“No, I don’t want to.” That’s pretty much all I could say as a stubborn elementary school kid. Not surprisingly, that’s exactly what I responded with to my mom when she suggested that I start learning how to play the violin. Surely she would be reasonable enough to realize that I wasn’t about to give up thirty minutes each week to sit through a boring lesson, let alone a hour each day to do something silly like practice instead of watching “The Fairly Oddparents” on TV or playing with my friends. Unfortunately, my mom didn’t understand what I thought to be pretty logical, and I began learning the art of playing the violin at the age of nine.
With my tiny eleven-inch starter violin, I reluctantly learned how to tame the monster disguised as a harmless piece of wood under the guidance of my private lesson teacher and the Suzuki Method. It definitely wasn’t easy. The chunky instrument never failed to intrude into my neck and twist my fingers as well as my wrist in the most uncomfortable ways. Slowly, I adjusted to the awkward posture and I began feeling the “class” of the classical instrument. Holding the violin became second nature, and I gradually improved my playing abilities while also developing a liking for the violin.
Now, eight years later, I’m still playing the violin, and I spend a lot more time with it than a mere thirty minutes per day. With the help of my teachers, Mrs. Lu Deng and Dr. Zhu, these past eight years have been filled with competitions, recitals, performances, musical programs, and auditions. Through all of these experiences, I’ve learned how to better control my violin and produce the dynamic, tone, and pitch that I want.
At OSSM, however, it’s much harder to find opportunities to play my violin, especially when there is no longer the resource of a full orchestra at school. Still, my violin and I have had many great adventures these past couple of years through the form of programs like OMEA All-State, Oklahoma Youth Orchestra, and Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain.
At Quartz [Mountain], I spent two straight weeks with my violin. Quartz is a program that provides instruction from renowned artists to high school students who have talents in acting, chorus, ballet, orchestra, modern dance, film and video, drawing and painting, creative writing, or photography. As you can see from this extensive list, Quartz is a melting pot of an extremely diverse group that is connected through our shared love for the arts. Although the program is certainly tiring, in the end, it was clearly worth it and all the students left the program with a love for their artistic discipline and a desire to learn more. My first experience at Quartz was during the summer before junior year, and I still remember how excited I was to have the chance to be a part of an institute that I’ve always heard so many amazing things about. Other than the hours upon hours of rehearsal, somehow there was still time to swim, hike, play cards, and meet a bunch of creative, unique people. However, after the program ended and as time went on, I forgot the inspiration and joy I received from attending Quartz.
So as a result of forgotten memories and busy schedules, when people asked me if I was going to Quartz again, my still stubborn self continued to reply with “No, I don’t want to.” But once again, I found myself reluctantly applying for the program. The application process each year consists of a scale, an etude, a solo, and a sight-reading excerpt, and I honestly thought I was too busy to prepare all those things for a successful audition. In spite of this, I auditioned, and a month later, I was notified that I was accepted, but I still felt like I didn’t have two weeks of my summer to spare for a program that I’ve already experienced. My other friends who were also accepted soon began to ask whether I was going or not, and again, I said, “No, I don’t want to.”
But conveniently, I had exactly two weeks of free time during the time that Quartz was scheduled to occur, and so I finally agreed to go. Going back this past summer let me re-live many lost memories of watching the breathtaking sunrise at 6 AM, practicing in endless rehearsals, scratching knee-sized bug bites, and performing in incredible concerts with some of the best musicians of Oklahoma. Last summer also brought many new stories along with the old ones, some of which involved getting chiggers, falling on cacti, 7 AM workouts, and countless new friendships.
Most of all, I was reminded of how remarkable Quartz is due to its ability to connect completely different people through art and how it inspires every single person to love not only their own art, but others as well (The choir’s song, Baba Yetu, which is the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili, is eternally stuck in my head just because how moving their performance of it was). It’s truly eye opening to see other students work so hard at their own disciplines, yet have so much fun at the same time. The beauty of Quartz is clearly seen through the jaw-dropping performances of all the artists and the unimaginable motivation that surges through the students, which in turn translates into a source of inspiration to all that are exposed. Now, if you were to ask me to give up my love for the arts, there’s only one thing I’d say- “No, I don’t want to.”
