How to get to Carnegie Hall? Be a First-grader in Harlem.
(Oh yes... and Practice!)
The recent "Fiddlefest" at Carnegie Hall was the 10th annual such fundraiser for the Opus 118 Harlem Center for Strings. Could the kids keep their little violins in-tune and scratch-free during "Jingle Bells"? And what musical celebrities showed up to jam?

The answers: Yes (of course), and Bobby McFerrin, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, and Regina Carter. (Newscaster Tom Brokaw was there as well, but only to introduce sponsors and award winners. He described his own singing voice as a "weapon of mass destruction.")

Behind both successes -- great-sounding violin performances as well as such esteemed friends -- is founder Roberta Guaspari. Laid off as a violin instructor in 1991 (public school budget cuts), Guaspari started giving private lessons from her 118th Street home, and eventually formed a community music school that bears the street's name. Launch Music News recently covered her organization's latest FiddleFest.

The 1999 Meryl Streep film "Music of the Heart" dramatized Guaspari's life. But the real deal needs no embellishment. Says Guaspari, in the Launch feature, "I started music lessons in public school and that's why I'm so committed myself to kids who would never have the opportunity or means to take lessons like we're providing. My mission in life would be to bring that back, allowing all children to have access to a good quality music education."

Her kids apparently appreciate her "tough love" approach to teaching, because they stay with the Opus 118 programs for years, and many continue with their instruments into college and beyond. They also consistently use words like "discipline" and "focus" to describe what they get from the hard work required to master the violin.

Read article from Launch - Music on Yahoo!

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