The Violinist

Practice

I spread my music along my stand and take my violin out of the case. It is a Mendini by Cecillio 4/4 size. I saved up  three hundred dollars when I was ten years old for close to a year before I was able to buy it. As I rosin the bow, I go over everything I plan to focusing on with this practice. I have already finished playing my last piece "Standchen" by Shubert. Today, I decided to print and start with the "Clair de Lune" by Claude Debussy. I tune and set up my phone to play the music and pull out another phone specifically to record my practices and start it. I have studied and listened to the piece, making note of each flat, accent, accidental, and musical attribute in the piece. I start the piece and as I play, the difficulty reaches me and I smile to myself. With each note, my comfort and confidence rises. From each shift in positions to the smallest change in note pitch and length, my soul is being set free. The piece concludes and I wipe the sweat off my face and stop the recording. I start circling every part that gave me trouble and sit and think to myself. Next is lunch so I can stay here. I start going through each note slowly, emphasizing each accent, dropping from a forte to a pianissimo. My hand cramps and I stop for a moment. Massaging the pain away and taking a drink of water, I relax and keep studying the music. Once the pain disappears, I reapply some rosin and tweak my shoulder rest for a better position and continue. I lose myself in the music, my life no longer matters, my school status, past,  nothing matter. As the lunch bell rings, I wait and let the kids walk past the room and once gone, I sneak out and get my food. Checking to see if anything was stolen and seeing nothing has been, I eat alone and drink my milk in silence. As I think about what I have to do, a message rings on my phone. I check and see that my new bow has arrived. I smile and look at my old one with some regret. As I begin to pack, I loosen my bow and lie a cloth to separate the bow and the violin, as to not scratch either. I plug the headphones into my spare phone to listen to the recording and walk to my next class with my case in tow.