Playing in the Fountains - community service in Soriano nel Cimino

Recently we got to perform with/for the students in our town. When we moved here in November 2019 we really wanted community service to be a part of lives, but then the pandemic hit. We have been able to perform several times for the local senior center, but our dream of playing in schools was impossible… until now.

A few weeks ago a friend facilitated this for us, for which we are very grateful. We were initially thinking of just performing a program in class, but then they told us that the kids were doing a project, learning about all the fountains in town. Could we play something that relates to water, they asked?

Finding good repertoire for a violin/cello duo is not always the easiest task, but luckily Handel’s “Water Music” was a perfect fit for this. It works well for our duo, comes in short little spurts that have different characters so there is variety, and, of course, fits the “water” theme.

Yesterday we went to school to do a rehearsal, which was the most efficiently run school program we have ever participated in. We were given a "call time" of 10am and we were in our chairs and running the rehearsal with the kids just a few moments later!! Never had that experience anywhere else. About 20 different children took turns reading a paragraph each about the different fountains in Soriano. There was also a substantial segment where the children read poetry in “Sorianese", the dialect of our town.

Then we played three different segments of Water Music, and in between each one one of the kids would read a paragraph Matt wrote about the Water Music, which had been translated by our friend to make sure it was perfect. As we played the faster, bouncier movements, the kids danced in their chairs and exerted all their self-control not to clap through the music (someone had obviously told them to refrain from clapping). It was so endearing to see their enthusiasm and their smiles, and we couldn’t help but smile ourselves as they desperately tried not to clap. Luckily they did, because 30 kids clapping can drown out a violin and cello duo anyday!

Today at the concert, we presented the program we practiced with the kids, in one of the town piazzas, in front of one of the fountains. The children had drawn pictures of all the town’s fountains in advance, and those were displayed as well.

I have played concerts in Carnegie Hall and live on national radio but I was probably more nervous for this than any of those. A combination of getting nervous about speaking Italian, being nervous about working with kids when I am not a parent so I don’t know anything, and desperately wanting to fit in to this town and not make any embarassing mistakes, leads me to sweat through my shirt at an event like this. (The fact that it is 86°F (30°C) probably had something to do with that too.)

But it all turned out well, and I am celebrating with a cold prosecco.

We are so very grateful to live here.