music making. The initial inspiration for the design came from Décio Sá and the wonderful people at BerimbauBrasil, who are carrying on the tradition of a gentleman and capoeirista, Mestre Moreira, now deceased, who created a beloved instrument known as the berimbau ecológico.
Today, “Snappy” retired from instrument building in 2023 but before he did he “passed on the torch” of his loving and exacting approach to his work to our next generation instrument builder, the incredibly intelligent, articulate, and detail-oriented percussionist, Alex Rolfe.