As a student clutching a doll-sized viola ambled up three steps to the Fair Haven School Stage, a hush fell on the auditorium. Students, smiling in their pressed white shirts and miniature stringed instruments, snapped to attention. About 60 pairs of eyes followed Gregory Tompkins as he lifted his hands to his violin, bobbing just slightly, and nodded on cue.
Then, the familiar specter of Johann Pachelbel was in the space, craning his neck, applauding a right note here, an improved positioning of an instrument there. Seasoned fans of his, like Noel Mitchell and Denasha Upchurch, took note, straightening up a little more. The holiday season could finally begin.
With a rousing Pachelbel Canon in D, Music Haven’s students (and a few community members playing backup) brought 2016 to a celebratory close Friday night at the Fair Haven School, where they played their final concert of the year to an audience of around 150 excited parents, teachers, and friends. Now in its 10th year, the organization offers tuition-free music lessons to students in New Haven’s promise zone neighborhoods, exhorting youth empowerment through music education.
Lucy Gellman Photo
Students in Benn’s “Music 101” class.
Leaving audience members exactly as verklempt as it was intended to, the performance was a testament to the organization’s growth as it takes on new instruments, continues its “Music 101” classes, and brings in more students.
“The students are just so dedicated,” said board member Marc Mann after the concert. “And you see it.”
His words sprang to life with the first squeaky note of the night and lasted throughout the evening, as several delicate string-and-wood instruments were picked up, caressed, and cared for in pair after pair of young hands. With David Stone’s String Quartet No. I, Moderato, the quintet Bowdacious (Jordan Brown, violin; Cris Zunun, violin; Vashti Burkett, viola; Robert Davis, viola; Z’Kiiya Crawford, cello), a relatively recent addition to audience favorite Phat Orangez, transported listeners from New Haven’s bone-crackling cold to the lush English countryside, glass-eyed dairy cows and busy, wool-wrapped residents going about their business as a mild, slightly melancholy wind rolled through town.
But signs of steadfast commitment had started long before that. During the “Rest Position Song,” some of Music Haven’s youngest members had narrowed their eyes and straightened their backs in deep concentration, singing in tune as they lifted their violins to the hops of their heads, and rotated them carefully in the air. When Colin Benn’s massive “Music 101” students took center stage for a holiday medley of “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel,” “Good King Wenceslas” and “Jingle Bells,” students dug their heels into the stage, and then remembered to smile as they leaned in and gave themselves over to the music, feeling a sure, percussive beat from the drums beneath their feet. A fleet of cellos delighted with a traditional French folk song.
Before and after they played, students and parents alike also tried to spread Music Haven’s mission with a new feature of the concert: a coat and winter clothes drive for refugees in need.
To find out more about Music Haven, visit its website.