From a Musical Mentor’s perspective

I have been a teacher for 16 years and have worked with students ranging in age from 6 to 46, but I have never had as rich an experience—as a teacher or student—as I have had this year as a Musical Mentor to Alexandra, a 10-year old violist at Community MusicWorks. I began working with Alex in late October; I practiced with her on Monday evenings. Though I was a stranger to her family, they welcomed me into their home that crispy October night to begin a relationship, one that started with music at its core.

What makes my CMW mentoring experience different from most other teaching and learning relationships I have had is that I have become a part of Alex's family's life. Never before have I been able to visit the home of my student, to get to know her family and extended family. Never before have I been able to drive to and from class with a student, talking about life and school and friends on our way to and from playing music together. This is a hugely important aspect of our mentoring relationship, the “downtime” spent not playing music but eating, talking, listening with one another.

Of course, we also play together. I play the violin and Alex plays the viola, and we have fun with the differences. Sometimes we “argue” about which instrument is better (Alex has a great story about the viola players rising up and taking over the orchestra!), and sometimes we play harmonies or duets, utilizing the different sounds of our instruments. (I also play a lot on the D and G strings!).

In our early weeks of practicing together, Alex and I got talking about and experimenting with sound effects on our instruments. We were mimicking trains, cows and squeaky doors when suddenly Alex came up with an idea. She was interested in watching old cartoons on television, with the sound turned down, and trying to accompany the action with homemade sound effects. The next week, I arrived at her home with a DVD of old Mickey Mouse cartoons. We spent our practice time that evening watching all of the cartoons and filling in all of the sound effects with our violin and viola. It was a blast. I let Alex borrow the DVD, and she practiced sound effects all week.

During one visit to their house before the winter holidays, her sister (also a CMW student) came into the living room, while Alex and I were practicing Amazing Grace, picked up a spare viola, and began sounding out the tune with us. During a visit in February, when I was picking up Alex for Fiddle Lab, her brother came bounding into the living room to tell me about that his basketball team went undefeated. As I was pulling out of the the family's driveway last week, Alex's mother came running outside, into the rain, to thank me for working with her daughter. She said, “I know your time is precious, so thank you for giving it to my little girl. God bless you.”

This multifaceted role that I play in Alex’s life and in the life of her family has given me so much. Alex’s enthusiasm for playing, her energy for out-of-the-box tunes and techniques for her viola, and her good ear have impressed me and have given me energy in turn. I am so thankful to have found this opportunity and this family through CMW. My work with Alex has given me joy through music and friendship and kindnesses. I can’t wait to see what’s next. 

-Jenn Cook, Musical Mentor