Mecca for saw players in Astoria

For the past four years, Natalia Paruz, &#8220The Saw Lady,” has hosted an annual gathering of saw players in her Astoria flat.
&#8220The gathering keeps growing. I'm afraid I'm going to have to look for another space for it,” Paruz said.
This year, 20 players from all over the world - India, Canada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania - crammed into her apartment in September. The guest of honor, Dr. Haris Gershom, from India, traveled the farthest to get to there.
&#8220They come from all over the world to Queens,” she said. &#8220Astoria sort of became a Mecca for saw players.”
&#8220This is a good thing for everyone to get together,” Paruz said, explaining that saw players contact her through her website.
For many of the players, just seeing and hearing the techniques of others is interesting and beneficial, she said, adding that sawyers play different types of instruments; either stand, sit or kneel; hold the saw facing in or out; and play using a variety of methods.
Paruz, herself, bends the saw several ways.
&#8220I have developed my own technique, which enables me to play faster and go from one note to another in a more accurate way,” she said. &#8220It also avoids sliding sound, which is most thought of with the saw.”
In addition to demonstrations of their techniques, sawyers also share innovations that they have made with their instruments. During September's gathering, Gershom showed the group a separate instrument that he had made with a saw. Inserting the saw into a wooden box, he attached a brass handle to the saw, and by moving the handle, the saw creates a reverberating sound.
Gershom, a scientist in India, has studied the sound and people's soothed response to hearing it.
&#8220The saw puts the human mind in a very receptive form,” Paruz said Gershom told the group. &#8220He was explaining how he scientifically measured the sound of the saw.”
Next year, Paruz said that she hopes a sawyer from China will be able to attend, and based on his schedule, she would then setup the date for the gathering. For more information about Paruz and her annual sawyers meeting, visit www.sawlady.com.