B

Orchestra Hall, Detroit, MI

Tonight I had the opportunity to see one of my first and oldest students perform in his high school's Graduation Concerto Concert.  I "inherited" B or rather B "inherited" me from Elmer when I was in my junior year of high school. Yikes. That was seven years ago. At that time, B was rude, didn't practice, and gave me attitude at every lesson. A few scoldings and eye rolls later, B has become the concertmaster of his orchestra, a member of Civic for 3 years, and has grown to appreciate his talent for the violin. He performed a rousing rendition of the 1st Movement of the Bruch Violin Concerto accompanied by his high school orchestra and in the fall he'll be off to Michigan. My most satisfying moment tonight came when he told me that he plans to continue playing there. It was this that justified and made everything we did these past 7 years worth it. Of all of B's successes, for him to understand that though we may never achieve the highest level of musicianship and that classical music may never be mainstream, he can always come back to this little thing called a violin to search out a little (or a lot of) personal enjoyment. This has made me the most proud.  All during his performance and after, B's parents couldn't stop thanking me for everything I did....

Everything I did? I did nothing. And nothing is feeling pretty great...

(Photo from flickr)

PS. If you have the capability to hear sound and have a soul, please, dear god, listen from the 4:20 mark to 5:22 of the 2nd movement (or just the whole thing). This is one of my all-time favorite moments in the solo violin repertoire... and it might just be one of the most beautiful melodies in the entirety of music. That glissando at 5:08 could make you weep.