Violin

I spent a little over two hours at a music concert for the elementary strings concert at Plum High School Auditorium. This program was the Spring Concert for Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced orchestra and also the 6^th Grade Spotlight of students.

 My granddaughter, Mika, 10, was part of the concert. She is in the 5^th grade, part of the Advanced Orchestra, and has been playing the violin for a few years. My son looked over the program and couldn’t find her name. I looked, spotted it and said, “Look, she is in the First Chair.” That surprised my son and he didn’t know what that meant. I assured him that meant that she was pretty good at the violin to be sitting in the First Chair for the Advanced Orchestra. My granddaughter never mentioned that fact to my son. Either Mika is pretty humble or she hasn’t quite processed that honor yet.

The evening was delightful. I was amazed at how well all those students played. There were a number of solos highlighting the 6^th graders. They played like pros. All the students were as good as any professional Symphony Orchestra.

There were about 160 students who participated, mostly on violins, a few violas and cellos. But in the two hours of playing not one squawk or squeal was emitted from those instruments. The notes and music that flowed through the instruments sounded like pure heaven.

The final solo was performed by a 6^th grade violinist who played the beautiful and moving song, The Prayer. She played it for the memory of her friend, who sat in orchestra by her but was killed this past year, along with her sister and mother in a flash flood.

I was proud to be part of the audience and enjoyed the evening, watching my granddaughter, Mika, being with my family, and especially the one haunting song in tribute of one silenced violin.