Some Of My Things Part 2

                                             The Violin

    In 1992, when our youngest daughter, Victoria, wanted to play the violin we rented a small violin of the right size for her height and weight. She began lessons at age eight. Thankfully, back then, our island had a very good Susuki violin teacher, who suggested that since I was a pianist, I might want to attend lessons and learn to play the violin myself.  I immediately agreed because I had a desire to learn a second instrument and I knew we had my husband’s grandmother’s violin in storage. 

As I dusted off the violin case I recalled the things I knew about Olive May Fowler Daniel. She was born in Carter, Oklahoma in 1894. Her father was a farmer but the Fowlers had some genteel southern characteristics. They appreciated the arts and wanted their children to learn to play music. There were two orchestras in the Fowler family and every child played an instrument, sometimes more than one. 

I knew this violin was from Olive’s days at Wayland College, in Plainview, Texas, a Baptist College.  She attended school there from 1915-1918. The college was new, just five years old, and housed primary grades up to college classes. They also offered private violin lessons.  

                                                Olive May married Carl Daniel in 1922 and she started life on a West Texas ranch. There was little time for music or music making. Her life was hard work and her husband was rough and surly. Nevertheless, the violin survived and was passed on to Elizabeth, her oldest daughter, my mother-in-law. The family story is that Olive was a beautiful, cultured woman who suffered from the sadness of losing her first child, Leonard, and then raised two daughters who loved her deeply. I wonder if the violin consoled her or if it was wrapped up and put away as Olive’s sensitive heart must have been during years of a difficult marriage?

                                                                                                          

                                                                        

Before I could actually play Olive’s violin we had to get it restored by fixing the bridge, a wooden part that supported the wire strings. The strings needed to be replaced and the bow restrung. I remember when we picked it up from the music store. I opened the case and gently fingered the strings. They felt tight and had a nice ring. Up to this point we didn’t really know what the quality of sound would be. Since I was completely new to the violin my efforts at learning didn’t reveal much of the tone quality either. My daughter’s violin teacher did play it for me and proclaimed that it had a good sound. 

My first piece was Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. All Susuki method students started with this piece. The favorite children’s song had several open string notes. An open string note is one where the sound on the violin is made without pressing the fingers to the strings. Pitch is altered by pressing the strings along the fretboard. I was very frustrated by that. The piano was so much easier. Press a key and the sound was always the same. But the violin was harder. I had to put my finger on exactly the right spot with exactly the right pressure and then move the bow across the strings with exactly the right momentum. Here I was a piano teacher and I couldn’t play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in tune on the violin. No matter how often I rubbed the sappy smelling rosin across the bow, which created friction, allowing the bow to grip the strings and make them vibrate clearly, it never really felt or sounded smooth. This violin humbled me. It made me respect those little students lined up across the stage playing their pieces together. I was much more compassionate with my little girl as she struggled to learn.

 Our violin playing came to a halt after several years because my daughter refused to go forward. No matter how much I encouraged, scolded and bribed it was not to be. And then I slowly stopped practicing, too. I took the violin down to play less and less and then it stayed wrapped up on a shelf. Olive May Fowler Daniel is connected to my heart because of these years with her violin. I hope someone else might one day take out her instrument and learn to play with the joy I imagine she had for music. 

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