I was seven years old when I acquired my first violin. My mother came out of the music store and slid the instrument into the back seat, where I sat in a nervous excitement. I remember reaching out and touching the little black case with a reverence uncharacteristic of my seven year old hands, and in that moment I didn’t think about how long or how well I would play, only that I always would.
Now, at 15 years old, I am indeed still playing the violin. The path to where I am now was not as easily traveled as I probably anticipated at age seven, but I love the instrument just as much, or even more, than I did then. Though I love to play, I’ve found that as I get older and my schedule fills up, finding practice time is much harder than it used to be. As a result I haven’t been able to make the progress and develop as a musician as much as I would like to. When the time came to choose an ELI topic I knew almost immediately that I wanted to spend the time with my music. Through the semester I wanted to research and experiment with practice techniques that would help me best utilize my limited time. I’ve come to realize that music isn’t worth much if it isn’t shared, so at the end of the semester I will perform the pieces I have practiced and polished. As a third goal I decided to learn more about music education, and how scientists are finding it to be something that can spark radical change in societies and individuals.
A turning point in my ELI so far has been reading a chapter from Malcolm Gladwell’s The Outliers, about the practice habits of very successful people, specifically Gladwell’s famous idea of the 10,000 hour rule. In my reading I was struck by Gladwell’s idea that successful people are not just the result of a lot of hard work, but also “a product of the world in which they grew up.” This statement made me think of the “lucky” influences in my own life and the lives of those around me. While I haven’t gained the immense success that the individuals in Gladwell’s study have, the smaller things I have accomplished have also been the product of dozens of little “coincidences.” My experience in music is a great example. My first instance of good luck was being born into a musical family. My parents and older brother and sisters got me interested and involved in music at a young age. We are almost always playing or making music in my home. Additionally, my mother has taught piano lessons for as long as I can remember, so I grew up hearing music being taught to others. Because our family had a TV I saw the PBS kids program that inspired me to play the violin. Our family was financially well-enough off that we had the means to purchase an instrument for me and continue replacing them as I grew, as well as pay for weekly music lessons with a good local teacher. Because of my mom’s musical background she was nearly always able to help me through difficulties. My mother even serves as my accompanist, allowing me the immensely valuable experience of playing with another instrument. As easy as it would be for me to attribute my small successes with the violin to my hard work, I was reminded by The Outliers that it is never that simple.
After reading The Outliers I became interested in the idea of making these “lucky opportunities” available to more people, which I now realize is a large part of what music education is all about. Music education can give those who were not born into a privileged situation a chance at success, by offering these underserved populations the opportunities they need to develop the brilliance many of them inevitably have.
This is the path I am taking for my ELI, and one I am very excited to continue following. As I listen to, create, and learn about the effects of music, I find myself rediscovering the beauty and poignancy of it. I have found that music is powerful, music is life-changing, and music incredibly important.
Now at 15 years old I pick up my violin, pull out my music, and begin to play. I am not perfect. The strings sometimes screech and the bow often scratches. My fingers don’t always find their mark. But even so, when I hold my beautiful instrument and let it sing just right, I find myself loving it just as I did nine years ago on that sticky summer afternoon. The day I became a violinist.
~Emma E. C.
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