Suzuki Instructor Devin Arrington: Classical Music Training Can Break Down Barriers

Suzuki Instructor Devin Arrington: Classical Music Training Can Break Down Barriers
Devin Arrington with a student on Oct. 20 in his Pittsburgh home. Courtesy of Devin Arrington
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Cradling the violin under his chin, holding the bow just so, a 5-year-old violinist was rendering a lovely Bach minuet—lovely until he got to the last couple of notes. He raced through these, happy to be finished and on to the next thing.

Teacher, violinist, composer, and founder of Musicians With a Mission, Devin Arrington explained to his young pupil that finishing the last note in a hurry was “like leaving the audience with a terrible dessert after a wonderful meal. They'll remember the terrible dessert,” he said on Sept. 6.

In order for the audience to have a satisfying meal, the bow must be moved slower and slower and brought to a gradual stop; the sound should fade away, the vibrating stop. And even then, the player must stand very still to allow the sound to linger in the air, to allow the audience to savor a wonderful experience.

This lesson, one Arrington has had to teach many times, requires youngsters to think from the perspective of other people. It also requires patience.

Devin Arrington. (Courtesy of Devin Arrington)
Devin Arrington. Courtesy of Devin Arrington
Sharon Kilarski
Sharon Kilarski
Author
Sharon writes theater reviews, opinion pieces on our culture, and the classics series. Classics: Looking Forward Looking Backward: Practitioners involved with the classical arts respond to why they think the texts, forms, and methods of the classics are worth keeping and why they continue to look to the past for that which inspires and speaks to us. To see the full series, see ept.ms/LookingAtClassics.
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