Sunday Scribblings: Music

I had a million things run through my mind when I was pondering this week's topic: music. I started thinking about the music I grew up with...ya know, total "rocker" music (thanks, Dad). Then I thought of my little country kick and alternative and even my switch to hip hop right now. However, when I REALLY started to think about music, I thought about my violin.

When I was eight, a man visited our fourth grade class and told us we were now old enough to learn an instrument and be in the school orchestra. I immediately wanted to do it. I didn't know anyone who played the violin; I had never heard the violin and I wasn't even exactly sure what one was, but it sounded fun, and I wanted to try.

One thing about my mom and dad is that they always encouraged whatever we wanted to do, so my mom rented me a violin and I joined the school orchestra. Well, I actually had talent. I picked it up very quickly and it was then that my true love of music blossomed. My mom soon got me a private teacher and by tenth grade a very expensive violin, and it was something that I loved.

The thing is, the violin is something that I can now look back on and see all the benefits. At the time, I was "naturally gifted" as my teacher said. In all truth, I probably had more natural talent with music than dance, but I never took it very seriously and danced more than practiced the violin. The violin gave me something different. None of my very best friends played in the orchestra, and it was something that I did because I wanted to do, and I was good at it. I learned the works of Tchaikovsky and Copland, Handel and Suzuki...even the fiddle! I should have focused more energy on it. I could play anything by ear and I never really had to practice...but if I would have, I think I could have been great.

I took it pretty far...I played all through high school and our high school orchestra went to a national competition in Oregon and WON! I also played in college in the Southwest Symphony and in Dixie College Chamber Orchestra. It was always second to whatever else I had going on, but I still loved it. I'm lucky now if I pull my violin out more than once a year at Christmas. I'm rusty and last time I played at church, it was horrible, but I will always be grateful that I played.

Learning music and finger/bow coordination made me smarter...really. Connections were made in my brain and it seems like it helped many aspects of my life. But, I also remember lying back on the grass and listening to Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for Strings" after a long bike ride and just crying. The music was beautiful and I knew how important it was to me. It was so much more than my Van Halen or Madonna...it was MUSIC...and I loved it.