Above: Larry Frye (center, blue sweater) and his students in 1976.
Republican-Eagle: From the beginning, musical instrument repair programs in Red Wing set MSC Southeast apart
Special Section: MSC Southeast 50th Anniversary
By Katryn Conlin
On August 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned. Larry Frye clearly remembers hearing about it on the news as he and his family drove a U-Haul truck from Milwaukee, WI to their new home in Red Wing, MN.
Frye came to Minnesota State College Southeast -- then called the Red Wing Area Vocational-Technical Institute -- to start the new String Instrument Repair program from scratch. He walked into an empty classroom with a blackboard on one end and a sink on the other.
"There were no tools, there were no work benches, there were no instruments, there were no books, there was no curriculum, and I had 20 students coming in a month and a half," he remembered.
Larry Frye was recruited by Ed Dunn, the school's director. In a 1973 interview with the Republican-Eagle, Dunn had stated his determination to launch the string program.
"There aren't any other programs in the upper Midwest that train stringed instrument technicians," he said. "There apparently is a demand for these people, and there is always the possibility of establishing your own business."
Frye explained that Ed Dunn's vision for the school involved recruiting students whose interests were different from traditional technical college students.
"Geographically, we were close to the Twin Cities, we were close to Rochester, and if we offered the same programs as all of the other schools, we'd never make it," Frye said.
Frye started the program at age 22
A music education major at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Frye studied violin repair with Ewald Tily of Appleton and established his own repair shop while in college, then went to work at Beck Music House in Milwaukee.
That's when his brother, an industrial arts education major working in Iowa, came across a job listing for the Red Wing position and sent it to him.
"On a lark, I decided to look into it, and as I believe, it turns out I was the only applicant!" Frye said with a chuckle.
At only 22 years old, Frye was about the same age or even younger than most of the incoming students. "I thought I knew everything, I had all sorts of ambition, all sorts of energy, and plenty of naiveté," he said. "You have a lot more courage when you're young."
Quickly stocking the classroom with workbenches and a handful of tools, Frye got ready for the first day of school.
"My emphasis was very much on violin at first, since that's what I knew how to do," he recalled. "I asked guest lecturers to come in and teach some guitar repair units. I Iearned along with the students ― literally that first year I learned way more than the students did."
Impressed by the success of stringed instrument repair, Ed Dunn decided to expand into band instrument repair. A similar program at Western Iowa Technical in Sioux City was already underway.
"I remember vividly when the band program started, Gene Beckwith was hired teach that program and it was really neat to have a whole other group of musicians coming in. Gene was able to recruit people with doctorates in music!"
Moving back to Wisconsin
In 1980, the Fryes moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to family. Frye started a violin repair business in Green Bay, which has continued to thrive for the past 43 years. He has also continued playing violin in the Green Bay Symphony, Heritage String Quartet, and other ensembles.
Carrying the tradition forward, Frye's son Ben grew up in the family business, returned to Red Wing to study guitar repair and building in 1992, and is now the lead repair technician at Rock N Roll Vintage in Chicago.
"The musical instrument repair programs have such an incredible reputation now," Frye said. "It's gone so far beyond what I had ever imagined it could be from such humble beginnings."
Above: Larry Frye (white coat) and students, 1980.
Below: A page from the 1974 RWAVTI Catalog - promoting String Instrument Repair.
