"Opal got a violin....."

 

 

 

 

Small Song

What are you thinking, little violin?
What do your clear strings dream?
"Brown rivers have gold depths. The sprightly
softness in the current of the bow."

What are you singing, my little violin?
Who are you calling now? "Truths
the trees, my parents, taught me.
   The sky above your childhood home."  

                                ---Jan Zwicky

 

My Mom loved fiddle music.  When she was about my age now, she decided to try to learn to play fiddle.  To accomplish this, she asked her mother Opal, my Grandmother, for the violin she had but didn't play. Mom took lessons and played for several years.  She did not reach her goal of fiddling, saying she could never get the bow speed necessary, but she enjoyed practicing and played with a community orchestra when they lived in Salida, Colorado.  She brought the violin to our house once at Christmas, and she and I played violin and flute together.  At some point, other interests took the place of the violin.

When it came time to go through our parents' house after their passing, I recalled that violin and made claim to it, if she still had it.  She did, and it passed to a third generation.  When I opened the case to take a look, I found tucked under the violin a plastic ziploc bag containing what appeared to be an old letter, written in pencil on Old Chief tablet paper.  I carefully took it out of the bag, opened it up, and felt both chills and tears when I read it and realized what it was:  an original letter from Grandma's sister Ethel to their Great Grandma describing what they had each received for Christmas in 1927..."Opal got a violin".   Here's the letter:

 

 

Thank you Grandma and Mom, for saving the precious legacy of both violin and letter.  I'm certain there will be a fourth generation after me to share it with.

I described the violin to Elton, Ron's Dad, knowing he had played when he was in high school in Iowa.  He said his violin had come from the Montgomery Ward catalog, which was a source for literally all things for rural areas during that era.  As Elton and my Grandma were contemporaries, I've no doubt this violin had a similar source.

Despite the existence of a certain amount of my friend WILLY-NILLY still occuring in my life, I took the violin in for new strings and a minor amount of repair. I next contacted a violin teacher recommended to me and set up a lesson for November 5.  I had my first lesson with Emily, and knew I'd struck gold.  Emily is a student at NAU working on her Master's degree in music, gives music lessons, is married, has a toddler, and is expecting their second December 22.  She's one busy young woman!  She is exacting in her expectations for violin playing, but very casual and approachable in her presentation.  She's an absolute doll, and I couldn't be more pleased to have her as my teacher.

Meet Emily:

 

 

 

Lessons are only where music starts, of course.   As in all of my endeavors,  I'm not blessed with innate talent in music.  Rather, it's my workman-like commitment to consistent practice over time that leads to whatever level of success I achieve.  In the course of conversation with the man who repaired the violin, he made that statement that "everyone learning to play violin sounds like cats fighting.....".  Be glad there's not audio available with this picture!

 

 

 

 

In my ruminations about lifetime goals, violin was never a particular consideration.  I play piano and flute; that was enough.  However, when synchronicity stepped in, I found I was highly interested in learning to play this violin.  I am very much enjoying the challenge of learning a new instrument as well as the emotional connection with my Grandma and Mom.