Not Far From the Tree: A Letter from Carole BestvaterHello from St. John’s!! Well, I must say. What a year it has been! Many of you already are familiar with my exclamation marks and bubbling voice, but some of you reading this blog post may not be. It constantly blows my mind that time continues to move forward, even though it feels like I lived in Providence just yesterday. Since participating in the Fellowship program from ’09-’11, CMW and the souls that make it so special have never been too far from my thoughts. For the past two seasons, I have been piloting a program called the Suncor Energy Strings Program through the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Orchestra. It was an interesting juxtaposition between the El Sistema and Community MusicWorks models. Last spring, the scheduled conclusion of funding from our primary sponsor came to its end, leaving me at a turning point. I made the decision to step out on my own, to continue to grow the mission of this program independently. It felt like the right direction to take- it would enable the program to be its own artistic and cultural entity, and work towards the social and musical goals that are at the heart of this community music program. After much deliberation and thinking, Strong Harbour Strings came to be. The change came with encouragement and support from the NSYO. We continue to find ways to work together as community partners. There are currently 20 students in Strong Harbour Strings, most of whom have been with us since the beginning of the program, when it was the Suncor Energy Strings Program. They stayed because they love music, because they love learning, because they thrive under the mentorship of the teaching artists, because they are getting good and want to keep on getting good, because they are a community now and have made important friends that they only see at music lessons. They stayed because they didn’t know how curious they were, and now the floodgates have been opened.
Each student comes twice a week, once for individual instruction, and once for chamber music. This year, we are starting even the beginning-est of beginners in chamber groups, because we want to teach them from the start that their voice is important, that their part matters, and that among many other things music is about communication and growing together.
The Teaching Artists with Strong Harbour Strings are also the members of my String Quartet. The Strataphoria String Quartet was an independent project, but it is my hope that Strong Harbour Strings will become a viable career option for not only the quartet but for other professional musicians in Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s all very exciting. Things are still stabilizing, but there is a palpable energy in the air that reassures me that everything is going to work out. At every corner, I meet more people who are excited to support this program and offer encouragement along the way. In between setting up Strong Harbour Strings and developing a String Quartet, I also got married! In June 2014, I tied the knot with Sheldon surrounded by both of our incredibly large families. We then drove 3,000 km from SK to NL (including an 8 hour ferry from Nova Scotia to the west coast of Newfoundland) to put down a few roots together in St. John’s. You’ll all meet Sheldon, someday, I promise! Sending all my love to all of you! Many hugs, To learn more about Carole Bestvater’s work you can visit the Strong Harbour Strings website. You can also watch a short interview she did recently for a local TV station! |
