I attended the New Mexico Philarmonic’s final Neighborhood
Concert of the season last weekend. The theme of the concert was “Hail
Britannia!,” and the music, by Tallis, Purcell, Vaugh-Williams,and Handel was
superb, but the highlight of the concert was, for me at least, the guest
musicians.
In addition to the members of the Philharmonic and the
University of New Mexico Chamber Singers, the Orchestras from two local middle
schools, Jackson and Cleveland, played the first and last pieces: “Hail,
Britannia!” and “God Save the Queen.” Having those young performers changed the
whole dynamics of the performance. While the audience is usually composed
mostly of retirees, this audience had many families and young children. It was
obvious that the young violinists were very excited to be able to perform with
professionals, and equally obvious that the audience was thrilled to have young
people performing. The evening was inspiring for everyone involved.
The concert made me wonderif there were middle grade historical
fictions that might just feed the inspiration of aspiring violinists and other young musicians. Here’s
what I found:
Ayumi’s Violin, by Mariko Tatsumoto
Twelve-year-old biracial Ayumi must leave Japan to live with
the American father she has never met after her mother dies. It is 1959, and
she is confronted by racism and rejection. She finds solace in playing her
violin until even that is taken from her. This book won the Rocky Mountain
Fiction Writers Gold Award, was a Paterson Prize for Books for Young People
Honor Book, and a finalist for the Colorado Authors' League Award.
The Dollmaker of Krakow, by R.M. Romero
In this work of historical fantasy set in Poland during
World War Two, a dollmaker with unusual power spirits a live doll, Karolina, out
of the Land of Dolls, a fantasy world that is being destroyed by rats. The two befriend
a Jewish violin-playing father and his daughter who are threatened by the Nazi takover
of Poland. A mix of fantasy and brutal, sometimes painful to read reality, this
book may be hard for younger readers.
Under a Painted Sky, by Stacey Lee
It’s 1849, and Samantha dreams of leaving Missouri and moving
back to New York to be a professional violinist. When disaster strikes and
leaves her an orphan and fearing for her life, the Chinese girl joins up with a
runaway slave named Annamae and the two of them, disguised as boys, light
out for adventures in the Wild West.
While not about a violinist, this
novel, set in 1974, tells the story of a
young boy named Theo, who finds
happiness by playing piano at a local dance studio after he and his Uncle, a Vietnam
veteran, move to a new town. This book the only one of the four with a male protagonist, also has a baseball mystery thrown into the plot, so might appeal more than the other three to boys.
Got any personal favorites to add to this list?
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