Violinmaking Apprenticeship: A Qualitative Investigation of Learning as Embodied Familiarization

Abstract

This case study examines Yanchar, Spackman, and Faulconer’s “Learning as Embodied Familiarization” (hereafter LAEF) framework in the case of a violinmaking apprenticeship. Its purpose is to critically examine each facet of the LAEF framework as manifest in the lived experience of both master and apprentice. While previous studies investigating this framework have used various qualitative and hermeneutic methodologies, none have done so from a prolonged, ethnographic perspective. This perspective comes from an immersive autoethnography in which I apprenticed under a master violinmaker in an informal, one-on-one workshop environment for six months working four to five days a week for three to four hours each day. By analyzing fieldnotes, interviews, artifacts and video recordings of work sessions, this article situates each facet of the LAEF framework in this lived experience of apprenticeship learning and explores its insights and limitations within this specific case. Findings show that LAEF provides a robust lens through which one may consider human learners as agents, meaningfully engaged in their own learning, where making deliberate choices when presented with unfamiliarity allows them to explore, gain experience, and become in the learning process.