Our Students' Recital!

Someday, the sun will be on my back, my steps will falter, and my road will end. My road may be a long one, and perhaps I will achieve the unlikely age of ninety years. If that time comes, I do not anticipate sprinting through ten kilometers. I likely won’t shoot hoops, twirl pirouettes, fake out my soccer opponent, or remember my Spanish numbers. At any age, however, no matter how many miles I have come, or the vastness I have still before me, my violin will be my constant companion. I will walk with it always tucked beneath my chin, for my life is the music of classical strings. Violin and piano have furnished me with an accomplishment that will elevate, beautify, and enrich every single step of the rest of my life.

The worth of music to me today is inestimable. The violin has changed the life I live; the way I walk through life, the people who walk with me, the music that surrounds and brightens each step.

Classical music has taken my hand, led me off the main highway, and set me in the world of extraordinary artists: spattered potters, talented painters, prize-winning authors, and, of course, virtuoso string players. The value of all that I have gained in the decade since I was first introduced to the violin can be quantified by only one thing: the joy it brings to my life.

The way ahead of me—my future—is already benefiting from the presence of piano and violin. I will be capable to climb any jagged cliff that I encounter because I have been trained in perseverance, courage, and ambition. Additionally, the violin ensures that my road will never be dark, lonely, or bleak. When I am sad, I have only to play a rousing jig and my spirits lift. When I am lonely, I merely begin Concerto in D minor for Two Violins by Bach, and I never fail to find a partner! The classical strings have set a high standard for me, and every day I come closer to that challenging, inspiring, elevating touchstone.

I have performed at weddings, nursing homes, concerts, and contests. I have played for friends, critics, strangers, and Grandpa. I have learned Suzuki, Book One by heart, Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 by endurance, and Mozart’s Concerto No. 5 by infatuation. I am a classical string and piano player, and my life would not be right if I was anything else.

I know that the time will come when more miles lay behind me than ahead of me. Those miles will be strewn with the intensity and ecstasy of music. Right now, though, I keep walking down my road. The sun—ahead of me—is in my face, and the wind is in my hair; my violin is under my chin and my bow is on the string. And I am dancing from the power I possess!

Photos taken by Mama during Lauren and my students' recital last night.