#they’re just jealous because they don’t have a beautiful and majestic c string

[spirantization]

So recently I joined a local youth orchestra, despite not being a Youth, because playing the viola is a golden ticket. It is a lot of fun and a good activity for decrepit 30-somethings to stave off the horrors.

Tonight before rehearsal one of the violinists (a boy, maybe 11?) came up to me, stared at me with wide eyes, and said, “Do you play the viola?”

I was holding a viola, and also we’ve been playing together for like two months, so he’d caught me.

But that wasn’t the question. The question was not “do you play the viola” because obviously yes. I’m carrying a viola and I sit in the viola section. The question was, can you tell me about the viola? I’m curious about this thing. How is it different?

So I said, “Do you want to try? Switch with me!” And I took his violin and he took my viola, and he put it on his shoulder and it was comically large on him, but he got to play around with it a little bit. It was only for about a minute because rehearsal was about to start, but he got to feel how the instrument was different, how it was bigger and lower, and his fingers had to stretch farther to hit the notes. And then we traded back and that was that.

I’m starting to hear people around my age begin to despair of the Youths, and on one level I sort of get it. It was an awkward exchange. He didn’t say hello or thank you or see you later. But also I’ve got two decades on the kid and I’ve had more time to hone my social niceties. He approached me because he was interested. Was I supposed to drag out this exchange until he hit all of the right social notes? I’m not his mother. I’m Violist #1 and he had a question.

This post is about the joy of new things and experiential learning. Answer the question they’re too shy to ask! And better, let them answer their own question! Just give them a little bit of space and a little bit of time. And that is the very best part. How lucky we are to witness and guide discovery. I’m not listening to anyone despairing if they are not willing to (metaphorically, literally) hand over their viola.

Also you have to actively recruit people to play the viola and join the alto clef cult, so the last thing you want to do is be mean to anyone who expresses an interest. If he became a violist there would be three of us. Those are killer numbers.