I've
seen all kinds of violins - and I've played them too: Chagall violins floating up
in the clouds, Disney violins dancing all in a row, Dali violins all shrunken
and creepy, Ponty el-violins like colored lollypops, Scandinavian fiddles
ornamented like a mountain bride and one dark, old Romanian gypsy violin that played
a Ceausescu blues with only one hair from the bow drawn back and forth across
the strings.
I've
also heard the talk, good and bad, most of it just fiddle faddle: about sentimentality
and genius and shrieking cats and sublimity. Some people even claim that it was
no coincidence that Charlie Parker died the day after a recording session with
violins.
No
matter. I love them. All of those strings.
So
it warms my heart when my grandson, not yet two years of age, comes up to me on
his stocky little legs in a diaper and a t-shirt, and stands in front of the
chair where I sit and work and behind
which I hang my violin. He is a man of few words but many thoughts.
First
he points at the violin and I take it off the wall. Then he points at the bow
and says, "Bawh!" I take it down and tighten it. Next he does the most
marvelous thing: he spreads out his stocky little legs and in almost the same
gesture as Thorvaldsen's Jesus holds his arms slightly out and down from his
body, bent at the elbows with the palms of the hands turned up. Then he twirls the
fingers on both hands as fast as he can and makes a swishing, airy, bubbly noise
with his mouth: ssshhhwwwooossshhh!
I
have learned that this means Play!
and Violin! and ultimately Grandfather! If we had lived in the year
800 my name would probably have been: He
Who Taketh The Violin Off The Wall. I usually oblige him by playing. Sometimes
he does a little dance with a lot of stomping to show his approval. He even
cries if I stop too soon.
I've
retired from playing professionally, so he's the only person I ever play for
anymore. I bet he will want to play in a few years. Such is life with stops and
starts. As far as I'm concerned he can do what he wants, no strings attached. His
grandfather just wants him to thrive, to take off into life.
SSSHHHWWWOOOSSSHHH!!!
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