“I want to take you back to my first encounter with the classical music world,” writes Samson Baughman, a sixteen-year-old violinist, in Wednesday’s (8/1) icareifyoulisten. “My cousins had started taking music lessons…. I picked up a violin and started going, too. It was an exhausting five-hour round trip drive for music lessons, but … I loved it. The feeling I got from playing as a member of the orchestra was amazing…. ‘I never had a black friend.’ This is what one of the white girls said to my cousin at one of our midday orchestra breaks…. She’d never had an African American sit down in a chair right next to her and play music…. When I go to an orchestral concert, I see a plethora of white people…. My feelings can range from mild intimidation to nearly debilitating anxiety…. I know I’m not alone…. You can [help] by simply being welcoming to kids in minority groups. Maybe you see that they’re having some trouble with a particular passage: they might not ask for help, but they will deeply appreciate it if you offer it…. If everyone pitches in … the state of the music world can and will be improved.”
Posted August 3, 2018
In photo: Samson Baughman
