Violinist Joshua Bell Rehearses With Inner-City Kids

VIOLIN MASTER: Grammy winning violinist Joshua Bell stands with his antique violin, which was made by Stradivarius, one of the most famous string craftsmen in history. Bell will be performing with inner-city kids at a Gala on May 7 to raise funds for the (Joshua Philipp/The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—With violins and cellos resting in their arms, inner-city students from five different New York schools prepared for a visit from world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell. The kids cheered and broke into applause when Bell entered the classroom at the Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary catholic school in East Harlem.

Bell came to rehearse with about 30 students on Wednesday in preparation for their performance together on May 7 at the annual Education Through Music (ETM) Gala.

The Gala will help raise money for the ETM program, which all the kids are enrolled in. ETM is a non-profit organization that gives music instruction to children in disadvantaged schools and neighborhoods. It serves more than 9,000 students at 20 schools throughout New York City.

The children, some as young as eight, sat quietly in their school uniforms as they waited for their conductor’s signal. With the wave of a hand, they broke out into Yankee Doodle—the song they'll be playing with Bell at the Gala.

Bell listened for a moment before joining their ensemble. Once they wrapped up and took a bow, Bell took up his violin again to play his own rendition of Yankee Doodle. Bell wrote an enhanced version of the song for a performance for President Barack Obama and the First Lady on February 11.

He began slowly and moved into an elaborate melody, displaying the skills that can only be mastered after many years of practice. The kids were in awe.

“What is music? It’s not just about learning where to put your fingers and moving the bow, right?” asked Bell as he finished his piece and began taking questions from the classroom.

“Music is about expression and it’s about emotions. This all comes from the heart,” Bell said.

“In the end, the audience isn’t there like going to a circus to see an acrobat, they want to be moved. You draw in your own experience and if you play something sad, if you’re sensitive enough, you can bring out the sadness in the music. Or if it’s happy and fun, you bring out the fun,” he said.

“You'll feel it. That’s what it’s all about.”

The kids raised their hands with questions ready. Some asked for Bell to sign their music sheets. Others asked questions such as, “do you know you’re on YouTube?” and “If you went on the Antique Roadshow and asked a guy how much [your violin is] worth, how much would he say?”

Bell’s violin was made by the legendary Stradivarius—one of the most famous string craftsmen in history. He joked, saying it may be appraised at $20,000. Actually, his Stradivarius may be valued at $4 to $8 million.

Grammy-winning violinist Bell is in New York with two purposes—to perform with the N.Y. Philharmonic as violin soloist when they play the score from the movie “Angels & Demons,” and to meet with the young generation of musicians. He will be performing with the kids during their Thursday gala, which they’re doing in honor of Bell this year.

Meeting with Bell meant a lot to the kids.

“I think it was really inspiring and he’s a great inspiration,” said Victoria Giraldi, 9, a student from the St. Clare School.

“He just talked about how music comes from the heart and how he’s so dedicated to it and I think that’s really nice,” Giraldi said. “I hope to be a great musician someday, to be a great violinist.”

According to Jeffery Wang, the student’s conductor and violin teacher, this is precisely what he hopes the kids bring home from meeting with Bell. He teaches kids at both St. Clare and the Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary catholic school.

“We try to integrate what they’re doing with seeing what they could eventually achieve,” Wang said, adding Bell played “a very complicated version of what we’ve decided to work on just so the kids can see a connection between what we’re playing and what we can do. I think he’s a positive role model for them.”

After answering a few rounds of questions, Bell signed autographs for the students and headed out for the day. The kids will be training hard for their official performance with Bell on Thursday.

Suzanne Kaszynski, the principle of Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary catholic school said that bringing ETM’s music classes to the schools has had a major impact on the students.

“The reason why it’s so terrific is that many of my students would not be able to afford music lessons. So having instruction during the regular school day has opened up a whole new world to them,” she said.

“Meeting Joshua Bell I think is something they will always remember because while they’re working on their scales or a simple melody, they were able to see what practice and talent will ultimately lead to, and they were able to see someone who is personable, young, friendly, and who can play amazingly,” Kaszynski said.

“Even if their knowledge of music is not enormous at this point, I think from them watching him while he played, they knew this was great,” she said.